Sea King steps up Cup bid

A top three finish in Wednesday’s Bendigo Cup (2400m) could be enough for connections of unheralded raider Sea King to roll the dice in Tuesday week’s Melbourne Cup (3200m).

The five-year-old currently sits near the bottom of the Cup order of entry but passing the first ballot clause with a top three finish in the G3 staying feature will rocket him to the cusp of a start.

He will almost certainly feature in the field if he can win at Bendigo and earn a re-handicap off his 50kg mark.

Trainer Harry Eustace said he’s been impressed with what he’s seen from the OTI-owned stayer since he arrived in his care recently.

Eustace pointed to Sea King’s last start sixth in the Ebor, in which he finished in front of G3 Geelong Cup winner Onesmoothoperator, as evidence that he brings the right form to Melbourne.

“He’s really thrived in quarantine actually,” Eustace said.

Sea King gallops at The Valley together with Docklands.

“We didn’t have him for too long before he entered quarantine back home but the more we see him and the more he does, the better he’s settling in.

“We’re really looking forward to seeing him run on Wednesday.

“He’s got a bit of form around Onesmoothoperator at one time or another so if we could run to that sort of level, you hope he’d be competitive and give us a shout.

“It would feel a bit of a free roll of the dice at the big one (Melbourne Cup) if he could get in.”

The above is an excerpt from James Tzaferis Racing.com article and can be read in full here.