Lone international runner Warp Speed bids for a third Japanese success in Saturday’s (19 October) G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) but will have to overcome the equine might of Australia’s top two trainers Chris Waller and Ciaron Maher and a raiding party of Hong Kong’s best jockeys.
Waller and Maher each have four of the 21 declared runners in the famous handicap, which forms part of Saturday’s World Pool simulcast into Hong Kong, while Warp Speed’s Noboru Takagi is the only international trainer represented.
Zac Purton, Andrea Atzeni, Karis Teetan and Ben Thompson fly in from Hong Kong to partner legitimate chances in the race.
Warp Speed has not raced since finishing a creditable fifth behind top stayer T O Royal in the G1 Tenno Sho Spring (3200m) in April but Japan’s two previous Caulfield Cup winners had also resumed from lengthy breaks – Admire Rakti (2014) and Mer De Glace (2019).
Warp Speed had previously run second to T O Royal in the G2 Hanshin Daishoten (3000m) and thus boasts the same two lead-up races used by Admire Rakti and another compatriot Delta Blues, who was narrowly beaten into third in the 2006 Caulfield Cup before winning the G1 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
The Japanese entire’s track rider Kosi Kawakami says the Melbourne Cup might be the more suitable race for Warp Speed but expects him to also run well this Saturday.
“He’s a top-class weight-for-age stayer. He was only a few lengths behind T O Royal, carrying the same weight as him. Probably 2400 (metres) is a little bit shorter than what his best for him but he still will run a very good race. Obviously, the Melbourne Cup is a more suitable race but, at the same time, I think he can run a really good race in the Caulfield Cup,” Kawakami said.
Chris Waller, who won the Caulfield Cup with Verry Elleegant (2020) and Durston (2022), prepares two of the better fancied runners in Buckaroo and Land Legend to be ridden, respectively, by Joao Moreira and Zac Purton.
“He’s got great lead-up form, which makes the job a bit easier,” Waller said of Buckaroo, “We knew he had the form from Ireland and England and it was just a matter of recapturing that form, and he has. He’s in good shape.”
Regarding Land Legend, Waller said: “He’s worked very well. I think he’s come on well since his Metropolitan (G1, 2400m) win. That was only third up, and he’s quite a gross horse. I thought he looked fitter today (Tuesday) and I think he’s on an upward plane. So, I’m hoping he’ll continue to improve.”
Purton, the seven-time champion jockey in Hong Kong and a Caulfield Cup winner aboard Admire Rakti in 2014, is excited to pick up the ride on Land Legend, who is raced by Hong Kong owner Boniface Ho.
“I’ve known about this horse for some time and when he got the penalty for winning the Metropolitan that presented the opportunity for me. He’s the right age, doesn’t have too many miles in his legs and he’s still on the up. He’s been programmed to peak for these races and he can certainly stay,” Purton said.
Ciaron Maher, who won the Caulfield Cup in 2016 with Jameka, has the imports Duke De Sessa and the intriguing Sayedaty Sadaty looking the most likely of his contenders.
Front-running Duke De Sessa is expected to relish stepping up in distance after finishing fourth behind Via Sistina and Buckaroo in the G1 Turnbull Stakes (2000m) on 5 October while Sayedaty Sadaty debuts for the stable after being purchased by Australian owners following his fifth in the G1 Derby Stakes (2405m) behind City Of Troy.
Ben Thompson, who scored a breakthrough Group 1 win on Uncommon James in last year’s Oakleigh Plate (1100m) at Caulfield, rides Sayedaty Sadaty at the minimum weight of 110 lb.
“I’m very excited,” Thompson said, “It gives you a lot of confidence when you’re linking up with a trainer like Ciaron Maher. He’s an exciting horse with a light weight and I’m really looking forward to it.
Atzeni and Teetan will be riding at Caulfield for the first time. Teetan’s one previous riding engagement in Australia was an unsuccessful Doncaster Mile day in 2019 while Atzeni will be hoping to add to his hit and run Group 1 win on Circle Of Fire in this year’s Sydney Cup (3200m).
Atzeni, who rides Zardozi, said: “James (Cummings) got in contact with me and he asked me if I would go over and ride the mare in the Caulfield Cup. With 51kg, it’s light enough for me but it looks like it’s worth doing. She’s a good mare, she’s an Oaks winner, she obviously gets the trip very well and she’s carrying no weight,” he said.
Teetan, runner-up to Purton in last season’s premiership, rides Coco Sun and is thankful for the opportunity to ride again in Australia.
“To be able to go down there and ride in the big races, which I have always watched, will be special. It is good for me to get my name out there a bit as well in those big carnival days, because there are always lightweight horses in those big handicaps like the Melbourne Cup.
“We all want to ride in these type of races, so thanks to the Club for allowing us to leave Hong Kong for the day because I want to be able to say one day that I won one of these big ones. I am really grateful too for the support from the trainers, the McEvoys (Tony and Calvin),” Teetan said.
