Tattersalls graduates to the fore as Emissary enhances Melbourne Cup prospects

Geelong’s signature race meeting of the season on Wednesday also provided a timely reminder about the success of northern hemisphere-bred horses on Australian soil, particularly over a middle distance, with Emissary and Turaath landing two of the three feature races on the card.

The Mike Moroney-trained UK import Emissary confirmed his staying prowess and a possible tilt at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday week with a victory in the Group 3 Geelong Cup while the Maddie Raymond-prepared Turaath, another European import, added to her value as a broodmare by winning the following race, the Listed Black Pearl Stakes.

Australian buyers, including John Foote and Brad Spicer, were at the recent Tattersalls October Yearling Sale in the UK, purchasing young stock to be raced Down Under, while next week’s Autumn Horses In Training Sale at Newmarket is also set to be a target sale for agents and owners seeking horses suitable for the premier Melbourne spring and Sydney autumn carnivals.

Two years ago, Emissary was sourced by Portuguese agent Armando Duarte, fellow agent Paul Moroney and Ballymore Stables (owned by trainer Mike Moroney, Paul’s brother), for 350,000gns from the Tattersalls Autumn In Training Sale. He had previously won twice for Hugo Palmer and Juddmonte.

Since arriving in Australia, he has earned A$500,000 in prize-money in his ten southern hemisphere race starts, and the manner of this victory has trainer Moroney and connections, including leading owner Rupert Legh, targeting the Melbourne Cup.

Turaath was bought by owner John Nicholls for 35,000gns from the 2020 Tattersalls December Yearling Sale and she, too, has been a huge money-spinner for connections, winning almost A$550,000 in prize-money since, her breeding value skyrocketing by a staggering figure in the process.

Moroney said Emissary, an underwhelming eighth in the Herbert Power Stakes on October 8 at Caulfield, had performed well enough yesterday to convince him the gelding was a worthy Melbourne Cup runner.

"He's come from second-last in a really good field," Moroney said.

"It's probably one of the better Geelong Cup fields we've seen for a long, long time and I think for that reason the handicapper will recognise that.

"The way he did it. He came from second-last and he took all the bad luck out of the equation."

He added: "We were starting to wonder if he really stayed, but today he showed he certainly does.

"We wanted him on dry ground, out to the mile-and-a-half and we wondered whether that would do it. We'll head on to the Melbourne Cup now, all going well."

Ridden by in-form jockey Blake Shinn, Emissary ran home out wide to score by a length from Juddmonte's A$4.60 favourite Surefire, with Makram a further two and three-quarter lengths away in third.

The first six horses across the line in the Geelong Cup were European imports. The Bob Peters-bred and raced Midnight Blue ran seventh.

Racing Victoria will announce on Thursday if Emissary is penalised for the Melbourne Cup.

Shinn gave his tick of approval for the six-year-old to press on to the Cup.

"You've got to bear in mind that the distance may be a question mark, but I've got no doubt he can be competitive," Shinn said.

"It's just whether he can run the distance, but if he can produce that same turn-of-foot over 3200 [metres], he's got to be a force."

Emissary is a Kingman half-brother to Europe’s champion three-year-old of 2010 in Workforce while Turaath - a Let’s Elope Stakes winner at Flemington 13 months ago - is by Oasis Dream out of UK seven-furlong Listed winner and Group 1-performed Fadhayyil.

Ridden by Damian Lane, Turaath defeated Jump The Broom by a head while Larkspur Run was another head away in third.

Only second-up into her spring campaign, having finished fifth first-up to Literary Magnate in the Northwood Plume Stakes on October 8 at Caulfield, her trainer has earmarked a race during the Flemington carnival for the six-year-old mare who overcame a slow getaway.

“She is so tough and so honest. I thought they had her on the line, but you could see her dig deep and fight through,” Raymond told Racing.com post race.

“[Her start] wasn’t great, I thought this isn’t going to plan at all. It’s not great that she’s missing the kick but I’m sure we’ll be able to give her a good squeeze out if we need to. She’s relaxing now, which is one good thing, as she used to overdo it a bit. It shows she’s a bit more versatile if she does find a race where there’s a strong speed, she can sit off them and finish off like that.”

Her Flemington target is likely to be the Group 3 Hong Kong Jockey Club Stakes on Melbourne Cup day.

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