He’s the joint favourite for the Melbourne Cup, but it’s not beyond the realms of possibility that Sir Delius could provide Gai Waterhouse with an elusive success this spring prior to the first Tuesday in November.
The last-start Group 1 Underwood Stakes winner will contest the G1 Turnbull Stakes this weekend before he then presses on to the Cox Plate and then the Melbourne Cup.
“I’ve never won a Cox Plate so it would be a dream come true and he’s a horse that could do it,” said Waterhouse, who trains the expensive import in partnership with Adrian Bott. “He’s got a great turn of foot, as you saw the other day at Caulfield.”
Waterhouse was in Melbourne on Tuesday morning to watch Sir Delius’ trackwork, with the former French galloper working on the course proper at Flemington.
“I thought he worked very well,” Waterhouse said. “He went over six furlongs, got into the gallop a bit before that, he gradually built and he was very leisurely in his gallop, but he was very happy. I liked the way he went right through the line.”
Sir Delius will take on dominant weight-for-age star Via Sistina in Saturday’s Turnbull Stakes, which looms as a stronger contest than the Underwood Stakes that he won last start, however, Waterhouse is confident that he’s up for the challenge.
“It will be a very strong race but it’s good,” she said. “If you’re ever going to have a Group 1 horse, they should be racing at the top class against the top-class horses. He’s a top-class horse, Sir Delius, he’ll give them a good shake.”
Sir Delius is at $6 in Sportsbet’s market for the Turnbull Stakes on Saturday, while he’s at $5 for the Cox Plate and $6 for the Melbourne Cup.