New fav for Cup, but scotia is sticking with Septimus to give O'Brien another Group One.
Mad Rush moves into Melbourne favouritism
Mad Rush has usurped Septimus at the head of the Melbourne Cup market
THE prospect of quick conditions at Flemington Park for the Emirates-sponsored Melbourne Cup has resulted in punters deserting the Aidan O'Brien-trained Septimus and siding with another of the European runners, Luca Cumani's Mad Rush.
Septimus' part-owner Derrick Smith told local newspaper The Age over the weekend that he would have reservations about running the top-weight on fast ground and with representatives of Coolmore down under echoing Smith's comments, MadRush has usurped Septimus at the head of Betfair's market for Tuesday's race.
At 6pm on Sunday night, Mad Rush was trading on Betfair at 5.2 to back, with Septimus at 5.9.
Rain and showers had been predicted for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday but withno rain materialising by lunchtime on Sunday, Tom Magnier, the head of Coolmore's Australian arm said they would have no hesitation in scratching Septimus if the track was too hard.
"We're looking for safe ground. The plan is for Aidan towalk the track on Monday and see how it looks," he said.
Dermot Weld, who landed in Melbourne on Sunday morning to put the final preparations to Profound Beauty, said he could understand the fears of the Coolmore camp.
"Down through the years I've had a lot of concerns about the track and major concerns the year Media Puzzle won it," he said.
"You tend to accept firmer tracks than other parts of the world would accept."
Cumani reported both Mad Rush and stablemate Bauer to be in"excellent form".
"I'm never confident because it's a horse race. At best I'm hopeful," he said.
"On the hopeful scale I'm probably very high but certainly not confident."
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