Grab a copy of tomorrow's New Zealand Herald for your Melbourne Cup sweepstake chart
KEY POINTS:
A self-confessed "Melbourne Cup junkie" will get another fix with three runners in the big race, including one who was asked to be eliminated from the race by a rival trainer.
Auckland businessman Gerard Peterson has shares in Railings, and the Mike Moroney-trained pair Eskimo Queen and Sarrera who all paid the A$41,250 ($50,000) final acceptance fee.
Earlier, former Cambridge trainer Brian Jenkins asked the Victoria Racing Club's (VRC) committee to elevate his galloper Desert Master into the field at the expense of the out-of-form Railings.
Jenkins, who trained Jezabeel to win the cup in 1998, made the approach when Desert Master was stranded 26th on order of entry after his solid third behind Sculptor in the SAAB.
The VRC committee can use its discretion to elevate a runner into the 24-horse field at the expense of an out-of-form runner.
Railings, trained at Cambridge by Roger James, ran 12th in the Mackinnon Stakes and is a $301 Cup chance on Australia's TAB Sportsbet. Said Melbourne-based Jenkins: "Of course we asked, they considered it, but I guess there has to be a pretty strong case before they bump a horse.
"There's a couple of horses there you thought wouldn't have paid up, but they're in."
VRC chief executive Dale Monteith said the committee looked hard at the final composition of the field.
"We couldn't see a reason to exclude any horse in the top 24," Monteith said.
Peterson and James had a lengthy discussion in the birdcage after the Mackinnon yesterday, James expressing his reluctance to start and Peterson urging him to press on.
James complied after nothing was found to be amiss with Railings, who hasn't won in two years.
- NZPA
