Racing: Plastered back in Cup frame

MELBOURNE - Lee Freedman could have a double-hand in the Melbourne Cup after he was to take over the training of West Australian galloper Plastered yesterday.

Freedman, who trains Cox Plate winner Makybe Diva, has formed a syndicate to take over 45 per cent of last year's Victorian Derby winner.

Main owner Janelle Harvey has sold her 55 per cent stake in the gelding, with Elio Galante now the main shareholder.

The sale, rumoured to now value the gelding at A$2 million ($2.17 million), was subject to a veterinary test, but Freedman was expected to take possession of him late yesterday.

Galante said Plastered's previous trainer Lindsey Smith, who had made a bid for the horse, had declined to continue training him.

Smith said a week ago that a foot abscess had ruled Plastered out of the A$5 million Melbourne Cup at Flemington next Tuesday, but Galante said yesterday that the problem was almost healed.

Freedman paid up for the cup's third declarations, which closed yesterday, for both Plastered and Makybe Diva.

He said Plastered had been entered for the weight-for-age Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington this Saturday and if he started in that, a decision about a start in the Melbourne Cup would be made afterwards.

"There is some possibility, but I don't know anything about the horse (Plastered) other than what I have seen on tape and I have had very little time to make an assessment as to whether that is the right thing to do or not," he told Radio 927 in Melbourne.

"I think it is probably smart to run him in the Mackinnon if he is fit and well and you don't have to make up your mind about the cup until after the Mackinnon."

The sale is the latest in a rocky spring for Plastered, who failed to run up to expectations in finishing a disappointing seventh in the Caulfield Cup on October 15.

Janelle Harvey and husband Paul, the regular rider of Plastered, have been at loggerheads over the horse since he came to Melbourne and Smith did admit last week Plastered had got away from him in condition before the Melbourne Cup. For a time he was not replying to phone calls from Janelle Harvey.

Members of the syndicate which raced Mummify, who was destroyed after breaking down when third in the Caulfield Cup, are among the members of Freedman's syndicate in Plastered.

Freedman said a decision on whether Makybe Diva started in the Melbourne Cup would depend on the mare's condition.

He said he did not want to start her on a firm track.

- NZPA