KEY POINTS:
Struggling to find one of their own as a flagbearer in the Melbourne Cup, desperate Aussies are claiming New Zealander Nom Du Jeu as their leading hope.
That shows in the betting with Nom Du Jeu the best backed Australasian horse in the race at $9, but Cambridge trainer Murray Baker has two words for the theory that his horse is an Australian taking on the might of Europe.
"No way."
The lead-up to the race has been a tad embarrassing for the Australians, with C'Est La Guerre one of their best backed runners.
He only recently changed allegiance, shifting to Lloyd Williams' Melbourne empire from Kevin Myers' Wanganui stable a month or two after his four-length win in the New Zealand Derby in March.
Baker, a former first-class cricketer - he scored 142 for Central Districts against Northern Districts "a long time ago" - enjoys the transtasman rivalry as much as the next person and he is not about to concede his horse's citizenship to the Australians, although the horse's owner Billie Morton lives in Brisbane.
His Kiwi mates would never forgive him, he said.
Baker enters today's race knowing the ropes.
He has had runners before, including Nom Du Jeu's dam Prized Gem, who finished 14th in 2002, and went close to winning it with The Phantom, one of New Zealand's best horses in the early 1990s. "He was a grand horse and finished second to Kingston Rule in 1990 in what still stands as a track and race record," Baker told NZPA.
Baker, who has trained thoroughbreds for 30 years, had no complaints about finishing second, but said The Phantom was desperately unlucky not to win the Cup the year before when Tawriffic triumphed.
"He was a certainty beaten. Two horses, ridden by Melbourne's top two apprentices D. Oliver and S. King, fell in front of him and he got checked back to second last.
"He got up for fourth in what was then the track and race record before Kingston Rule bettered it the next year. [Jockey] Grant Cooksley didn't speak for an hour afterwards."
Baker said the Melbourne Cup was one of the toughest in the world.
"Any group one race in Australia is hard to win, it's very competitive racing."
But it is clear he believes he has the horsepower to take on the best trainers in the world.
"Because of his breed, Nom Du Jeu is a slow maturing horse and six months away. I think he will be a very powerful horse in the autumn. He is still a stallion but he is good now. I think he will get the trip [3200m]."
- NZPA
