The Ciaron Maher and David Eustace stable are looking to Interpretation winning the Geelong Cup and getting a weight penalty to gain a start in the Melbourne Cup.
The imported son of Galileo sits as number 33 in the Order of Entry into the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on November 1 with Eustace saying the stayer is possibly their number one Cup seed.
But Interpretation needs horses to fall by the wayside along with a win in the Geelong Cup and enough of a penalty to move further up the ballot order.
Interpretation is the $4 favourite with TAB to win the Group 3 Geelong Cup (2400m) on Wednesday and edge closer to that Cup start.
Should Interpretation fail in his Geelong Cup bid, there is the option of a ballot free exemption by winning the Group 3 Archer Stakes (2500m) at Flemington on Saturday week.
“He needs to win tomorrow and get a penalty, otherwise he will need a bit of luck to get in,” Eustace said.
“We really think that he’s a proper Cup horse, so he needs to show that on Wednesday. It’s a big field and we’re going to use his staying power and make it a bit of a test.”
Maher and Eustace had set Interpretation for the Group 3 The Bart Cummings (2500m) at Flemington on October 1.
Victory in that race would have given the stayer a ballot exemption into the Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 1.
“His run in The Bart Cummings was good and I thought the result could have been better and he will be ridden more positively tomorrow,” Eustace said.
“If he doesn’t win tomorrow, we may look at the Archer, but we don’t really want to. It won’t affect the horse too much having the run tomorrow.
“We probably would have gone straight into the Cup if he had won The Bart Cummings, but he hasn’t done a lot in between his races and he’s a fairly laid-back horse.
“It’s not the end of the world, but ideally he needs to win tomorrow.”
With his lightweight in the Melbourne Cup, Eustace said Interpretation was possibly the stable’s ‘top seed’, although he was not ruling out Persan and Grand Promenade who run in the Group 2 Moonee Valley Cup (2500m) on Saturday.
“They are seasoned stayers that get the trip and are just starting to come to the boil in what is a very open year,” Eustace said.