UK raiders vie to be wizard in Oz

THERE was a time when it was a bit of disgrace to be shipped off to Australia but nowadays, a trip Down Under can do wonders for your street cred. Especially if you're a horse.

Which may explain why there are 19 British entries for this year's Melbourne Cup, among them Yorkshire trained but Scottish owned and bred Turbo Linn, who will be bidding for her eighth win on the bounce should Alan Swinbank's filly head to Flemington in November.

If she does make the long haul to the other side of the world, she'll take on the big battalions from some of the game's top yards, with Yeats just one of a handful of Aidan O'Brien possibles, last year's Goodwood Cup winner being joined by St Leger hero Scorpion, Mahler, Septimus and Hitchcock.

Ebor winner Mudawin, the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Hard Top and Luca Cumani's Purple Moon, not to mention ten Godolphin contenders, also figure, as do Japanese raiders Pop Rock and Delta Blues who finished first and second 12 months ago.

It wouldn't be a proper horse race without the Irish and Dermot Weld, who has won the event twice, has entered Bellamy Cay so there will be a lot of interested parties anxiously waiting the publication of the Melbourne Cup weights which are due to be revealed on September 3.

Not that knowing what won last year's Goodwood Cup is going to do us a lot of good this afternoon. At issue is what's going to lift today's renewal.

The answer is Geordieland, who despite having established himself as one of the most promising young stayers in the country, hasn't actually managed to get his head in front for more than two years.

Formerly trained in France, the grey made his first appearance in Britain when beaten five lengths by Yeats in this contest last year and since then, he's kept knocking at the door without quite managing to force entry.

Jamie Osborne's six-year-old also finished runner-up in Kempton's Dragonfly Stakes, runner-up to Sergeant Cecil in the Yorkshire Cup and runner-up to his old adversary Yeats in the Ascot Gold Cup.

In the absence of the latter here, Geordieland can finally lift the big prize he richly deserves.

Tax Free's latest run at the Curragh makes Dandy Nicholls's charge the one his rivals should fear in the Audi Stakes and while Holbeck Ghyll is one of the more infuriating horses in training, he may come good in the finale.

Andrew Balding's gelding is one of those who keeps threatening to win without quite managing to do it but his last success came in this same race in 2006 so with the aid of the blinkers he wears for the first time, this could well be Holbeck Ghyll's day.

High Heel Sneakers turned in a thoroughly wretched performance when a tailed-off last at Cork on her most recent start, but Richard Quinn's mount is much better than that as she'll hopefully show in the opener.

The nap was originally going to be Shevchenko in the De Boer Stakes but he's a non-runner so that's another cunning plan down the toilet.

Mind you, given how many times his namesake was said to do a disappearing act by Chelsea fans last season, perhaps we shouldn't be too surprised he won't be showing up.

In his absence, Kyle can come off the subs bench to score while Shevchenko's defection means some other poor sod has to carry the burden that is the best bet and Emerald Wilderness fits the bill nicely.

Ed Dunlop's gelding must be a joy to own as he's only ever been out of the first four once in 14 starts.

There was a time when he threatened to become a professional nearly-man, although all that changed on the Wolverhampton sand in April when he belatedly won his first race.

A couple of more victories have followed subsequently, both coming in his past two outings so he's clearly in tip-top form, and for all that he faces tougher and better opposition this afternoon, he looks progressive and well worth trying at a higher grade.

Tears Of A Clown, whom he beat at Folkestone last time out, has since gone on to land a decent Ascot handicap and with the 7lb claim of jockey Michael Geran reducing Emerald Wilderness's weight to the feather level, he can continue on an upward curve.

BURKE LANDS A BIG WINNER

LIAM Burke, better known for selling successful point-to-pointers, landed the feature event of the Galway Festival when Sir Frederick, ridden by Kevin Coleman, won the valuable William Hill-sponsored Plate yesterday.

Burke, who trains a small string in Mallow, County Carlow, has handled top-class chasers such as Gungadu and Valley Henry in the early stages of their careers and now has his own stable star.

TRAINERS SPEECHLESS

ON THE anniversary of the introduction of 48-hour declarations for all races on the Flat in Britain, a number of trainers refused to speak to TV broadcasters yesterday, including Mark Johnston. "We've all had enough," he said. "The boycott will go on until I see something happening. The forecasters have failed to reach the targets, not us."