Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban is “as good a thing” coming out of Europe for the race, according to prominent owner Nick Williams, whose father Lloyd has won the Cup seven times.
Vauban drew barrier three on Saturday afternoon for Tuesday’s Cup, and remains the horse to beat according to bookmakers, while stablemate Absurde will jump from gate eight.
Vauban (right) and Absurde (left) worked at Flemington on Tuesday.Credit: Getty Images
Without A Fight, winner of the Caulfield Cup, drew barrier 16, while last year’s winner Gold Trip will jump from gate two. Soulcombe, who missed the start in the Caulfield Cup, scored barrier four.
Williams, who will be represented by Cleveland (barrier 23) and Serpentine (barrier one) as the family chases its eighth Cup, said the Willie Mullins-trained stayer looked awfully hard to beat.
“Obviously the favourite looks like it’s probably a good thing, but stranger things have happened,” he said.
“I think it’s as good a thing as I’ve seen in the Melbourne Cup, that I can remember.
“This is a tough, older horse. This is a properly seasoned, beautifully conditioned horse.
“Those three horses at the top, Gold Trip, Without A Fight and Vauban, certainly they’ve got a lot of class on the field. We’ll see what pans out on the day. They are three fantastic horses.”
Team Williams has a knack of winning the Cup, most recently in 2020 when Twilight Payment led from start to finish under Jye McNeil.
McNeil rides Serpentine, while Mick Dee rides Cleveland for the camp, fresh off his win in the Moonee Valley Gold Cup - a race which Williams has used to good effect.
“What A Nuissance went through it and won [the Melbourne Cup],” he said.
“Our horses have been in the right races and performed well, and we’ll see how they’ll go.”Serpentine failed in last year’s Cup off the short three-day back-up, but Williams said his third in the Bart Cummings was terrific.
“The form I think going through the Newcastle Cup, Metrop and St Leger, the two bits of form I like locally are it and the Bart Cummings,” he said.
“They seem to be the right form to me. A lot of the horses coming out of those races are coming out and running well everywhere.
“Both our horses are going well, whether they’ve got the class to win, I don’t know, but we’ll know that on Tuesday.”
Asked whether the family could win an eighth Cup, Williams said: “We’ve got two runners that are in the final field, so we’ve got a chance. They’re not easy to win.”
