Leading South African owner Braam van Huyssteen will be at Flemington Racecourse on 5 November where he hopes to lead in the winner of the A$7,3m Lexus Melbourne Cup.
The charismatic George-based Van Huyssteen, whose dayglo yellow and purple silks have been a dominant feature on our tracks since his 50-1 Grey Cossack won the 2011 Gold Vase in the care of Carl Burger, could enjoy the extremely rare privilege of two runners in Australian racing’s holy grail – a race that literally stops the nation on the first Tuesday of every November.
Braam van Huyssteen (photo: hamishNIVENPhotography)
Braam’s previous highlight, in a decade of racing horses, came at Kenilworth in January 2018 when dual SA Horse Of The Year Legal Eagle, a horse that he had acquired only weeks earlier, won the prestigious Gr1 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate for the third consecutive year.
But the entrepeneur’s sights have now moved to the global stage and Melbourne on 5 November – a date on our calendar usually associated with fireworks.
Together with his longstanding partner-owner, the Brisbane-based William Henderson, Braam will fancy the chances of Europe’s richest flat handicap race winner, Mustajeer, who is set 55kgs, being a big runner. They also have Raheen House in the weights. He will carry 53kgs, but could possibly miss the cut.
While Ger Lyons trained Mustajeer to win the Ebor at York in August, trainer Kris Lees will take over the son of Medicean’s preparation in advance of the Caulfield Cup.
Lyons knows Mustajeer well, but he was not too helpful in suggesting whether Mustajeer had a shout in the 3200m scrap.
Mustajeer – talented and capable of a big run on 5 November
Playfully labelling the race ‘the most expensive bumper in the world’, he said that ‘braver and bigger men than him have tried and failed. “And better horses than this guy have tried and failed,” he added.
Damien Oliver will ride Mustajeer in the Caulfield Cup.
Newmarket trainer William Haggas plans to give the gelded Sea The Stars’ son Raheen House a shot at the Caulfield Cup on 19 October.
The five year-old, one of just two horses to have beaten dual Arc winner Enable, finished down the field on his last start in the Ebor at York – but he had previously been placed in both Listed and Group race company on the Knavesmire.
Champion Sydney jockey Brenton ‘The Gun’ Avdulla has been locked in to partner Raheen House in both races.
If we can’t win the World Cup in Japan, let’s shout Braam home in the Melbourne Cup.
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