Greg Denham | November 05, 2008
IRISH trainer Aidan O'Brien last night failed to commit to further assaults on the Melbourne Cup after a fiery one-hour stewards' hearing into the riding of one of his horses in yesterday's Cup.
After stewards told him that they had grave doubts about Wayne Lordan's ride on the O'Brien-trained Alessandro Volta, the trainer said: "Hopefully, we'll be back next year."
The stewards eventually cleared Lordan and O'Brien of breaching rule 135b, which deals with allowing a horse to finish in the best possible position.
Just under four hours earlier, O'Brien said he was enthusiastic about returning in 2009, for the fourth year in succession, even though his three runners finished at the tail of the field.
Racing Victoria chief steward Terry Bailey told O'Brien that his panel was concerned with the manner in which Lordan rode Alessandro Volta, which led before the winning post with a lap to go and ran the first 1600 metres five seconds faster than last year's Cup was run.
"Although we have grave doubts, we won't be taking the matter any further," Bailey said.
The hearing featured a tense 15-minute exchange between the trainer and Bailey.
Earlier, Bailey had requested that jockey Johnny Murtagh, who rode the O'Brien-trained Septimus, call the trainer because the stewards did not contact him.
"We need your assistance with that, he's not answering my calls, but he might answer yours," Bailey said.
The stewards initially spoke to O'Brien's three jockeys individually, and later queried conflicting answers given by Lordan and Colm O'Donoghue, who rode Honolulu.
In response to tactics O'Brien had given Lordan, the trainer said: "I told the whole world that Alessandro Volta would be going forward. I said jump and ride handy and don't be afraid. Don't break stride."
O'Brien said he offered up the go-forward tactics because all three were proven stayers.
"If we dropped them in, we've got no chance," he said.
Bailey said he did not question the riding tactics on O'Brien's other two runners, which along with Alessandro Volta led the field by as much as six lengths at one stage, because they pulled up lame after a Racing Victoria veterinary examination.
O'Brien described the Flemington track as "like concrete" and said he could have easily scratched the trio after a track upgrade earlier in the program.
"Mr Smith (part owner Derrick Smith) said maybe we shouldn't run the horse," O'Brien said. "I could have come in here after the second race and withdrawn the horses, but there would have been an uproar."
In a stunning revelation, the trainer told the inquiry that he was promised safe ground, but failed to elaborate who made the promise.
"We came down to do our best," O'Brien said. "If I wanted to set up a strong pace, I would have brought down a miler. We've been straight all the way."
O'Brien said the hard track was a "contributing factor", but was at a loss to explain the full reasons for their failures.
O'Brien said Alessandro Volta had "tensed up" because of the surface.
"When he started to get tired, he started to curl up," O'Brien said.
Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said the Cup would remain popular with foreign owners and trainers despite this year's failure.
He said England's Newmarket trainer Luca Cumani was now "well and truly on the hook" after finishing second the last two years and that O'Brien was not a trainer to shy away from a challenge.
"His horses have run disappointingly but I hope he continues to take up the challenge to try and get the formula right," Carpenter said.
