Top New Zealand horseman Lance O'Sullivan has some unfinished Melbourne Cup business to complete at Flemington racecourse on the first Tuesday in November.
O'Sullivan is heading to Victoria's spring carnival with leading Melbourne Cup prospect Pentane (NZ) (Pentire x Tuff One by Prince Raider) who produced a barnstorming finish to win the listed Jim and John Evans Ltd Classic (1670m) at Paeroa on Saturday.
It represented the seventh win from 13 starts for Pentane (NZ) and added to an outstanding record which already features a Group 1 victory over 3200m in last season's Auckland Cup at Ellerslie.
In his next four starts Pentane (NZ) will be chasing races worth a total of NZ$10.3 million with his next outing being in the Gr.1 $1 million Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m) at Hastings on October 7.
That will be followed by a tilt at the A$2.5 million Caulfield Cup (2400m) at Caulfield on October 21 followed by the A$750,000 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington on November 4 before he contests the A$5 million Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington three days later.
Pentane (NZ) will be ridden by Brett Prebble in his Melbourne engagements. Saturday's winning jockey, apprentice Chad Ormsby, will most likely retain the mount on the gelding for the Gr.1 Kelt Capital Stakes (2040m).
O'Sullivan said the Melbourne Cup is still the single race everyone involved in horse racing in Australasia dreams of winning.
In 1985 O'Sullivan came within a whisker of winning the race as a jockey when Korrie Corrie May (NZ) (Sir Tristram x Corrie Maree by Kurdistan), trained by his father Dave and brother Paul, finished second behind What A Nuisance.
O'Sullivan said after Saturday's race that everything was perfectly on target for the Melbourne Cup with Pentane (NZ).
'I would have been happy if he finished in the first four home in today's race and the main thing was to see him running home well,' O'Sullivan said.
'The face he won the race was a bonus and he's come through the race like he hadn't even had a run,' O'Sullivan said.
'He has come up stronger this campaign and is a more mature horse,' O'Sullivan said. 'He's very robust and nothing much worries him at the races.'
O'Sullivan has decided on using Cranbourne as the spring carnival base in Melbourne for Pentane (NZ) who is owned by his Auckland breeders, Peter and Michael Fraher.