Jockey Celine Gaudray is on cloud nine after riding Torranzino to Geelong Cup glory on Thursday, in doing so booking a berth in the Melbourne Cup.
Gaudray is set to make her first appearance in the Flemington classic next month.
She rode Torranzino to victory in Geelong with a burst at the 100m mark and said the six-year-old “really deserves his spot” in the Melbourne Cup.
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“It’s so surreal,” Gaudray told Racing.com.
“Ever since I was a little girl I obviously watched the Melbourne Cup, as does everybody else, and to get a ride is unbelievable.
“The whole race I was actually giggling to myself.
“He was travelling really well and I thought around the 600 (metres to go) I’d pop out and let him come into it. I had so much horse underneath me and he just took me through the line.”
Asked how she’ll feel waiting for the Melbourne Cup, Gaudray was succinct: “Excited (laughs).”
Torranzino, a six-year-old trained by Paul Preusker, entered the Geelong Cup on the back of a runner-up finish in the Group 3 Bart Cummings at Flemington earlier this month.
“Super excited to get another go (in the Melbourne Cup), that’s what it’s all about for me,” Preusker said.
“Celine’s got that job done for me.”