{"id":499089,"date":"2025-10-14T15:22:12","date_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:22:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/499089\/"},"modified":"2025-10-14T15:22:12","modified_gmt":"2025-10-14T15:22:12","slug":"willie-mullins-aiming-for-landmark-caulfield-cup-success-with-absurde-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/499089\/","title":{"rendered":"Willie Mullins aiming for landmark Caulfield Cup success with Absurde \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Willie Mullins<\/a> has endured years of frustration in the Melbourne Cup but will hope for better fortune in another of Australia\u2019s most famous races when Absurde lines up in Saturday\u2019s Caulfield Cup.<\/p>\n

The Aus$5 million (\u20ac2.8 million) mile and a half handicap is the first leg of Australia\u2019s famed \u2018spring treble\u2019 and no Irish-trained horse has ever won it. Mullins tried before in 2017 when Wicklow Brave was out of the money but goes again with another doughty dual-purpose performer. <\/p>\n

Absurde has finished fifth and seventh in the last two editions of the Melbourne Cup and is on course to try again at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November. <\/p>\n

First, though, the former Ebor and County Hurdle winner will try the shorter test around Caulfield\u2019s tight bends. Mullins has engaged local jockey Ben Allen, who rode Thomas Hobson into sixth for Mullins in the 2017 Melbourne Cup.<\/p>\n

That old link proved important for the rider, although it was vintage enough to make contact with the Irish team less than straightforward.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked my manager to give them a call and see if the ride was available, but we only had an old number for them, and it was disconnected,\u201d Allen told local media in Australia.<\/p>\n

Mullins\u2019s assistant David Casey is in Melbourne for what is by now an almost annual trip and reported: \u201cHe rode in the Melbourne Cup for us and I think he was an apprentice at the time. He got the call-up after Joao Moreira had a fall. He didn\u2019t do a lot wrong that day, so we are happy to have him.\u201d<\/p>\n

Absurde last ran in August\u2019s Leger Trial at the Curragh and is one of the topweights for Saturday\u2019s test, although Casey is hopeful of a big run.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s actually a race that would really suit him as well and its obviously worth winning,\u201d he said. \u201cAn extra race in between will suit him for a Melbourne Cup, but we\u2019d love to win on Saturday. We are not going in half-cocked. We think we have a good chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Caulfield Cup kicks off a bonanza of valuable high-profile races in Victoria\u2019s spring programme. The following Saturday sees the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, with the third leg coming in the Melbourne Cup itself.<\/p>\n

\"GoodieGoodie Two Shoes is set to be owner JP McManus’s first runner in Australia in next month’s Melbourne Cup. Photograph: Lorraine O\u2019Sullivan\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Tuesday\u2019s latest acceptance stage for the Aus$10 million (\u20ac5.6 million) \u2018race that stops a nation\u2019 saw Absurde joined by Joseph O\u2019Brien\u2019s<\/a> pair Al Riffa and Goodie Two Shoes in a potential Irish challenge. The latter is set to be owner JP McManus\u2019s<\/a> first runner in Australia. <\/p>\n

The English-trained Taufan\u2019s Melody was the first European based winner of the Caulfield Cup in 1998, five years after Vintage Crop\u2019s pioneering success in the biggest Australian race of all. Godolphin have won it twice with All The Good (2008) and Best Solution (2018), while the French hope Dunaden (2012) won it a year after having landed the Melbourne Cup.<\/p>\n

Just one horse, Rising Fast in 1954, has ever completed the \u2018spring treble\u2019 hat-trick in a single year. Might And Power won the three between 1997 and 1998.<\/p>\n

Absurde will encounter some familiar faces on Saturday, including his old stable companion Vauban. Other ex-Irish horses in the race include Valiant King, Buckaroo and Adelaide River.<\/p>\n

Mullins\u2019s flat interests this weekend are also likely to extend to Leopardstown on Saturday, where his highly rated two-year-old Thread Of Gold holds Group Three entries in both the Eyrefield and Killavullan Stakes. <\/p>\n

Thread Of Gold was bought by the US-based Team Valor operation after an impressive debut victory at the Curragh in August. Another horse holding entries in both races is Dorset, the Ballydoyle colt that landed the Goffs Million at the Curragh.<\/p>\n

A total of 17 entries remain in Sunday\u2019s jumps feature at Limerick, the Boylesports JT McNamara Munster National, with Buddy One and French Dynamite topping the weights.<\/p>\n

A pair of Grade Three contests feature in Wednesday\u2019s Punchestown action, which unusually has no Mullins runner. <\/p>\n

That can pay off for Gordon Elliott<\/a> whose Galway Plate winner Western Fold faces a task on ratings against the Ryanair runner Heart Wood, but may prove too strong a stayer for his rival. Birdie Or Bust also faces a task on figures against King Of Kingsfield in the novice chase but can also appreciate the trip more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Willie Mullins has endured years of frustration in the Melbourne Cup but will hope for better fortune in…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":499090,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4107],"tags":[163863,288,163862,50823,1071,79,16,15,2805],"class_list":{"0":"post-499089","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-racing","8":"tag-gordon-elliott","9":"tag-horse-racing","10":"tag-joseph-o-brien","11":"tag-jp-mcmanus","12":"tag-racing","13":"tag-sports","14":"tag-uk","15":"tag-united-kingdom","16":"tag-willie-mullins"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115373207996255936","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499089","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=499089"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/499089\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/499090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=499089"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=499089"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=499089"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}