Diva not certain for hat-trick bid
Trainer Lee Freedman has warned it is not a “given” that favourite Makybe Diva will run in the Emirates Melbourne Cup a week on Tuesday.
The eight-year-old mare would be bidding for a hat-trick in the Group One feature after landing an historic second successive victory in the two-mile contest last November.
Makybe Diva is due to contest the Group One Cox Plate at Moonee Valley this weekend and Freedman will be looking for a good run before making any decisions on the mare’s next outing.
He told At The Races: “It was never a fait accompli she would run in the Melbourne Cup.
“There are some very good young horses in the race that have struck form recently and are going to get seven, eight, nine kilos off her.
“I would think she would have to do something extraordinary (on Saturday) and then do particularly well at the stables and move on to have a crack at the Melbourne Cup.
“The press here have got it is a given, but it’s not a given.
“The way these lightweights have come through in the last two weeks, it’s quite conceivable she could win the Cox Plate and still not start favourite for the Melbourne Cup, if she did start, because there are a lot better weighted horses than her in the race.”
Freedman will not be influenced by the public or media when it comes to deciding whether Makybe Diva will head to Flemington Park again and he already has one eye on the long-term plans for the daughter of Desert King.
“The fact she’s going for a third Melbourne Cup titillates the public here, keeps the press very interested, keeps the headlines going but will in no way impact upon the decision of whether she runs or not,” he said.
“She’s a seven-year-old mare and she’s got an extraordinarily high value as a broodmare – it’s not like we’re talking about a seven or eight-year-old gelding going for the race and there’s no tomorrow.
“Obviously we have got to be very mindful of her value. I’ve just had a Group One horse (Mummify) break down in a race and have to be put down.
“Her participation very much depends in my mind on what the weather does, how she takes the travelling and so on because this mare could go to Dubai next year for the Sheema which is a £5m race – all these things have got to be considered.”
Makybe Diva is currently the 7-2 favourite with both William Hill and Ladbrokes for the Australian feature on November 1.
