Gosden looks to end year on high note with victory

MELBOURNE: Trainer John Gosden has a remarkable year — winning the Ascot Gold Cup, the Arc De Triomphe and Breeders’ Cup turf — but his greatest achievement could come at Flemington today if Muntahaa can break the English jinx in the Melbourne Cup.
Cracksman, Enable and Roaring Lion will fight out the horse of the year title in Europe, and all carried the Gosden polish as did the best stayer in the world, Stradivarius, which dominated 2018 races beyond two miles in the old dart.
“When your stable is going like that is seems to flow on, it is hard to explain,” Gosden said from the Breeders’ Cup meeting in the US. “It has been an incredible year and to have a horse in the Melbourne Cup to finish it off is exciting for all of us.
“I just wish I could be there. I would have loved to get a jet down after the Breeders’ Cup but there are sales here in the States, so I will just have to watch it from over here.
“This horse was very good in the Ebor and after that it was decided to have a go at the Melbourne Cup because he was going to head down there to David Hayes anyway.”
The luck of the Gosdens extended to son Thady, who spent the first half of the year in America with Bob Baffert as Triple Crown winner Justify.
The latter part of 2018 he has stepped up as the foreman for Muntahaa at just 23 years of age.
“He was just a machine, Justify,” Gosden jr said.
“They were getting very excited about him before I left. I has there for his first two runs and to see him and the horses we have had at home has been amazing.
“To be here with Muntahaa has been another experience I couldn’t have imagined. It has been an amazing year.” – SMH