Melbourne Cup favourite Buckaroo handed wide draw

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Melbourne Cup favourite Buckaroo handed wide draw

Favourite Buckaroo will spearhead champion trainer Chris Waller’s Melbourne Cup ******** from out wide after drawing barrier 21 for the race that stops a nation.

Waller will have almost one-quarter of the 24-horse field in Tuesday’s $8 million staying test, with Caulfield Cup runner-up Buckaroo leading the charge.

Kovalica (17) and Land Legend (18) fared slightly better in the barrier draw on Saturday night, and Valiant King (22) was even wider.

Manzoice drew well in gate eight, having been elevated into the field when Kiwi stayer Mahrahaan ******* a compulsory CT scan on Saturday morning and was ruled out.

Waller won the 2021 Cup with Verry Elleegant and has already enjoyed great success during this year’s Flemington carnival, preparing winners in the Group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and Empire Rose Stakes on Derby day.

Fellow **** trainer Ciaron Maher has four runners in the Cup field, led by Okita Soushi from barrier 10.

Maher, who teamed with David Eustace for Gold Trip’s 2022 Cup win, will also saddle up Interpretation (14) and Saint George (nine) from gates he is happy with.

But Circle Of ***** (24) drew the widest barrier possible in what shapes as a huge test for champion jockey Mark Zahra, who is chasing a third-straight Cup victory after his wins on Without A ****** last year and Gold Trip.

“Twenty-four is ordinary … but Mark’s flying so it won’t matter,” Maher said.

Star jockey Kah will ride Okita Soushi despite being handed a 10-meeting suspension for careless riding on Saturday.

Kah, who won the Victoria Derby on Goldrush Guru, will start her ban on Wednesday.

James Cummings was buoyed by Zardozi’s strong run in the Empire Rose Stakes on Saturday, with the four-year-old mare later drawing barrier four.

“She ran beautifully in that race, made up good ground and stormed through the line,” said Cummings, chief *********** trainer for the Godolphin racing empire of Dubai’s ruler Sheikh Mohammed.

“She’s a really good, in-form stayer.”

*** raider Sea King, who was a dominant Bendigo Cup winner, drew the inside gate for Tuesday, while Irish trainer ******* Mullins was pleased with the barriers handed to his fancies Vauban (11) and Absurde (seven).

Onesmoothoperator drew barrier 12 after connections breathed a sigh of relief on Saturday morning when vets cleared their horse to run in the Cup.

The Geelong Cup winner had ******* a vet check on Friday due to a cut on his heel.

Aidan O’Brien’s Jan Brueghel was one of three other horses withdrawn from the field this week after failing strict Racing Victoria scans, along with the Trent Busuttin and Nat Young-trained pair Muramasa and Brayden Star.

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