Willie Mullins column: Two big chances of winning the Melbourne Cup

Vauban is favourite for the Lexus Melbourne Cup and everything has gone well with him in Australia. David Casey was down there overseeing the preparation with Emilie Seigle who looks after Absurde.

You shouldn’t forget about him either. Frankie Dettori gave him a great ride to win the Sky Bet Ebor and that was a ‘win and you’re in race’ for this. He has a nice low weight and we were very lucky to get Zac Purton to ride him.

He’s enjoyed a phenomenal spell in Hong Kong and was in touch as soon as it was clear Frankie wouldn’t be able to do the weight. He finished third in the race a few years ago on Max Dynamite too so we have a bit of a relationship and history. He knows how we like our horses ridden.

When they ran at Ascot, Absurde finished seven-and-a-half lengths behind Vauban but we think he will get a lot closer this time.

I was impressed with Vauban at Royal Ascot and again at Naas. He looked big in the parade ring beforehand that day and I hadn’t been too hard on him after Ascot so he surprised me.

I was hoping he’d run well and hopefully win but it was the manner in which he did it, off the preparation he’d had, that surprised me.

That showed he’s improving all the time. I think he’s as good as Max Dynamite and maybe better, we’ll find out that on Tuesday. It’s our strongest chance ever in the Melbourne Cup and will probably will be my strongest chance ever in the race.

Their work has been fantastic since arriving in Melbourne. Temperatures over the last few days have been around 30 degrees so the ground will be fast. Although we would have preferred slower ground we don’t expect the firm conditions to be a problem for either horse

It’s very exciting to have two live runners in the race – especially with the history of the place. The man who founded the Melbourne Hunt, who founded Flemington, who founded the Melbourne Cup was born about seven or eight miles from Closutton as the crow flies.

So if we win we can say we’re bringing the Cup back to Carlow where George Watson bought a pack of hounds at Ballydarton and started the process that led to the great race we have today. He rode in the first few Melbourne Cups and was the starter for about 25 years when he retired from riding so we’ve a bit of history with it around our area.

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