Juke Box Jury Melbourne Cup Bound
Following his dead heated victory in
the Group One Irish Field St Leger at the Curragh last Saturday, trainer
Mark Johnston has not hesitated in beginning the necessary administrative
preparations for his runner to take his chances in the Melbourne Cup in
November and a bid at the £2million first prize that goes to the winner!
The son of Montjeu shared top prize
last weekend in the Irish Field St Leger with John Gosden’s Duncan, adding
to his Group 2 win over 1m7f in Deauville in August when beating Kasbah
Bliss by three lengths. These two efforts confirm the five year old as a
very serious proposition for the
Melbourne Cup,
where he is set to carry 57kg
and has shown enough over longer distances to suggest that the 2 mile trip
at Flemington won't be a problem.
The bookmakers certainly rate his
chances of winning the richest handicap in the World with odds around 25/1
on offer but that price will fluctuate between now and the race in early
November assuming that the horse travels well and runs impressively in any
other races at the Spring Festival.
Juke Box Jury's connections are said
to be excited by the prospect of the grey's chances in the race and there's
no question Mark Johnston's ability to get him ready for the race and
there's no question about his current form having won three of his four
starts this season but the question remains who will ride him and whether
Johnston and owner, Alan Spence, will go for an Australian jockey with
course knowledge of stick with Johnny Murtagh who was so brilliant on him at
the Curragh last week.
Prior to Murtagh getting the ride
last week, the horse had been ridden this season by Neil Callan, who has
ridden him to victory him twice including that excellent performance at
Deauville. In between times he was ridden exclusively by Royston French, who
won two Group 2 races and the Group 1 in Germany. Johnston therefore would
have plenty of choice of riders, all of which would love the opportunity to
take on their Australian counterparts.
His chances of victory were also
improved in the last 24 hours following the announce that Maluckyday, second
in the race last year and the long time antepost favourite to win this time
will not be running after the horse has attracted a virus and is out for the
foreseeable future.