Melbourne Cup decision pending for Scandinavia

A decision on whether Scandinavia will travel for the Lexus Melbourne Cup could be made by the end of the week.

The three-year-old provided Aidan O’Brien with his ninth victory in the St Leger at Doncaster last Saturday and attention soon switched to the Flemington showpiece on November 4.

When the weights were released earlier in the week, Scandinavia was allotted 55.5kg (8st 10lb) and the son of Justify would be trying to become the first of his age group to score since Charlie Appleby’s Cross Counter in 2018.

O’Brien planned to run last year’s St Leger winner Jan Brueghel in the race but he was ruled out by the local vets due to an unsatisfactory scan result.

“There’s no decision about Australia yet, there won’t be until probably the end of the week I’d have thought,” said O’Brien.

“He had to be very brave. We knew he was tough and he had to be.”

Looking towards next season, O’Brien said Scandinavia’s options remained open regarding his best distance.

“I think he could run in the good races over a mile and a half but he does stay exceptionally well, doesn’t he.”

Back in third was the very lightly-raced Stay True under Mickael Barzalona, having just the fourth race of his career.

O’Brien added: “He ran a blinder, he’s slowly progressing, slowly getting there and hopefully he’s one for next year.”

On the same day, O’Brien’s Delacroix impressed in winning the Irish Champion Stakes, his second Group One victory of the season following his Eclipse success.

As a son of Dubawi, O’Brien has repeatedly stated how important he will be at stud for Coolmore and no decision has yet been taken on whether he will run again.

“Delacroix seems to be fine, obviously he hasn’t done much yet but he seems to be fine,” said O’Brien, whose colt holds an entry in the Champion Stakes at Ascot.

“There’s no decisions taken about him yet, it will be the end of the week or next week I’d say.”