Michael Hickmott hopes it’s a case of third time lucky in the Murray Bridge Gold Cup for stable pin-up Lord Vladivostok (NZ) (Tavistock), who tuned up for Saturday’s Listed feature with a sharp piece of work between races at Murray Bridge on Wednesday.
The son of Tavistock, ran third to Regalo Di Gaetano in the 2021 Gold Cup, before getting within a nose of Agreeable when second in last year’s race.
On Wednesday, he galloped alongside stablemate Oath Of Omerta and Hickmott said he was pleased with the work.
The trainer said he and jockey Todd Pannell made the decision not to race the horse again before the Gold Cup after his brilliant first-up win over 1250m, in which he lugged 63kg and won by four lengths.
“He’s a wonderfully consistent little horse and it was great to see him win first-up,” Hickmott said.
“Todd and I had a good chat after the race and we decided to go straight in to the Cup with him rather than race him again with 63kg.
“He came here to Murray Bride today (Wednesday) instead and had a nice piece of work.
“They just rolled off from the 1200m and they improved their last 600m – I’m not a real clock trainer but I was very happy with the way they worked.”
Hickmott said the gelding’s recent near misses in the race had only enhanced his desire to win his hometown feature.
“When he ran third that year, he actually had a hairline fracture in his pelvis when he pulled up and we unfortunately didn’t find that out until after his next start in Melbourne,” he said.
“Last year he got beat by a good horse, but it was a hard watch.”
