The ownership group of Cox Plate winner Sir Dragonet are also among the new owners of Melbourne Cup hopeful Sir Lucan.
A deal was struck overnight for Sir Lucan to come to Australia to be trained for the Melbourne Cup by Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott.
Sir Lucan is the younger brother to Sir Dragonet and the Cox Plate winner’s ownership group had also been keeping an eye on the stayer in Ireland.
Ozzie Kheir, who was instrumental in getting Sir Dragonet to Melbourne last year, said the group had been impressed in the way Sir Lucan was shaping.
“He’s a bit different to Sir Dragonet in that he’s an outright stayer,” Kheir told RSN.
“At the same time, Gai was negotiating to take a stake in Sir Lucan so we decided to do it together rather than trying to outbid each other.
“It’s ended up working well and we are looking forward to him running.”
Sir Lucan is set to run in the UK on Wednesday night in the Group 2 Voltigeur Stakes at York.
Kheir said the logistics of getting Sir Lucan to Australia for the Melbourne Cup remain up in the air.
He said as part of the negotiations, Coolmore and Aidan O’Brien want to run Sir Lucan in the Group 1 Irish St Leger at The Curragh on September 12.
“But in doing so we would have to get the last flight to come to Australia and at this stage there’s not many horses coming on that flight,” Kheir said.
“If he can’t get a spot on that flight, it might mean he would have to miss the St Leger and it would mean he’d have a lead-up run in Australia and that will probably be either in the Caulfield Cup or Moonee Valley Cup leading into the Melbourne Cup.”
While vetted to pass stringent Hong Kong protocols as part of the sale process, Sir Lucan has yet to undergo a scintigraphy examination which would be required before flying to Australia and undergoing quarantine at Werribee to run in the 2021 Melbourne Cup.
