龍哥認為比起墨爾本杯，凱旋門更適合詩人作家
Champion Irish jockey Kieren Fallon has suggested the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe could be a better target than a second assault on the Melbourne Cup for the topweight Yeats.
Fallon put forward the Arc at Longchamp on October 7 as his preferred option for Yeats after the grand stayer gave him and trainer Aidan O'Brien their first success in the Irish St Leger at the Curragh last Saturday.
Yeats, well beaten when seventh in last year's Melbourne Cup, is the topweight with 59kg for this year's $5 million event at Flemington on November 6.
Fallon suggested the Arc and maybe the Japan Cup - both over 2400m - could be more suitable targets for Yeats as he feels he has too much weight to win the Melbourne Cup under handicap conditions.
"It would be very difficult for Yeats in Melbourne, even though he went last year," Fallon said.
"They've killed him with weight, he's got too much - for me anyway."
Fallon's view of Yeat's Melbourne Cup weight will be disputed by many handicapping and ratings experts who feel he is leniently treated after escaping a penalty for his St Leger win after also winning his second Ascot Gold Cup in June.
Racing and Sports and Timeform director Gary Crispe is amazed Racing Victoria handicapper Greg Carpenter did not penalise Yeats for his St Leger win after giving him only half a kilogram more than he carried in last year's Melbourne Cup in the original weights.
Crispe pointed out that Yeats has won two Group One races since he ran in last year's Melbourne Cup where the weights this year are framed under a different weight-for-age scale that favors the topweight.
Fallon named Septimus, a record breaking winner of last Friday's Doncaster Cup and the rising staying star of the O'Brien team, as the right horse for Melbourne.
"Septimus would be a better chance, he's in there with 9 stone," Fallon told At The Races.
A decision on O'Brien's Australian plans is expected later this week with St Leger runner-up Scorpion also in the mix to travel to Melbourne.
"None of them is being ruled out just yet, but Yeats went there last year and we could be looking at training him for another Ascot Gold Cup bid next year," O'Brien admitted, also suggesting the Prix du Cadran could be favoured for Septimus.
"We will have to make a decision fairly soon, as if we are going to send a horse for the Melbourne Cup they will have to go in quarantine within the next couple of weeks."
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