Emmet Mullins: 'The Melbourne Cup is definitely something that is in our minds' for Doncaster Cup contender

Emmet Mullins says Winday has a bag packed and ready to make a late dash for the Melbourne Cup if he can make an impression in the Group Two Betfred Howard Wright Doncaster Cup on Town Moor on Friday.

The Grand National-winning trainer, who this week confirmed he will take over Jim Bolger's Cooolcullen base from next season, has made a career of innovative planning.

But after sending the still unexposed three-year-old Winday to register a first win in a Ffos Las maiden in August, he is now planning an assault on one of the biggest races in the racing calendar at Flemington in November.

Winday faces stiff opposition in this two-and-a-quarter-mile contest, not least of which from fellow Irish raiders Queenstown and Ascending as well as a home challenge headed by Caballo De Mar and Beylerbeyi .

“The Melbourne Cup is definitely something that is in our minds. He's definitely going to have to run a big race and probably jump another 10lb to get in, but we're hoping that his mark will get changed a good bit,” Mullins told Sky Sports Racing.

“On Friday evening we'll be deciding whether to get our scans and things in order to travel.”

Winday has been tested in an unusual way despite his lack of racecourse experience with just seven races under his belt and three of those over hurdles in France.

“He's a tough little individual. We left him in France last season after a sales race at the Arc meeting and he campaigned over hurdles in the spring. He didn't manage to get his head in front, but he ran in some good races at Auteuil and I think that's hopefully made a man of him very quickly,” Mullins explained.

“Taking him to Ffos Las was just about confidence. He's had a few runs without getting his head in front and though we probably weren't planning on bumping into an 86-rated horse (Blue Hercules), thankfully he was able to cope with that and won well.

“I think he might improve a bit for a bit of cut in the ground, so hopefully he can take that step forward and I think three-year-olds have a decent enough record of running well in the (Doncaster) race. We'll be happy if he's placed and runs well.

“Hopefully he can build up into a Cup horse for next season, but he's had three runs over hurdles, so I'm fairly sure he could take in a Fred Winter (Boodles Juvenile Handicap Hurdle) at the Cheltenham Festival, hopefully.”

George Scott's Caballo De Mar is on a retrieval mission having been virtually pulled up in the Ascot Gold Cup then managing only a six-and-three-quarter-lengths fourth when favourite in the Lonsdale Cup at York.

“Since York we have run appropriate tests and put a scope down him and basically couldn't find anything wrong,” said Scott.

“Oisin (Murphy) and I are kind of the same opinion that he is a horse who maybe doesn't suit a really strong run race and doesn't want to be pressing a strong pace.

“That said, he is showing us all the right signs but you want him to bounce back to form and it is a race that we are hoping he can get back on track in.”

Aidan O'Brien's likely favourite Queenstown proved his current well-being with a wide-margin win over Kizlyar in the Irish St Leger Trial at the Curragh and will come into the race with the second highest official rating on 110, 5lb below Caballo De Mar.

Two horses attempt to make the jump from top-class handicap to Group Two company with both Henry de Bromhead's Ascending and Ian Williams' Beylerbeyi stepping up in trip after finishing fourth and fifth respectively in the Ebor at York.

De Bromhead said Ascending has started to come to the boil again after a slightly below-par season and he believes a step back up in trip beyond two miles will help to keep the heat up.

“We hope he has a bit of a chance. He is in good form, he ran really well in the Ebor and we feel he is coming back to himself, how he was now,” he said. “The trip should suit him like it did at Ascot (last season when winning the two-and-a-half-mile Ascot Stakes).

“It still look very competitive and there are plenty of good horses in it, but we are happy to take our chance.”

Williams is taking in a Group Two en route to a Cesarewitch title defence with Beylerbeyi and he, too, believes his stayer will appreciate the step up in trip from the Ebor.

“He ran a great race at York, but his style of racing makes it very difficult in those major handicaps with jockeys having to hang on to him in order to make him see out the trip,” he said.

“You end up out of position with an awful lot of ground to make up in very very good races. Things then have to fall his way. But this does fit in (with the Cesarewitch plan) and a small field over a trip that suits him with prize money all the way down puts him in with a chance of stealing a place en route to Newmarket.”

Berkshire Sundance (Andrew Balding), Epic Poet (David O'Meara) and Peace Belle (Jennie Candlish) make up the eight-strong field.