Emissary has taken out the 2022 Geelong Cup to possibly punch his ticket into the 2022 Melbourne Cup in just under two weeks on the first Tuesday in November.
The six-year-old gelding has won his second race this preparation for Mike Moroney, after taking out the Listed Heatherlie Handicap on August 27 at Caulfield.
Emissary won at big odds for the punters that followed him into the Geelong Cup, jumping as a $17 roughie; however, he won like a good thing, leaving Surfire and the rest of the field in his wake as he flew down the outside.
The eventual winner sat at the back of the field, and as they rounded the turn, Blake Shinn got him to the very outside and he ran by Surefire to claim the $500,000 feature by just over a length.
Geelong Cup replay | October 19, 2022 | Emissary (1st)
Moroney has now won his second Geelong Cup, after winning the race with Vengeur Masque in 2017.
He could now have a runner in this year’s Melbourne Cup as long as Emissary gets a big enough penalty for winning today’s race.
“It was a really good win. We were sort of disappointed in his last run so we just put it down to the ground mainly,” he said.
Moroney explained that he wasn’t all that confident in his Geelong Cup winner after a disappointing eighth in the Herbert Power Stakes at Caulfield.
“He were starting to wonder if he really stayed. But on that today, he certainly does,” he said.
“From last spring on, we really thought that we had a really good stayer and hopefully he’s gonna go on with it.
“Yeah look he come from second last and in a really good field. One of the better Geelong Cup fields we have seen for a long, long time.
“For that reason the handicapper will recognise that and that’s what they normally go on.”
Moroney is confident that Emissary will get enough of a penalty to get him into the race that stops a nation.
Shinn has been in great form this spring since returning to Australia, and the jockey was delighted to add another piece of silverware to his collection.
“Yeah really, really special. The Geelong Cup is such a special time-honoured race and to come here and win my first, it’s fantastic,” he said.
“It was a big win. He has shown glimpses of high promise and it’s great to see him produce a PB today and he settler really nice, which is what you need over the 2400 (metres).
Shinn pointed out that a faster-run race really helped Emissary, and with similar conditions in the Melbourne Cup, he has no query about the horse’s ability to see out the two miles.
“Oh definitely – like I said, they went fast early and it just allowed him to get into a nice breathing pattern and spend no gas and the way the race was run was perfect for him,” he said.
Emissary has come into $21 in the 2022 Melbourne Cup market with online bookmakers.
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