Marathon stop on Melbourne road for Roaring Legend

Hugo Palmer is dreaming of a Melbourne Cup tilt with Roaring Legend, as his staying star bids for his fourth win on the bounce in the BetUK All-Weather Championships Marathon Handicap.

The Manor House handler had intended on taking the five-year-old to Meydan for the Dubai Gold Cup after his most recent win, but instead the route to Flemington takes him to Newcastle for Good Friday’s valuable all-weather action.

Palmer said: “We were really disappointed he didn’t get into the Dubai Gold Cup. I just felt having won three races the way he had, and the race didn’t fill, it was disappointing as I feel he could have been really competitive there.

“We’re dreaming that he’s a Melbourne Cup horse, so the hope is that he can win at Newcastle, but winning handicaps off marks in the 100s is a tricky thing to do.”

Roaring Legend is unbeaten in three starts since joining Palmer from a spell jumping with Olly Murphy, winning those events by a total of 11 and a half lengths.

“We haven’t had him very long and he obviously like the jumping game, but he’s won at Wolverhampton, Newcastle and Lingfield for us, so I think he can cope with anything,” continued Palmer.

“We’ll see how Newcastle goes but the plan would be, if it goes well, he could go to Chester for the Ormonde Stakes, or if it’s very soft there we’ll wait for the Yorkshire Cup.

“He’s got to win a Listed race or finish in the first three in a Group race over a mile and a half or further to pass the ballot for Melbourne, so we’ll see how we get on.”

Michael Bell’s Duke Of Oxford is another to arrive at Gosforth Park on a winning run and has been held back for this since winning back-to-back races at Kempton before the turn of the year.

Second to George Scott’s subsequent German St Leger winner Prydwen in this race last year, Duke Of Oxford also finished on the podium in the Northumberland Plate and has track form in his favour.

“He was runner-up last year and the horse who beat him went on to achieve better things,” said Bell.

“He’s also run well at Newcastle in the Northumberland Plate and he’s been aimed at this race since winning the London Series final at Kempton in December. We gave him a nice break after that but he’s come back in and he’s ready to go.

“I hope he’s not at the ceiling of his ability and he will need to improve again, but we know he likes the track, we know he’s in good form and we’re hopeful of a good run.”

James Ferguson’s Wonder Legend got the better of Andrew Balding’s Plage De Havre when they met at Wolverhampton recently with both proving models of consistency of late, while the David O’Meara-trained Heathen and Adrian McGuinness’ Irish raider Tribal Star are other notable names amongst a field of 14.