Cumani pair well settled

Bauer and Mad Rush are adapting well to their new surroundings in Australia ahead of November's Emirates Melbourne Cup.

Trainer Luca Cumani went agonisingly close to winning the race last year with Purple Moon, who lost out by half a length in second, and is keen to go one place better.

Old Newton Cup winner Mad Rush was only just beaten in the Group Two Prix Kergolay last time while Bauer's best recent performance was a second place to stablemate Sandbuch at Goodwood.

After a 51-hour journey, the pair arrived in Melbourne on Saturday morning.

"As was to be expected, both horses and grooms were pretty exhausted but after a few quiet days the team are now up and running, thoroughly looking forward to another crack at Australia's greatest prize," reported Cumani's assistant Ed Walker on the stable's website.

"Both horses have returned to their pre-export weights, Bauer taking a little longer than Mad Rush, and their training programmes will resume tomorrow having only been having long lead outs and picks of grass whilst recovering from the trip."

"They seem to have settled in very well and let's hope that with another year's experience under the belt we can go one better this time."