It’s a fair assumption that 2022 will be the final calendar year of competing for Melbourne Cup winner Verry Elleegant. The superstar mare is busy with the Sydney Autumn Carnival at the time of writing, which should culminate in a tilt at the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on 9th April, but what happens after that is anyone’s guess.
Indeed, some are asking whether her heroics at the 2021 Melbourne Cup will be her last appearance before the crowds in Victoria. But the truth is we simply do now know which Australian horse racing racecourse will be the scene of her final bow, or whether her final race will be somewhere abroad.
Trainer Chris Waller was non-committal when he recently spoke to the press. He has pencilled in the Ranvet Stakes (Rosehill, 19thMarch), followed by the Queen Elizabeth (Randwick) as potentially being her final runs in Australia.
There is, however, a strong possibility that she heads off to Europe after those two events, which will put her Australian spring campaign in jeopardy. While he didn’t say it explicitly, Waller hinted that it was a distinct choice between the two.
You can appreciate the attraction of a European summer campaign for the owners of Verry Elleegant. The horse’s adaptability has been her biggest forte down the years. She’s won big events at distances of just 7f, and we, of course, know that she has the ability to handle the 2m test as we saw that in the Melbourne Cup.
The European summer season will offer a rich variety of options, and there are several events in the UK that will particularly appeal to owners wanting to build something of a legacy. Needless to say, having a Melbourne Cup winner appearing at Ascot or Longchamp would be quite the draw for European racing fans.
Of course, much will depend on what happens in the coming weeks. If Verry Elleegant looks a bit tired after the spring season, it might make sense to rest over the winter, then come back for a final spring campaign. Ladbrokes makes her second favourite for the Melbourne Cup at the time of writing, and the allure of training a two-time winner would certainly appeal to Waller.
But we will see over the next few weeks what the plans are for the super mare. Whatever happens, the 11-time Group 1 winner deserves a good send-off. Whether it’s in Europe, Sydney, Melbourne, or somewhere else, racing fans will be hoping that it is a glorious goodbye befitting of a champion racehorse.
