TORRANZINO wins the G3 Geelong Cup and going to the 2025 Melbourne Cup!

TORRANZINO wins the G3 Geelong Cup and going to the 2025 Melbourne Cup!

Who would have thought? The King of England taking on the bush battlers down the straight at Geelong.

But that's exactly what happened in the Geelong Cup on Thursday afternoon - with Horsham-based trainer Paul Preusker winning the David v Goliath battle and in turn winning a spot in the Melbourne Cup, denying King Chuck in the process.

Torranzino, ridden by Celine Gaudray, chased down the King's Gilded Water down the long Geelong straight, proving too strong in the closing stages.

It gives Preusker his first Melbourne Cup runner since Surprise Baby in 2020.

"Super excited to get another go (at the Melbourne Cup). That's what it is all about for me - getting a go," Preusker said. "I came here yesterday thinking I'd run one-two. He's done plenty of work for it and I love the way he's going.

"We came through the hurdles yesterday, but we might camp away next time. He's been an unbelievable horse all the way through. He's wanted to do things his way. I've hurdle-schooled him, steeple-schooled him, we've locked horns a few times but eventually he won and he's a happy horse now."

The win saw Gaudray become just the second female winning rider of the Geelong Cup as she joined Debbie Healey (1983) on the honour roll.

Gilded Water, who ran $1.80 favourite, bypassed Midlander (1967) as the most recent odds-on favourite to run in a Geelong Cup. Midlander, who had Roy Higgins on board, finished third, while the previous odds-on winner of the Geelong Cup was Crete in 1911.

Gaudray was in disbelief that she had won her way into the Melbourne Cup.

"It is so surreal. Ever since I was a little girl I watched the Melbourne Cup - as does everybody else - and to get a ride is unbelievable and this horse really deserves his spot," Gaudray said.

"The whole race I was giggling to myself. He was travelling really well and I thought at the 600 (metre mark) that I'd pop out and let him come into it. I had so much horse underneath me and he took me to the line."

Preusker said Torranzino is ready for the Melbourne Cup.

"He's pretty much there. Just need to keep the weight off him. He's a horse that does well so we'll keep him ticking over. He's fit," he said.

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