WHOBEGOTYOU

THE AGE
Andrew Eddy
September 23, 2009

WHOBEGOTYOU may try to emulate the remarkable final campaign of champion mare Makybe Diva, with a Melbourne Cup run to possibly follow his Cox Plate tilt.

Trainer Mark Kavanagh said it was a distinct possibility that Whobegotyou could contest the Melbourne Cup, as Makybe Diva did in 2005, off a successful Cox Plate campaign.

''She showed that it was possible and it's certainly an option that has its appeal,'' he said yesterday.

''Every owner wants a Melbourne Cup runner and he's fully qualified and is assured to get a run in the race, so you'd be mad not to seriously consider it.''

Few punters have considered the plan, as while Whobegotyou is the $3.80 favourite to win the Cox Plate on October 24, he is a $41 chance to win the Melbourne Cup 10 days later.

Whobegotyou has run just once over further than 2040 metres, when he was runner-up to Rebel Raider in last spring's 2500-metre Victoria Derby.

Some observers thought Whobegotyou failed to stay the trip and so have dismissed him as a Melbourne Cup chance.

Kavanagh said plans were still up in the air for Whobegotyou, who could run in Saturday week's Turnbull Stakes at Flemington or be saved for the following week's Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield.

Kavanagh paid the $770 on behalf of owner Lawrence Eales for Whobegotyou to remain in the hunt for the Caulfield Cup when second declarations were taken yesterday - one of 82 horses still in the hunt.