Godolphin - Luca Cumani - Kirklees - Crime Scene - Cima de Triomphe - Basaltico

The Godolphin and Luca Cumani camps are hastening slowly in their preparations for the BMW Caulfield Cup and Emirates Melbourne Cup.

In the five days since their arrival in Melbourne last Saturday, Godolphin’s Kirklees and Crime Scene and the Cumani pair Cima de Triomphe and Basaltico have done little more than walking exercise on the track at Sandown.

Kirklees and Crime Scene were scheduled to do some light work this morning (Thursday) but Godolphin’s travelling foreman Tommy Strang said it had been decided to wait until Friday before stepping up their work.

Strang said Kirklees’ temperature, which was slightly elevated when they arrived in Melbourne, was back to normal and all the other signs were positive.

"In the last 48 hours they have totally eaten up as they would have back at home in Newmarket," Strang said.

He said it was understandable that both horses would take a few days to recover from such a long trip and get back into a normal routine.

Strang confirmed that the Caulfield Cup (2400m) on 17 October was the immediate aim for Kirklees rather than the Tatts Cox Plate (2040m) at Moonee Valley a week later.

He said Crime Scene would most likely be kept for the Geelong Cup after which a decision would be made on the Melbourne Cup.

Cumani’s travelling foreman Charlie Henson, who arrived in Melbourne on Monday, is also happy with the progress of Cima de Triomphe and Basaltico.

Cima de Triomphe is high up in the betting for both cups as Cumani bids to go one better than his second placings with Purple Moon and Bauer in the past two Melbourne Cups.

Basaltico will try and make the Melbourne Cup field via the Geelong Cup which Bauer did last year.

Meanwhile, Singapore-trained mare Jolie’s Shinju worked strongly over about 2400 metres this morning as her connections strive to get her back on track for the Cox Plate after her disappointing run at in the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley last Friday night.