It’s been years in the making and finally star America-based, Puerto Rico-born jockey Johnny Velazquez will get his opportunity to ride in the Melbourne Cup.
Velazquez revealed that he was approached some 15-20 years ago to ride in Australia’s greatest race and while it didn’t come to fruition, he’s been following the Cup closely ever since.
This year, Velazquez will ride US raider Parchment Party, who won his way into the 3200-metre staying event by taking out the Belmont Gold Cup in New York, which is a golden-ticket event.
“I’ve watched the race almost every year and if I don’t watch it live, I do watch the replay the next day,” Velazquez said on the Sadler Sessions podcast. “I’ve been watching it for maybe 20 years. I’m pretty familiar with it.”
While Velazquez may not have ridden in the race, he noted that it has some similarities with America’s greatest race, the Kentucky Derby, which he’s won three times.
“There’s a lot of horses, just like riding in the Kentucky Derby,” he said. “It’s one of the hardest races to ride in the Derby, although, I like the Melbourne Cup better. It’s longer, it’s slower, so you get more of a chance for your horse to relax and get a better position, if you will.
“The Derby, it’s go, go the whole time, a rough race. I’ve watched the Melbourne Cup and I think it will be a lot easier than riding in the Derby, even though there’s more horses in it. I’m very excited, I just hope that my horse really gets a good feel of the grass and gets a bit of luck.”
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The grass is the key question for the Bill Mott-trained Parchment Party, given that his form in America is on dirt tracks and he has not yet won on grass. One positive though is that he’s a proven stayer.
“The distance will help us a lot,” Velazquez said. “The question that we have is whether he’s going to handle the grass, basically. The owners love to have the opportunity to bring him there, a great trainer Bill Mott thinks that he might handle the grass.
“I think hopefully we get a firm grass that he can handle it better than soft turf, I believe sometimes for horses like that, firm grass will be better for them.”
Parchment Party was allocated gate three on Saturday night at the Melbourne Cup barrier draw.
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