One of the more remarkable Melbourne Cup stories could be set in motion this week on the other side of the world when Brian Lynch-trained Anglophile tackles the G2 Belmont Gold Cup at Saratoga.
The Belmont Gold Cup, run over two miles, is one of eight races that offers ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup. It is one of only two outside Australia, alongside the Ebor Handicap at York in August.
The race that stops the nation is renowned for its folklore and its extraordinary tales across its 160-year history, but few could match Lynch’s journey should he secure exemption with Anglophile.
Lynch is an Australian native, born in Brisbane and raised in the country NSW town of Wagga Wagga. A bull rider when he was young, he moved to the United States in 1986 to chase lucrative riches on the American circuit before transitioning to horse training in 1993.
Stints in California, including a stretch alongside the legendary Bobby Frankel, and Canada saw Lynch emerge as a Grade 1-winning trainer, splitting his string between Kentucky and Florida. His top-flight winners include Grand Arch, Oscar Performance and Heart To Heart, while he has had two Kentucky Derby runners – Classic Causeway, 11th to Rich Strike in 2022, and Owen Almighty, a game fifth this year behind Sovereignty.
“When I left Wagga Wagga in 1986, I never could have imagined I’d be on the big stage,” Lynch said earlier this year. “Not in the Melbourne Cup, let alone the Kentucky Derby. It’s a far cry from the Wagga Wagga Turf Club, that’s for sure. To potentially have runners in both in the same year? Unbelievable.”
While Anglophile may not be among the best horses Lynch has trained, he is a consistent performer in a jurisdiction in which turf stayers are largely overlooked.
Anglophile won the G3 Dueling Grounds Derby – now named the Nashville Derby – over approximately 2100m at Kentucky Downs in 2023, defeating three-time Grade 1 winner Far Bridge.
He has not won in 12 starts since, but he has prepared for his first attempt at two miles by finishing third in the G2 Elkhorn Stakes over a mile and a half and second to Far Bridge in the G2 Man O’ War Stakes over a mile and three-eighths (approximately 2200m).
“We’ve been very pleased with how’s he performed in his last two races and how he finished up in both of them,” Lynch’s son and assistant Nic told Idol Horse. “We don’t really get the opportunity to run this far very much in America, so we’ll see. We’re hoping it’s something he takes to and something he enjoys, but we won’t know until he tries it.”
Javier Castellano, who partnered Anglophile last start, retains the ride.
Should it prove a successful first attempt at 3200m, Lynch could be set for a special homecoming almost four decades in the making.
“It’s definitely something that would be satisfying for my father, even if it’s a long shot he would make the trip,” Nic Lynch said. “I’d love to get down there and see what it’s all about and it would be something I don’t think he could have imagined happening when he left Australia.”
No American-trained horse has ever made the trip to Australia for the Melbourne Cup. The closest came at almost the same time that Lynch made the move across the Pacific: Grade 1 winner Rosedale spent the first half of 1987 in training with Charlie Whittingham at Santa Anita before transferring to Bart Cummings and finishing third to Kensei at Flemington that year.
American Grade 1 winners Winchester, Sanagas and Unusual Suspect all contested the Melbourne Cup for Australian trainers, while Belmont Gold Cup winners Red Cardinal, Amade, Baron Samedi and Loft have come to Australia – although Red Cardinal is the only one to make it to the Melbourne Cup itself.
The Grey Wizard became the first horse to secure ballot exemption through the Belmont Gold Cup last year, but trainer Graham Motion ultimately opted to target a two-mile flat race at the famous steeplechase venue of Far Hills in Virginia. Another American, Richard Mandella-trained Planetario, was set to make the trip from California last year but was ruled out through injury.
Among Anglophile’s rivals on Friday, American time, are The Grey Wizard’s half-brother The Ginger Wizard, last year’s third Limited Liability and German raider Flatten The Curve, who is coming off a win in the G2 Oleander-Rennen (3200m) – a race won by Red Cardinal and Loft before taking the New York prize.
Roy Higgins Quality winner Deakin and Basilinna, victorious in last month’s Andrew Ramsden Stakes, have already earned ballot exemption for the Melbourne Cup so far. ∎
