Caulfield Cup rides in limbo for raiders

Connections of Trip To Paris have Glyn Schofield on standby should first emergency Quest For More gain a Caulfield Cup start.

Tommy Berry has been named as the rider of the Ed Dunlop-trained stayer but will ride Quest For More if the international sneaks into the field.

Berry made a trip from Sydney to ride Roger Charlton’s Quest For More in his final piece of work at Werribee on Tuesday morning.

Quest For More worked in blinkers and was a lot sharper than last week when Berry rode the stayer.

“Unfortunately he didn’t get to work with a partner but he worked with a set of blinkers on,” Berry said.

“When I rode him last week I had to ride him the whole way round to get him to work three-quarter pace, but today he travelled and did it mostly by himself.

“Apparently that’s him without a partner.”

Berry said that while the Melbourne Cup was a more suitable race, Quest For More was fit enough to run well on Saturday if he gained a start.

If he doesn’t get into the Cup, Quest For More will head to the Geelong Cup on October 21.

Trip To Paris had his final hit-out for Saturday’s race in a gallop that pleased Dunlop’s travelling foreman Robin Trevor-Jones.

A winner of the Ascot Gold Cup (4000m) in June, Trevor-Jones is confident Trip To Paris can be competitive on Saturday.

Working with stablemate Manndawi, the pair finished on terms.

“He was a winner over seven furlongs (1400m) as a two-year-old so what we want is a good steady gallop, not a crawl and a sprint,“ Trevor-Jones said.

Co-topweight Snow Sky had a light morning after a gallop on Sunday under race jockey Damien Oliver.

Sarah Denniff, supervising Snow Sky in Australia for trainer Sir Michael Stoute, said everything was in order.

“We would be disappointed if we’re not competitive,” Denniff said.

“This will tell us how he will adapt to the Australian style of racing as it will be completely new for him as he’s used to smaller fields.”