Sea King to stay in Australia after Melbourne Cup disappointment

Sea King booked his Melbourne ticket with victory in the Bendigo Cup last week, but struggled to make up the ground after getting off to a slow start under Hollie Doyle, eventually finishing six and a quarter lengths behind the winner in 14th place.

OTI Racing bought Sea King in September and had planned to transfer Sea King over to Dunn after the big race.

Eustace told Grosvenor Sport: “Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be for Sea King today in the Cup. He broke a bit slowly from stall one, which he did at Bendigo, but we didn’t want to give him a squeeze after that as we were worried that might light him up.

“He ended up at the back of the field, and it was always going to be incredibly tough to overcome the 22 runners ahead of him over the two miles.

“Honestly, I’m very proud of the horse and I think he showed more than enough class in his run. He’s finished bang upsides Onesmoothoperator, so you’d say they’ve ended up running to form.

“Sea King stays down in Australia now and will join Matt Dunn for Aussie owners OTI Racing. We’ve had a fantastic time with him here, it’s been a wonderful experience and I’m sure Sea King will give some brilliant owners plenty more fun.”