Melbourne Cup: Ashrun's wide draw dampens excitement of brilliant Hotham victory

Sitting 28^th in the order of entry, Ashrun needed to win the Lexus Hotham Stakes (2500 metres) on Saturday to make the 24-horse field for Tuesday's $8 million Melbourne Cup (3200m).

The five-year-old started poorly and was at the tail of the field with an unsuitable, moderate tempo up front.

Despite the obstacles and a top-weight of 61 kilograms, the French-bred entire came widest on the home turn under Kerrin McEvoy and gradually reeled in the leaders before edging out Sound on the line.

The thrilling victory gave Australian Bloodstock a second runner in this year's Cup and revived memories of their 2014 win with Protectionist, which was also trained by German Andreas Wohler. Mustajeer, for Newcastle trainer Kris Lees, was already safely in the field.

The excitement over Ashrun's victory was tempered later when he drew gate 24 for the Cup. Mustajeer, though, drew ideally in two.

Australian Bloodstock director Luke Murrell was ecstatic with the performance of Ashrun but he feared the draw would hurt his chances in the Cup.

"I didn't give him any chance until about the 100," Murrell said of the win.

"With the firm track and how slow they went, I was surprised he got there.

"He ran really fast time and ran down a horse who was on a seven-day back-up and was obviously fitter.

"It was a bit bittersweet though because I was looking at it thinking he could run top three now, but then you get the outside barrier.

"He gets back anyway but if you draw inside, you are only eight or 10 lengths off them, but you draw out there and you are probably 15 or 20."

Before Saturday, Australian Bloodstock were unsure if Ashrun would push on to the Cup if he did win, given the three-day back-up.

However, Murrell said Ashrun had appeared to come through the run well on Sunday and he was a "90 per cent" chance of taking his place in the field. Declan Bates has the ride.

"So far, so good," he said.

"You just have to hope the next 48 hours are good. They are doing their best to get him there and I still think he will run really well."

Wohler watched on anxiously trackside on Saturday.

"I was a bit worried on the way around because he didn't jump well and didn't have the position we wanted to have and then they slowed it up," Wohler said.

"As Kerrin said, he went into contention really quick and he just kept on going."

McEvoy is aboard favourite Tiger Moth in the Cup but says Ashrun has genuine claims after overcoming difficulties to win.

"He's a good stayer. Good in the wind. He didn't have a lot of favours in the run," McEvoy said.

"You can't be taking him lightly on Tuesday. He'll stay the trip and has a bit of class about him."

Ashrun will be striving to become the first horse since Shocking in 2009 to claim the Hotham Stakes-Melbourne Cup double. He firmed from $51 into $17 with TAB fixed odds after his victory.

At Rosehill, Enchanted Heart gave Lees and Australian Bloodstock a consolation victory after missing a spot in the $7.5 million Golden Eagle won by Colette.

Enchanted Heart, the second emergency for the Golden Eagle, proved too strong in the benchmark 72 handicap over 1400m. Lees' stable representative Danny Greer was not ruling out a shot at the $1 million The Hunter (1300m) in two weeks at Newcastle with the mare.

"She's putting together a really good record," Greer said on Saturday.

"Kris thought she would run a sneaky race in the Golden Eagle but unfortunately she missed out.

"She's fourth up today so we'll just keep trying to space her races.

"The Hunter is an option, that's her distance range, but if not there might be something else."

In a race decimated by scratchings, the four-year-old settled just behind the leaders and poked through along the fence under the urgings of Nash Rawiller.

Saturday's win is her third on a heavy surface from just four attempts and her second in succession after she scored on the Kensington track last month.

Meanwhile, the Mark Hughes Foundation pocketed $150,000 courtesy of Icebath's close second in the Golden Eagle.

The Brad Widdup-trained mare won $1.5 million as runner-up. Ten per cent of prizemoney from the race went to charity partners and connections of Icebath had chosen the former Knights star's brain cancer foundation.