Bart Cummings has successfully used the City Tattersalls Cup as a pathway to the Melbourne Cup in the past and will attempt to qualify Dare To Dream via the race on Saturday.
The 2400m Listed event at Randwick could also be a Cup defining race for the Chris Waller-trained Permit who currently sits at 35th in the order of entry.
The two are part of an ever increasing number of northern hemisphere horses imported to Australia to boost the staying ranks with European-trained horses tightening their grip on the country’s most famous race year by year.
Dare To Dream, who had to undergo a name change from Dare To Dance when he arrived in Australia to avoid a clash with another horse, has been to the races just six times, winning on three occasions over 1600 to 2000m when in the care of Jeremy Noseda.
He has had two starts for Bart Cummings, the latest a close third in the Group Three Craven Plate (2000m).
He needs a good performance over 2400m to pass the first ballot clause for the Melbourne Cup.
In contrast, Permit has the score on the board with all his six wins over 2200 metres or longer but his recent form has been patchy.
“His owner lives in Melbourne so it would be good to get him to the Cup,” Waller said.
Among his owners is well known former Victorian racing administrator and Australian Racing Board chairman Andrew Ramsden.
The winner of two races in France, Permit began his Australian career with Mike Moroney in Melbourne before joining Waller late last year.
He won two races in the summer and graduated the following autumn to win the Listed Manion Cup (2400m) and the Group Two Chairman’s Quality (2600m).
He failed to finish in the Sydney Cup won by Niwot. The best of his four starts this spring has been his second in the Premier’s Cup to Glencadam Gold who is now favourite for the Caulfield Cup.
Permit finished out of the placings in the Group One Metropolitan won by Glencadam Gold from the Waller-trained Kelinni who will try to gain a Melbourne Cup start via the Lexus three days earlier.
Waller will also start The Verminator in the Tattersalls Cup but he is no longer a contender for the Melbourne Cup.
