Willie Mullins’ two Melbourne Cup runners Vauban and Absurde have landed in Australia and will be placed in quarantine at Werribee.
The pair finished first and second in the Copper Horse Handicap at Royal Ascot and both followed up with a subsequent success – Vauban in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes and Absurde in the 'win and you're in' qualifier, the Ebor Handicap at York.
Vauban is the current favourite for the 'race that stops the nation', which will be held at Flemington on 7 November.
In an interview, Willie Mullins' assistant trainer David Casey told racing.com: "Touch wood, he seems fine.
"He travelled well, it seems he's eating and drinking since he came and arrived. He didn't lose a lot of weight and he's put it all actually back on since he came. Delighted with him.
"[He] had a little hack this morning, nothing strenuous – so, so far so good.
"I went over and rode him last Tuesday before he left, gave him a nice bit of work and was very happy with him.
"I imagine the next couple of weeks will be pretty quiet for him and then we'll start building him up closer to the race.
"It was great that he won at Ascot and backed it up when he won in Naas – we're here and we're delighted to be taking part and obviously hopefully with a horse that can be competitive.
"We will be thrilled if we can be competitive in the race.
"55kg for Vauban is kind of what we expected – we kind of thought somewhere between 54.5 and 55.5.
"They're big, strong horses, both of them – maybe ground-wise, it might be a little bit of a disadvantage, because they might just hit it a little bit harder," he said.
"I haven't seen it this warm this early before out here. If there's a drop of rain around, I won't mind too much.
"I could do with it in five weeks' time maybe!
"I think Absurde will probably handle it quicker – Vauban has run and he won on very quick ground in Ascot, which wasn't an issue – but you'd just prefer not to be running on it every day, you know, when he is big and strong."
