The Robert and Luke Price stable hope Count De Rupee can add his name to the Newmarket Handicap honour roll and join a relation as a winner of the famous race.
The dam of Count De Rupee is the unraced Timeless Choice, a younger sister of 2014 Newmarket Handicap winner Lankan Rupee.
Count De Rupee has inherited some of the family ability having won six of his 15 starts and long-term the Price’s hope to see the sprinter in The Everest at the end of the year.
But first there is Saturday’s Group 1 Newmarket Handicap (1200m) at Flemington to get over and Luke Price is confident Count De Rupee is primed to run well.
Count De Rupee and travelling companion Think It Over, favourite for the Group 1 Australian Cup, arrived from Kembla Grange on Friday morning with Price travelling for the first half of the trip with the pair in the back of the truck before moving up front when it got a little cold.
“Think It Over can get a bit on edge, but once they found their rhythm and we got half-way, I jumped in the front,” Price said.
“We took the horses out for a walk this morning and they were buzzing, excited to be at Flemington.”
Count De Rupee has not raced since winning The Gong at Kembla Grange in November and is embarking on his first trip to Melbourne.
Price does not see the straight 1200m course posing a threat.
“The horse is coming here in fantastic order, and I think he’s going to hit the peak of his career in the next couple of years,” Price said.
“He’s got a fantastic first-up record and at the 1200 metres, and I know he hasn’t been down the straight before but I’m looking forward to him trying it.
“I think we’ve drawn ideally. We can find Lost And Running’s back and Hugh (Bowman) can do the steering and hopefully Brock (Ryan) just has to peel off his back at the right time.”