Buckaroo set for Cup tilt after Cox Plate heartbreak

Cox Plate runner-up Buckaroo could be set for another crack at the Melbourne Cup.

Trainer Chris Waller said on Monday morning the 7-year-old will get scanned on Monday. He finished 9th in last year’s Cup.

“He was very unlucky in the Cup last year and it’s tough when you don’t have things go your way in a Melbourne Cup because you only get ready to get one chance, or one chance a year,” he told SEN.

“I watched a replay of last year’s Melbourne Cup at five o’clock this morning and [owner] Ozzie Kheir watched it last night and we both spoke this morning to say, gee, he didn’t get much luck last year.”

Waller said Buckaroo pulled up well from Saturday’s narrow defeat.

“He’s pulled up fine … so he’s off to get his scans today and we’ll just use the rest of the week to get comfortable with him running in the Melbourne Cup,” he said.

“I think there’s a big chance that he could be there, but he has a lot of water to go under the bridge and just consult the owners properly and make sure we’re not going beyond what he can’t do. The only negative is he hasn’t run over 2,400 this year, he’s sort of more had a Cox Plate prep.”

“But knowing that he’s been to the distance of two miles, that’s a tick for me. Once they’ve raced over that trip, they’ve been to that pressure, they’ve been to that stage … so it’s sitting a lot more comfortable with us now. He’s a good chance of getting there.”

Kheir said the deadline is approaching for the group to make a decision.

“We’ll see how he pulls up and whether he passes his scans,” Kheir told Newscorp.

“You’ve got to keep your options open and that’s what we’re doing.”

“Ultimately, we would like to run but we need to keep those options open to run.”

“The window closes today if you don’t get scanned and you don’t pay up.”

“If we weren’t going to run, we wouldn’t get scanned and we wouldn’t pay up.”

Waller also said Star of India – who was impressive in taking out the JRA Cup at Moonee Valley on Saturday – would also be scanned by Racing Victoria despite remaining unlikely to gain a start in the Cup.

“Star of India is the other one on the truck this morning to get scanned after his win on Saturday,” he told SEN. “He probably won’t gain a start but he’s going to get his scans and see where we’re at.”