FRANKIE DETTORI flies off to Australia tomorrow with high hopes of landing his first Melbourne Cup. The popular Italian rides the Godolphin colt Kirklees, an outsider for Tuesday’s big race after a disappointing effort in the Caulfield Cup. Prior to that though, Kirklees had won his previous three starts in Britain, including two Group races. And Dettori said: “Kirklees is a nice horse in Europe and hopefully he can come back from his run in the Caulfield Cup. “He has enough class for the race and it’s a handicap, so that should bring them all together. “I’m going out on Saturday. The Melbourne Cup is one of the biggest and most valuable races in the world. “I’ve conquered most of the big ones, but I think I have ridden in the Cup 10 or 11 times and it has eluded me. The best I have managed is second once.” After Flemington, the Italian will jet over to California, where he has picked up a fair hand of rides in the Breeders’ Cup series at Santa Anita. “I think I’m going to be riding Mastery, Delegator, Fleeting Spirit, Red Rocks and an American one, so it should be good,” he added. On the jumping scene, Sizing Europe remains on target for next month’s Open meeting at Cheltenham following his hugely impressive success at Punchestown two weeks ago. The Grade One-winning hurdler took his record over fences to two victories from two starts when defeating the mercurial Harchibald by 17 lengths. The Independent Newspaper Novices’ Chase on November 15 is the plan for Henry de Bromhead’s stable star and the trainer is thrilled with his current condition. “He’s been in great form since Punchestown and hopefully there is still improvement to come,” said De Bromhead. | 
