Melbourne diary: magic McEvoy set for plum ride on Withhold in Geelong Cup

There is something a bit unfair about a man who just won his share of A$6 million having yet more luck, but Kerrin McEvoy, fresh from winning The Everest on Redzel, looks set to pick up the plum ride on Withhold in the Geelong Cup.

James McDonald received a nine-day ban for careless riding at Caulfield on Saturday that rules him out of the Geelong Cup, and McEvoy will step in to partner Roger Charlton's star stayer Withhold should the five-year-old be forced to run to increase his chances of getting into the Melbourne Cup.

Withhold did nothing more than stretch his legs on Sunday morning and speaking afterwards the trainer's son and travelling representative Tom Charlton said: "We lost our jockey James McDonald yesterday. He got a ban which rules him out of Geelong, so Kerrin McEvoy will now ride him. I'm planning on working him Tuesday or Wednesday, it'll depend when Kerrin can get here."

Bloom calculating the odds as he decides whether to stick or twist with Withhold

On whether Withhold will run in the Geelong Cup, Charlton added: "Ideally we don't want to run him. If a few more have setbacks or won't run then maybe we'll sit tight, but if everything is as it is now we'll be running at Geelong."

Duretto thriving

Andrew Balding's Duretto did by far the most serious piece of work on Sunday morning, but when barely anything else made it out of a hack canter that does not take a lot.

Balding's travelling head girl Leanne Masterton, who has plenty of experience of travelling horses such as Side Glance and is on her sixth trip to Australia, could not be happier with her charge.

She said: "He's handled the whole thing better than I thought he would. He's a big softy but at the moment he couldn't be in better form. He's done a couple of nice pieces of work, he's relaxed on the track, really settled, and he's eating and drinking really well. He's at his racing weight that he won at Chester – he came here 17 kilograms below that."

Duretto: has reportedly settled in wellCredit: Mark Cranham

On Sunday's work she added: "We needed to get a little blow out of him just to get him right for next weekend. He did a good bit of work with Red Verdon on Wednesday.

"He's done it nicely on his own and I'm really pleased with him so it's all systems go. He doesn't need to do anything serious now. Dwayne Dunn's going to come in Wednesday and just let him stretch his legs up the straight, but it'll be just an easy piece still.

"He's in the Caulfield Cup on Saturday and then all systems go for the Melbourne Cup."

Nervous wait for Verdon camp

Duretto's dance partner from earlier this week Red Verdon also went out on to the track at Werribee, but the piece of exercise he was asked to produce had his work rider joking he would not have the lap of the circuit completed in time for church.

Melbourne Cup card and betting

Ed Dunlop's travelling head lad Robin Trevor-Jones, whose air miles account you would certainly want, said afterwards: "He's good, we're a bit on tenterhooks as to whether he gets in [to the Caulfield Cup]. We hear he should get in so it's fingers crossed.

Ed Dunlop poses with Red Verdon and the Melbourne Cup

"I'm happy, he's showing me the right signs and maybe we might do a bit tomorrow as we're working on his weight. We're only a week out so we're preparing him for Caulfield as if he will get a run.

Hands on: Dunlop secures Melbourne Cup and looks to Red Verdon to bring it home

"The holy grail afterwards is obviously the one we're here for, but Caulfield's worth a lot of money so we're taking it very seriously. He's a bit of a stuffy boy so we'd like to have had a go first. He's been doing very well over here."

A walk in the park

The Godolphin and Aidan O'Brien horses that ran on Saturday did nothing more than have a walk, a roll and a pick of grass after their efforts, while of the Saturday arrivals only the three O'Brien horses, plus his son Joseph's Latrobe, came out onto the track.

Latrobe followed The Pentagon around on the turf, while Idaho led Rostropovich on the all-weather. Nothing remotely taxing was asked of them as they casually stretched their legs. The other arrivals have reportedly travelled well, eaten up and will get their first feel of the Werribee track on Monday.

Folkswood, who James Doyle stayed to ride in his attempt to win back-to-back Cranbourne Cups on Sunday, fared no better than seventh.

A dip in the sea

Caulfield Guineas winner The Autumn Sun went for a dip in the sea at Altona Beach on Sunday morning along with his very special stablemate.

Winx was among those to dip her toes in the water as she gears up for her fourth Cox Plate on Saturday, October 27.

Head to the international section of the Racing Post website for all Stuart Riley's updates from Melbourne