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Well-travelled gelding one of three Coolmore-bred brothers in the same race.
It won't be a huge shock to see a couple of Northern Hemisphere-bred brothers carry the Macedon Lodge colours in the same race at Flemington this Saturday.
Lloyd and Nick Williams have made a habit of buying ex-Coolmore horses in their quest to win the Melbourne Cup and it just so happens that the paths of two of their recent purchases, Serpentine and King Of The Castle, collide in The Sally Chirnside (2500m).
What makes this reunion unique is that they will be joined by another brother, the Matt Cumani-trained Team Captain, in the $150,000 event.
Like Serpentine and King Of The Castle, the Cumani-trained Team Captain is a son of legendary sire Galileo and Remember When, a daughter of Danehill Dancer who did not win in six starts but finished runner-up to Snow Fairy in the Group 1 English Oaks in 2010.
Like many, Cumani finds it remarkable that three geldings with the same sire and dam can bob up in the same race, 17,500km from their birthplace in Ireland.
"Isn't it amazing how that can happen?" Cumani said.
"They all look to be pretty good brothers, albeit one that's certainly better than us on form, but hopefully our boy can match up best of them on the day."
Serpentine is who Cumani was referring to as best on form, with the six-year-old having streeted his rivals as a 25/1 chance in the 2020 edition of the Group 1 English Derby at Epsom.
King Of The Castle, a five-year-old by Southern Hemisphere time, has just one win from eight starts, in a 2515m Limerick maiden but did finish fourth in last year's Group 1 Irish St Leger (2816m) at his most recent start.
Team Captain was not given the chance to show his wares in Europe, shipped off to Australia as part of a 20-horse sale from Coolmore to burgeoning enterprise Yulong Investments in late 2018.
Christened T.S. Eliot in Ireland, he had his name changed to Yulong Captain after taking up residence at Lindsay Park.
He broke his maiden at start number three, cruising to a 5-1/2-length win as a $1.24 favourite at Wangaratta and developed a reputation as a consistent performer at country and midweek city level, winning an additional three races, including one at Sandown, before being offered for sale.
Cumani recalls seeing him available on the Inglis (Early) September Online Sale this time last year and was delighted to receive a phone call from The Racing League, a company that specialises in micro-share racehorse ownership, asking if he would train after they bought him for $121,000.
"I was actually looking at this horse when he was online, not really with a view to buying him, but because we had a horse called Taramansour who was running around with and I was always quite fearful of Yulong Captain as he was known then and wanted to avoid him," Cumani said.
"Then Terry Kennedy from The Racing League called me out of the blue when I was at the Bendigo races one day and told them they'd bought him and he was coming to me."
The first order of business was to change his name to Team Captain, which fit with The Racing League's concept of teams-based ownership.
In his first start in The Racing League's 'Vic Husslers' navy and white colours, Team Captain won the Hamilton Cup (2200m) before giving his many owners a huge thrill with a dominant win in the iconic 2800m feature support staying race on Melbourne Cup Day.
Team Captain's initial campaign with Cumani finished with a third placing in last year's Pakenham Cup (2500m).
"He was a horse that was always going to take a bit of time to develop and we didn't really have to do any of the groundwork," Cumani said.
"The Hayes boy did all that, so I suppose I got a horse that was in really good condition and was ready to fire."
Team Captain had his first start since the Pakenham Cup in the $175,000 Listed Heatherlie Stakes (1700m) on August 27 and although he finished second-last, beaten almost eight lengths, Cumani said he did not cope with a fast tempo in a race well short of his best at his first run for almost nine months.
"He's just not a speed horse at all," Cumani said.
"He's a real dour stayer and I think we'll that on Saturday. I think we'll see him perform a lot better."
TAB does not think there is a great deal between Team Captain and his brothers, who own the $34 line in a market headed by another Robert Hickmott-trained, Williams-owned import in Point Nepean at $3.70.
The Sally Chirnside runners are among eight foals that Remember When, who has only ever been covered by Galileo, has had to the races with first foal Wedding Vow the best-performed outside Serpentine.
She was a winner of the Group 2 Kilboy Estate Stakes and was runner-up in the Group 1 Nassau Stakes, while second foal Beacon Rock and fourth foal Bye Bye Baby are both Group 3 winners.
Downing Street, a Northern Hemisphere three-year-old is the youngest of Remember When's progeny to have raced but is yet to place from three starts.
