Begg saddles first Cup runner in distinguished career

Begg took over his father Neville's stable at Randwick in 1990 at the age of 29 when Begg senior moved to Hong Kong. 

In 2016, Begg moved his operation to Melbourne and went close to having his first Cup runner only to have Lunar Flare ruled out on the morning of the 2022 Cup with a foot issue, before the following year suffering a career ending injury in the lead-up to the Cup. 

With Tuesday's 3200m Melbourne Cup at Flemington getting closer, the campaign of Zakouma has gone without a hitch. 

Zakouma won himself a ballot exemption in May, winning the Andrew Ramsden (2800m) at Flemington, which has allowed Begg to run the stayer in races he has wanted. 

After running fifth in the Herbert Power Stakes (2400m) at Flemington on October 10, Begg decided to give Zakouma a run over 1600m in the Crystal Mile (1600m) at Flemington two weeks later. 

Begg admitted to waking up that night wondering if he had done the right thing running Zakouma, when last, beaten 8-½ lengths. 

"I woke up in the middle of the night and thought where did I go wrong," Begg said. 

"I was really pondering it and thinking how did I get it so wrong. 

"Visually it looked awful because he was dropping out, but when you look at the sectional times, he ran his last 800 (metres) in 46-½ (seconds) and his last 600 was 34-½. 

"His sectionals were quite good, but the race shape was pretty ordinary. It was stop, start, and he was too close and he won't go on the inside of horses as every time he's won, he's been down the middle of the track and Willie (Pike) knows that now. 

"I went back over his last 10 starts and his times have been comparable all the way through and when I did that exercise, I was a lot more comfortable." 

Begg explained he went to the 1600m trip to get a decent gallop in Zakouma ahead of Tuesday's race. 

He had planned a 1400m jump-out at Cranbourne two days later, but his fears were realised when Zakouma was the only nomination before the jump-outs were washed-out because of heavy run the day prior. 

"We dodged a bullet there and everything has been good since," Begg said. 

"He had his final piece of work on the grass at Cranbourne next to the rail on Friday and galloped strongly and a light piece of work on Sunday." 

Begg said there was a little more buzz around the stable as Tuesday's race gets closer. 

"It's very exciting," Begg said. 

"In the last few days there's a bit more of a buzz in the stable. 

"The horse has had to do his trot ups, and a lot of the staff went to the races on Saturday supporting our runners, including a few of the girls that ride trackwork, there was a whole big team of them. 

"We're all looking forward to Tuesday."