Danny O'Brien added another string to his already powerful Melbourne Cup bow when Miami Bound returned to form with a win in the Moonee Valley Cup.
O'Brien already has last year's Melbourne Cup winner Vow And Declare, King Of Leogrance and Russian Camelot being aimed at the event and he confirmed Miami Bound will join them.
Although Miami Bound hadn't been placed in four starts this campaign, O'Brien was confident she was going well.
“I've been very happy all spring with her but she just needed to get out in distance and also a soft track and she had them both today,” O'Brien said.
Miami Bound finished sixth in the Herbert Power Stakes at her last start but it was on a firm track.
“She gave us a big thrill last spring winning the VRC Oaks and now she's given us another thrill by winning the Moonee Valley Cup and now into the Melbourne Cup,” O'Brien said.
Miami Bound has 51kg in the Melbourne Cup.
“VRC Oaks winners don't have a great record in the Melbourne Cup. You've got to go back 30 to 40 years to find one that has won but it's great that she's there,” he said.
It was the second leg of a winning double for O'Brien, who earlier claimed the Group Three Tesio Stakes with Sovereign Award.
Miami Bound also gave Jamie Kah a winning treble after she won the Inglis Banner on Sneaky Five and the Tesio on Sovereign Award
Kah said she was happy to stay out the back and sit wide on Miami Bound and then sweep around the field.
“She always travelled like the winner. Danny gets his horses so fit and Daniel Moor told me how well she had been working,” Kah said.
Miami Bound ($26) defeated Shared Ambition ($4.20 fav) by 2-1/2 lengths with Oceanex ($10) a half-length away third.