ONWARDS AND UPWARDS FOR WHISKY ON THE HILL

The Bart Cummings and a possible tilt at Australia’s greatest race is on the cards for Whisky On The Hill following an impressive win at Caulfield today.

The Irish import proved too good for his rivals over 2000 metres, drawing away near the line for a strong win, his first in Australia.

Co-trainer Glen Thompson said the stable is hopeful today’s victory will boost Whisky On The Hill’s rating sufficiently to gain a start in the Bart Cummings (2500m), which carries a golden ticket into the Melbourne Cup for the winner.

“Speaking with Michael beforehand we planned that if he won today, we’d try and sneak into The Bart Cummings in a few weeks,” Thompson said, explaining that the son of Ribchester was a more complete horse in his second Australian preparation.

“I thought he was fine here last time. He'd thrived since, we came here confident today and I thought he was really good today,” he said.

Thompson praised Damian Lane for what he described as a 10-out-of-10 ride. “He got into a good position and gave him every opportunity, the horse did his bit and was really strong late so it’s onwards and upwards from here.

Lane confirmed the positive stable opinion of Whisky On The Hill.

“I really like this horse. He ran great last start from a long way back and it was good to be able to put him into a better position today," Lane said.

"He took good improvement and stepped up from his previous run.”