Veteran Car up for the Cup

Golden oldie Caracciola will be accompanied to the track by his best friend, a pony, ahead of his bid to create another piece of history.The 12-year-old will attempt to become the oldest horse to win the Coutts Goodwood Cup, after achieving a similar feat at Royal Ascot with victory in the Queen Alexandra Stakes. Should he be successful, then Caracciola will outstrip the great Persian Punch, who was 10 when he landed his second Goodwood Cup in 2003.Caracciola was trained by Nicky Henderson when successful at the Royal meeting, but with the Seven Barrows handler currently serving a three-month suspension which prevents him from having entries, he is temporarily in the care of neighbour Barry Hills at Lambourn and has soon settled into his new surroundings."He's made a great friend of a pony there who has become his best friend and it looks like we are going to have to take him along as well," said owner Piers Pottinger."He looks terrific. Barry was telling me he's been working fantastically well and he does still look like a juvenile rather than an old boy. I'm just praying they don't get too much rain. There should be some wind which will help and I'm keeping everything crossed as the ground is important to us."It's a very open race and I'm glad Yeats isn't there. Caracciola's a very relaxed, laid-back horse, thank goodness, and I just pray everything is right for us. He doesn't owe me anything and he'll probably think this is just another day out. The day out at Royal Ascot was fantastic."Eddie (Ahern) adores the horse and he does clearly have a great affinity with him. We won't be giving him any instructions because he knows how to ride the horse. We'll leave it to Eddie."Caracciola's achievements include winning the Cesarewitch at Newmarket in October and the fourth that day, Askar Tau, will be among the opposition. The four-year-old will be making his seasonal debut, but his trainer Marcus Tregoning is hopeful of a good run now his team have finally hit top form.The handler said: "We are very pleased with him. He was gelded over the winter which should certainly help. His work has been good this year and he's a fresh horse going into the Goodwood Cup."Obviously it's quite a tall order going there first time. The race is a grinder, but he's in good form and we've been happy with his work. I think he'll run very well. He made good progress last summer but he is stronger now since those days."