Australian racing fans are accustomed to seeing Damian Lane in the saddle for overseas-trained runners in the major Spring Carnival races, but he has switched his allegiance for this Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.
The leading jockey will partner with English stayer Wine Dark Sea in the 150th running of the Group 1 handicap, which this year offers $6 million in prize money.
Lane is aiming for his second win in the 2400-metre handicap, having previously triumphed aboard Japanese entire Mer De Glace in 2019.
He also claimed the Cox Plate that year with another Japanese visitor, Lys Gracieux, and has since teamed up with numerous horses from Japan in the major spring features.
Saturday will be the first time he rides a UK-trained galloper in the Caulfield Cup, and he is keen to partner with the Harry Charlton-prepared son of Ulysses.
“He’s very much probably what we’re used to seeing from the English horses in terms of he can get up on speed and he can sustain a good run from a long way out,” Lane remarked. “That’s indicative of what we’ve seen in the English horses that come out here over the years and hopefully that’s the case with him.”
The Caulfield Cup will be Wine Dark Sea’s 11th start. The Northern Hemisphere four-year-old is heading into the race after a strong 1-1/2-length victory in the Group 3 Geoffrey Freer Stakes (2671m) at Newbury on August 15.
That was Wine Dark Sea’s first appearance in a Stakes race and marked his third win from four starts in 2026.
Lane visited the gelding at Werribee last Thursday for his initial feel. The horse has been in Australia since late last month, and Lane was impressed with what he felt.
“First impressions were good,” Lane said. “He’s a very sensible horse, he seems to have settled in well, he moved well, he finished the work off well and there was nothing really negative to report.”
Wine Dark Sea is currently the $7 second favourite in Caulfield Cup betting, trailing only the dominant last-start Turnbull Stakes winner Cosmic Crusader ($4.50), who was confirmed to be heading to the Caulfield Cup last week.
“Cosmic Crusader was not very welcome news, I would prefer he’s not there,” Lane stated. “But I did think the race lacked a little bit of depth this year and it would be a good chance for someone like a Wine Dark Sea.”
Lane also has the first call on Wine Dark Sea for this year’s Melbourne Cup, but a final decision will be made after this weekend’s race.
Wine Dark Sea will carry 54.5kg in the Caulfield Cup, with the final field to be finalised on Tuesday morning, and 56kg in the Melbourne Cup.
This might be Lane’s final Spring Carnival as a Melbourne-based jockey, as he continues his pursuit to be licensed in Japan, where he has ridden on short-term contracts for the past few years.
The Western Australian announced last week that he had passed the first stage of the application process, with another exam scheduled for January.
“Riding in Japan on a more permanent basis has been an ambition of mine for some time,” Lane said in a statement released after the examination results. “While the chance of receiving a JRA licence is exciting, my immediate focus is on Australian racing and achieving the best possible results this spring carnival.”
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