Immortal to 'aim for the stars'

Mark and Levi Kavanagh are prepared to dream with their emerging stayer First Immortal and that's why he is nominated already for the Caulfield Cup and will also be for the Melbourne Cup.

"We'll aim for the stars and if we get to the moon, that will be fine," Levi Kavanagh said.

"We think it could be a good year for a horse with his profile."

First Immortal has won four of his past five starts but it was the most recent in the Mahogany Challenge Final over 2500m at Flemington with an impost of 60 kilograms which convinced the father-son training duo to take aim at the spring.

"He was still quite green and he has improvement to come. In both of his wins, Blake Shinn said to us he was excited about his potential," he said.

The stable knows what it takes to win a Melbourne Cup with an emerging four-year-old, as Mark Kavanagh trained Shocking to win the Flemington feature on the first Tuesday in November at that age in 2009.

Shocking had to win his way into the Melbourne Cup via The Lexus three days earlier - having also finished second in the Herbert Power Stakes when he was trying to get into the Caulfield Cup - and the stable plans on trying to emulate that campaign with First Immortal.

Kavanagh is taking the same approach with First Immortal knowing the only way he will qualify for the major Cups is by winning golden-ticket races.

"He's a horse who must take himself there. He's not qualified, his ratings are not high enough, so he'll have to get himself into the race," Kavanagh said.

"We certainly have lofty goals with him and we're going to position him in races which can get you into those races so for the Caulfield Cup the Naturalism Stakes is an obvious pathway.

"If he can strike it and get in, he'll be in them with a light weight, but if he misses out and doesn't get in, there's plenty of good races for him.

"This could be a good year to come in as a four-year-old with his rating as he's a progressive horse. If he doesn't get in, we can reload for next year and try and get him into the Melbourne Cup."

Kavanagh said that First Immortal continued to develop during his short spell.

"He really excelled. He didn't have a long time in the paddock, but he enjoyed his time there and he's strengthened up a little bit," he said.

"He went out at his top and has come back in great order. We think it could be a good year for a horse with his profile."

First Immortal is at $81 with Sportsbet to win the Melbourne Cup and $101 to win the Caulfield Cup.

This article first appeared on racing.com 15/08/2023