Enzeli has been confirmed a runner in next month's Melbourne Cup - but will race for a new owner. The 1999 Ascot Gold Cup winner will leave Ireland on Sunday for the long trip down under and will attempt to emulate Ireland's Vintage Crop who won "the race that stops a nation" in 1993.

A spokesperson for trainer John Oxx confirmed last night: "Enzeli is definitely running in the Melbourne Cup on November 7th and we are starting to make arrangements now for his departure on Sunday.

"The horse is in new ownership but I am not at liberty to say who the new owners are. As far as I am aware the horse will stay with us in his build up to the Melbourne Cup and after that will be trained in Australia."

The five-year-old was a rather disappointing fifth to San Sebastian in the Prix du Cadran on his last start but the ex-Aga Khan-owned horse had won the Doncaster Cup before that.

Enzeli's finest moment, however, came when he trounced the opposition in last year's Ascot Gold Cup where he again showed his ability to act on a fast surface. Gowran Park's three-day festival gets under way this afternoon and features Ferbet Junior's attempt at winning a second successive National Lottery Agent Champion Chase.

Jessica Harrington saddles both the top-weight and his stable companion, Slaney Native, but both could find the going difficult against the top-rated horse in the race, Moscow Express.

Moscow Express is extremely fit from an extensive summer campaign and is the top-rated in the race and comes from the inform Frances Crowley yard. The sum of those factors make it hard to oppose him.

Crowley also looks set to be a main player in the three-year-old hurdle with Neutron, who could have been attempting mission impossible behind his stablemate, Golden Storm, at Listowel; but Applause, the Crowley runner in the maiden hurdle, could have to give best to Lively Buck.

Philip Fenton is an asset to any bumper runner, and the track runner-up Winter Break has the top amateur on her back today; and the Weld runner, Epic Pursuit, can edge Pat Smullen ever closer to his first jockeys' title by landing the opener.