Marco Botti is keeping his fingers crossed Ryan Moore will be available to ride Dandino when he lines up in the Melbourne Cup.

Having previously enjoyed stints with James Given, Nicky Henderson and James Fanshawe, Dandino joined Newmarket-based Botti earlier this year having been purchased by Australian Thoroughbred Bloodstock.

With a trip to Australia top of his agenda ever since, the six-year-old has been carefully prepared by his trainer, running well in the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket and the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot before a lucrative triumph in the American St Leger at Arlington Park.

"He is doing very well, I'm very happy with him and he will enter quarantine to go to Australia in the next ten days," Botti said.

"We are looking forward to going to Australia with him and he will probably run in the Caulfield Cup, if all goes well, before going to the Melbourne Cup.

"We are hoping that Ryan will keep the ride on him, but obviously it is hard to pin him down now for a race in early November, so we'll just have to see.

"So far this year everything has gone to plan. The American St Leger was a race we had in our plan as it was worth very good prize money and also it would not affect his handicap mark for the Melbourne Cup.

"If it was a Group Two or something, he would probably have carried another couple of kilos in the Melbourne Cup, which would have compromised his chance."

Dandino features in a strong European entry for the Melbourne Cup (3200m) on November 5, with Mount Athos and Brown Panther arguably the leading hopes.

The pair, trained by Luca Cumani and Tom Dascombe respectively, are both prominent in the pre-post market.