Spring Carnival review: Foreign raiders continue to dominate

It started with a flurry of Group 1s and ended with Éclair Big Bang sneaking home to win the last race of the spring racing carnival.

But again it was another year that the international horses dominated our big races.

The Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup were all won by overseas horses, which again highlights the Australian racing industry’s recent difficulty in producing world-class stayers.

For mine it’s down to the lack of true 3000m races and connections wanting a quick return on investment, where there are plenty of staying races in both Europe and Asia which is why we see so many true stayers from those countries.

As we have seen with some staying horses of late they take time to mature. Red Cadeaux is the prime example – the English stayer produced some stunning results, including a second placing in this year’s Melbourne Cup as a nine-year-old. Precedence could be held in the same regard after a good showing this year as a nine-year-old with plans to bring him back next year as a ten-year-old.

While I would love to see Australian horses win these races, it’s special when the world’s best stayers make their way to our country for the spring carnival, especially when there is an Australian on-board.

My defining moment of the carnival was the late Admire Rakti’s barnstorming performance in the Caulfield Cup to deliver Zac Purton his first Group 1 victory.

Kiwi James McDonald had given Rising Romance the perfect run along the rails and with 200m to go he looked the certain winner, only for Admire Rakti to motor through the middle of the track late and head Rising Romance in the closing stages.

The iconic vision of Purton on top of the Japanese stayer with his fists pumping is something that will stay with me for years to come.

Ryan Moore also proved he’s world class, steering home Irish horse Adelaide in the Cox Plate. It was a perfectly timed run with Adelaide holding off a number of runners late to give Aidan O’Brien another Group 1 in his stellar training career.

Moore was again involved in history when he led German horse Protectionist to this year’s Melbourne Cup. Protectionist became the first German-bred horse to win the Melbourne Cup in 154 starts.

The good news out of all of this is that we will see Protectionist in the autumn racing carnival in Sydney after he joined the stable of Kris Lees.

The Cup was marred with the sad passing of Admire Rakti from Sudden Death Syndrome, and Araldo who sadly was spooked on his way back to the stalls before shattering his cannon bone.

These are tragic circumstances but are rare occurrences, and both deaths sent the racing industry into sadness.

Once again the sprint races gave us some epic finishes and Terravista stamped his mark as a world-class sprinter in the final Group 1 of the spring carnival.

All the tips were with Team Hawkes Chautauqua to take out the Darley Classic, but Joe Pride’s Terravista was able to back up his tweet from earlier in the carnival where he declared his runner the best sprinter in the world.

It was a stunning finish, with Terravista slicing through the field late before holding off Chautauqua with the well-respected Lankan Rupee finishing third.

While Lankan Rupee’s spring this year wasn’t as stunning as last year, he provided us with a brilliant highlight in the Group 1 Manikato Stakes.

There was five horses split across the Moonee Valley track but it was Craig Newitt on Lankan Rupee who got the chocolates. Angelic Light was a gallant second and Famous Seamus was an eye-catching third.

The result was still unknown after a marathon protest but eventually the protest was dismissed and Lankan Rupee was declared the deserving winner.

It was his return to form in that race that silenced his critics, especially after Queenslander Buffering was able to get the job done in the Group 1 AJ Moir a few weeks earlier.

Damien Oliver was again brilliant in the carnival, gaining six wins during the Melbourne Cup week, and Dwayne Dunn again showed why he is one of the best.

I did feel for Tommy Berry however after both his rides in the Melbourne Cup were scratched and both he and Craig Williams missed out on the biggest race in Australia.

I did say before the spring carnival that we would see an apprentice have a breakout spring and Winona Costin was excellent in Sydney. She’s come a long way since May where she rode her first Saturday winner, and a few weeks ago was in stellar form booting home winners at will early on the card at Canterbury.

Again like most apprentice jockeys it will be whether she will be able to ride consistently without a claim, but she has undeniable talent and will go on to bigger and better things.

Horses we saw dominate the Championships on bog tracks struggled to hold their form in the spring carnival this year. The wet tracks of Sydney provided us with a false Melbourne Cup favourite in The Offer, which was eventually scratched.

Bring Me The Maid was the early favourite in the Caulfield Guineas, but without the rain the horse was unable to mount a charge, as Shooting to Win was able to beat the highly favoured Rich Enuff.

It was a carnival with plenty of surprises and memories, and getting to experience the last day of the carnival at Flemington on Saturday is something that I won’t be forgetting in a hurry.

No doubt I will be suffering withdrawals until the next Group 1 race in February.