The foreign invaders have once again scooped the pool at this year’s Melbourne Cup and their domination doesn’t look like ending anytime soon, which raises the question: why isn’t the number of foreign horses that are allowed to run in the Melbourne Cup capped by the Victorian Racing Club?
It’s little wonder that most of the top trainers in Australia focus on training their horses to run between 1200 and 2000 metres, as that is the distance range where the majority of Group Ones are run and where the huge prize money is on offer.
Where is the incentive for local trainers to produce stayers? Sure, each city has its own 3200-metre race throughout the year, but they are well spaced and struggle to attract any top quality horses.
Surely the onus should be on the respective racing associations to follow the lead set by Sydney with the Championships in Autumn, a great initiative which has already been a major success with their ability to attract top class racehorses from around the world.
The challenge still remains, however, to be able to get the top stayers to come back to our shores for the Sydney Cup or to get them to remain in Australia after they have run in the Melbourne Cup and the signs are that this is becoming a popular trend.
In an ideal world, the Melbourne Cup would be the main focus of local trainers and not an afterthought, but with it being run so soon after the Cox Plate and Caulfield Cup, it’s always going to prove to be a challenge.
Ask any racing fan and they’d tell you that they would have loved to have seen Winx run in this year’s Melbourne Cup, but understandably her grand final was the Cox Plate and she came out of that race with an injury, but you can just imagine how Winx would have captivated the Australian public if Chris Waller had decided to run her and, better still, if he had aimed her for the Melbourne Cup.
It can only be hoped that in the future, more local trainers decide to earmark the Melbourne Cup with their best horses. That being said, their pedigree obviously has a lot to do with that, but that never seemed to stop the master trainer Bart Cummings from training 12 Melbourne Cup winners, with some of them not bred to run over 3200 metres.
I’m sure that Bart Cummings would be turning over in his grave now at the foreign invaders having such a monopoly on the race that stops our nation.
George
Guest
Why would the world's best mile/ mile and a quarter horse start in a two mile handicap? The Melbourne Cup was never a possibility for Winx. If you don't want the internationals coming out here and more Aussie horses in the field the answer is quite simple. Make the Melbourne Cup a proper handicap again. A big spread of weights with the top horses getting the weight they deserve the way it used to be. You'd have the local trainers plotting to get their not fast enough for WFA but will stick on type horses into the cup with the lowest weight possible ( Bart Cummings's speciality) and putting the interest back into the lead up races . The Internationals would have to bring out only the horses good enough to carry the weight. When the decision was made to " internationalise" the cup the only way they could get the oversea horses out here was to give them a light weight. Bang went the Melbourne Cups unique character right there. The Melbourne Cup we have now is no longer a great handicap . It will always play second fiddle to the Breeders Cup anyway on the world stage so why destroy it's character so that we can pretend we have a " world race"?
michael steel
Guest
I'll just agree with you KV and leave it at that. Except I had as much interest in Winx being a runner in this years Melbourne Cup as I did for Black Caviar in her era. It never entered my head.
kv joef
Roar Guru
:) ... so right matt. you only remember the ones that cash you up lol ...
Matt
Guest
Bart won three cups after 1993. Saintly 1996, Rogan Josh 1999 and Viewed 2008.
no one in particular
Roar Guru
"Surely the onus should be on the respective racing associations to follow the lead set by Sydney with the Championships in Autumn" Where does the money come from? International horses are nothing new. Beldale Ball began his career in the UK. Before that Sangster sent Panamint from the UK to race in the Cup for Bart (went on to win the Adelaide Cup). At Talaq ran in the English Derby before being sent over
peeeko
Roar Guru
well said KV . the writer has good intentions but doesnt nail the reasons or answers
kv joef
Roar Guru
let you in on a secret. the melb. cup is recognised as the loing-distance championship of the world, throughout the world. the brand has been hurt during the couple of years when Ascot included a marathon on their Champion Day's program only a few weeks before the cup but the race is still holding up well. You argument is so flaccid on so many points ... Cup winners since 1993 (Vintage Crop) have included - 13 locals 10 horses with international form of which 4 where locally owned and trained and actually just ... 6 were international raiders as for the silly remarks about JB Cummings - the MCup was internationalised in 1993 - from that date Bart had only won 2 Cups - one behind Lee Freeman and on the same mark as irish legend Dermot Weld. this means the race is no longer dominated by a few stables. too emphasis this point --- from 1965 (cummings first) to 1993 (28 years) only 9 trainers had single winners of the race the rest were won multiple times by various stables (19 winners) ... since the internationalisation of the 23 runnings only 7 cups have gone to multiple winning stables. PS Bart was one of the first to train a well performed international, in the modern era ... a horse called Rosedale, started fv in Kensei's 1987 Cup, ran a good third ... horse came from the U.S ... please do your research. you maybe surprised at what the real facts are ...