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Joined August 2012
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There was a romance associated with the Melbourne Cup once upon a time that is now gone. The days of the battler getting a horse into the cup with a lightweight are seemingly forever vanquished to the pages of Melbourne Cup history.
However, as has already been stated, if the race is to grow into one of the most prestigious races in the world, then we must strive to get the best stayers here and competing. It has changed the landscape somewhat over the years, and there is no use complaining about it, as the changes are here to stay, it is now an international race, and we still watch and love the race.
Bart Cummings and Gai Waterhouse have been two of the biggest detractors of making this race international, yet they have even come to terms (so it seems), with the changing face of the Cup, and are now training imported gallopers with an eye on the first Tuesday in November.
I agree that we should not place restrictions on the event, as already there are restrictions placed on some of the best known races in the world (ie no geldings in the Arc), so it’s either all in or none in IMO.
Aussies must accept globalisation of Melbourne Cup
Double Trigger was hardly a plodder, he actually held a track record at 1800m in the UK.
I know he won over 4000m, but his record at 3200m was very good prior to the Melbourne Cup run. He was a lot better than he showed on the first Tuesday in November.
I have always said treat Euro form with a pinch of salt. Some of the better performed ones come here and disappoint, whilst some with worse form actually go better here. Importing horses and backing internationals is still a lottery. It is becoming easier to assess formlines now though, but at this stage, it still pays to ignore Euro form for the best part (ie Manighar had never been beaten in Europe by Dunaden or Red Cadeaux, but they both beat him home in the MC last year).
Anyway, great article Andy (as usual), and each to their own. This why the sport of kings so good, we all watch the same thing, yet our opinions can vary widely.
All the best on the punt this spring, and I look forward to reading more articles from you in the near future.
Aussies must accept globalisation of Melbourne Cup
Eventually the imports will reach saturation point. With the retirement of some of these horses we will have access better staying blood once again. If the staying races can continue with their revamp and increase in prizemoney, at some point it will be once again profitable to breed stayers in this country.
Currently here in Australia we have multiple horses that have contested the Arc. We have English and Irish Derby placegetters (and others that started well in the market but did not place). We have St Legers winners and placegetters, Dante winners, Hardwicke winners, horses placed in or started near favourite in Coronation Cups, horses narrowly beaten in one of the best King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes of recent years.
These horses may not be the absolute cream of the crop, but they were lightly raced and very good. Most had plenty of improvement in them. Some of these horses defeated subsequent G1 winners whilst in Europe. The form around some of these horses is first class, there is no doubt about it.
We are not just getting duds out here that are transforming into superstars, some of these are very nice horses.
The article mentions Beaten Up, he once defeated Al Kazeem by 5 lengths in Europe, AK then went on to win a string of G1 races in a row in Britain. Beaten Up was lightly raced and a decent horse, who knows what he would have done over there if he stayed.
The same goes for a number of imports over here now.
Cirrus Des Aigles never came into his own in Europe until later in his career, what would we have thought of him if he was imported after just a handful of starts?
Don’t get me wrong, we only have a few NZ or Aussie bred horses capable of matching it with the imports, but we do have some, and of those imported, they are decent animals in their own right.
Stayers in Australia: Are imports the problem or the solution?