Expect the annual ‘for and against’ arguments to start revving up once again as the list of international runners to contest feature races during the Melbourne Spring Carnival begins to take shape.
Paul Bloodworth, Racing Victoria’s General Manager of International and Racing operations has suggested to Racing.com that the Melbourne Cup field could feature as many as eight overseas runners.
The expectation is that the other major Group 1’s, the Caulfield Cup and the Cox Plate, will also have a possible spread of international raiders.
Saturday’s three Ebor Handicap placegetters … Trawlerman, Alfred Boucher and Earl Of Tyrone … were added to the late nomination list for the 2022 Melbourne Cup today. Bloodworth also did add that next month’s English and Irish St Legers could still produce a late Cup contender.
Bloodworth referred to the Joseph O’Brien trained Raise You and the Andreas Wohler trained Northern Ruler as possible Caulfield Cup contenders. Both of these high-profile trainers already have a Melbourne Cup victory behind their names, so they have telling experience at campaigning horses ‘down under.’
Bloodworth further mentioned that officials remain hopeful that 2021 winner of the Cox Plate, State Of Rest, will return to defend his title. That 2021 race, in which the Joseph O’Brien trained State Of Rest prevailed under John Allen, just seeing off the challenge of Craig Williams and Godolphin’s Anamoe … and then having to survive a protest to keep the race … will long be remembered for the very real race drama that competitive racing at the highest level can produce.
Apart from the international raiders who will run under the names of their regular overseas trainers, there is also likely to be overseas horses in the final Melbourne Cup field who have now been placed in the hands of local trainers.
This mix and match of international runners versus Australia’s own is now a standard feature in the Melbourne Cup, in particular, and, whatever any arguments of concern there might be with regard to how the makeup of the Cup has developed through this modern era, it remains a race of significant international stature which will again be roundly celebrated as such come the first Tuesday in November.
