Connections of outstanding international stayer Red Cadeaux are contemplating a third Australian campaign that will focus solely on the Caulfield Cup.
Red Cadeaux is among the 173 entries announced on Tuesday for the 2400m handicap and could follow the lead of the French galloper Dunaden who won the Caulfield showpiece the year after winning the Melbourne Cup.
Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington - photo by Race Horse Photos Australia
He is also one of 18 international entrants in a race that includes 78 northern-hemisphere bred horses, 60 of which are now trained in Australia, including 14 from the Lloyd Williams stable.
Since he finished the closest of seconds to Dunaden in the 2011 Melbourne Cup, Red Cadeaux has become one of the most widely-travelled and best performed horses in the world.
As well as winning last year’s Hong Kong Vase (2400m), Red Cadeaux has finished second in the Dubai World Cup (2000m) and third in the rich Tenno Sho (3200m) in Japan.
“He’s looking more-and-more like a 2400 metre horse and I’d say it’s likely he’ll target the Caulfield Cup just as Dunaden did last year,” said Racing Victoria’s international consultant Leigh Jordon.
A dozen international entries have also been received for the Cox Plate, but there are only slender chances that any of them will take on the outstanding local contingent headed by Australian Derby winner It’s A Dundeel and the unbeaten mare Atlantic Jewel.
Trainer Mark Kavanagh will get his first solid guide to Atlantic Jewel’s spring program when she trials at Flemington on Friday, but the Cox Plate is her ultimate goal.
Atlantic Jewel hasn’t raced since April last year when she won her seventh successive race in the All Aged Stakes at Randwick.
Along with her Australian Cup-winning stablemate Super Cool, she is among 158 entries for the Moonee Valley race.
The Cox plate entry includes 30 three-year-olds, among them the fillies Guelph and Miracles Of Life who dominated the autumn juvenile races.
Entries also closed on Tuesday for the Caulfield Guineas and Thousand Guineas with first acceptances for all four races due on September 10.
