Overseas-trained horses make up almost one in every four of those nominated for this year’s Melbourne Cup, strengthening the international dimension to a race that has attracted its smallest entry list in recent years.
The Victoria Racing Club received 101 nominations for the $10.2 million race, with 23 international horses trained in England, Ireland, Japan and the United States.
That proportion is significantly higher than the past two years, when international horses represented 16 per cent of the 120 nominations in 2025 and 16 per cent of the 123 entries in 2024, and compares with just 11 per cent of the 132 nominations in 2023.
Overall entries have contracted markedly in recent years, falling from 186 in 2022 to 132 in 2023, 123 in 2024, 120 last year and now 101.
