The Raiders will be back in force for the spring carnival
Aidan O’Brien has nominated seven horses for the spring carnival after not entering any last year. Photo: Alan Crowhurst/Getty ImagesDomestic trainers must prepare for a renewed international assault on Melbourne’s “big three” spring carnival events.
Covid-bred travel restrictions and Racing Victoria’s tough new veterinary policy kept overseas riders away from last year’s carnival.
But internationals will return in force in 2022.
Overseas nominations for this year’s Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup returned to pre-Covid levels at Tuesday’s deadline.
International trainers entered 32 horses for the Caulfield Cup, 43 for the Melbourne Cup and 12 for the Cox Plate, a sharp increase from last year’s total of 28 entries across the three races.
Unfortunately for RV, various issues will once again keep the Japanese racers away from the spring carnival.
GET READY FOR THE SPRING CARNIVAL AND JOIN THE IQ RACES TODAY FOR ONLY $4.99!
Irish master Aidan O’Brien was a notable absence from last year’s carnival, largely in protest against RV’s harsh veterinary measures, as were Godolphin trainers Charlie Appleby and Saeed bin Suroor.
Racing Victoria’s international manager Paul Bloodworth said being able to personally explain RV’s rationale for the tougher policy as well as easing the organisation’s key demand helped boost international numbers.
RV dropped its rule requiring all international travelers to undergo scintigraphy, a veterinary process that involved injecting radioactive dye into a horse to look for any bone problems.
Scintigraphy is no longer mandatory and our vets will make a preliminary assessment of all the information they receive at the start.
Charlie Appleby has only one horse entered for the spring carnival. Photo: AFP
Stable vets will provide things like their vet history, a CT scan if done, x-rays and trot-up video and they will reserve the right to send a horse for scintigraphy.
I think it will become the exception rather than the rule now.
Bloodworth added that Joseph O’Brien winning the Cox Plate for Ireland under the stricter rules was also crucial in persuading some overseas trainers to resume entering horses for the spring carnival.
“I think as time goes on, people are looking at it and saying, ‘Well if we want to go to Melbourne, those are the requirements,'” Bloodworth said.
“They are not insurmountable as Joseph showed and it was important for us that he did.
“That’s part of the reason the numbers are back this year.”
Bloodworth said Aidan O’Brien was much more open to traveling his horses this year, entering seven horses for carnival features, but Appleby was still mulling over whether to target Nations Pride in the Cox Plate.
“We probably haven’t hit the line yet with Aidan, but he’s a lot more open this year than he was last year,” Bloodworth said.
“It’s fantastic that he nominated the horses this year, whereas he didn’t last year.
“We’ve done a lot of work with Charlie, but we probably still need to do a bit more work with him, but hopefully he’ll get here.”
FULL LIST: All 186 horses nominated for the Melbourne Cup
FULL LIST: Quality nominations for the Caulfield Cup
FULL LIST: All 135 Cox Plate nominations revealed
