End of Melbourne Cup?

Question

I read yesterday that only 5 of the 24 horses that ran in the 2013 Melbourne Cup were foaled in Australia with the best finisher coming 6th. For the second year running an Irish bred ex-English trained horse has won Australia's greatest horse race and I can't help but think the race has abandoned all classic routes. I saw Green Moon win the London Gold Cup at Newbury in 2010 and Fiorente come 5th in a maiden there last year. Who would have thought Newbury would be the starting place for Melbourne Cup winners? It is simply poor that 19 of the 24 runners in the Melbourne Cup aren't Australian and you only have the breading and greedy owners to blame. Where are all the top middle distance stallions down under? So You Think (the best middle-distance Australian horse for many years) was sired by High Chaparrel (an Epsom Derby winner). Too much emphasis is on speed and quick returns in Australia that I can only see things regressing for Australian racing beyond a mile. Something needs to be done, but the rich owners won't do anything but spend stupid amounts of money bringing European cast-offs down under. Mind you it's working: Green Moon, Fiorente, Jet Away, Sea Moon, Manighar, Ibicenco, Seville, Kelinni, Puisance de Lune, Pakal and Masked Marvel (to name but a few) have all recorded major victories down under. It's been 4 years since an Australian horse won the Cup now. Australia may lead the world with sprinters but something needs to be done about the poor state of the middle distance industry before we have a Melbourne Cup without an Australian-foaled runner. I just wondered what (if anything) can be done?

Answer 1

i was always fascinated when taufens melody in the mid 90' won the caulfield cup at 66-1.



i could name at the time at least 2 dozen horses in the uk at the time of the top of my head who could beat it.



i ddint know much about aussie racing but gradually learnt about it.



then choisir wins at royal ascot and he was rated 4th to 11th best aussie sprinter ,depending on what ratings/opinions you took in .



if we take a average of 7th best,that means there 7th best sprinter beat our best,whilst we had a horse who as safely out of the top 10 best 12f horse training in Britain win one of there group 1's.



not a lot as changed,and it amazes me that the value of the melbourne cup as gone up.maybe this was a idea to get the aussie bloodstock industry to start breeding more for stamina,but all that as happened is group 3/listed euro type were bought for it and traiend by aussie trainers,and a lot uk/ire/fr trainers have targeted it,so much so that the likes of mount athos for example have there entire season built around it.



ive just looked at black caviars races,and 395k is the highest ive seen her race for,yet the cox plate (10f) and caulfield cup (12f) are worth over 1 million each to the winner,there most valuable races seem to be long distance races even though they dont breed for it like they do for sprinters!

Answer 2

They're middle distance horses are the worst in the world of the big racing nations. Fiorente wouldn't win a G2 in Europe yet he's winning Australia's biggest race. They have the richest two year old race in the world and it's a sprint I think. They're breeding sprinters and have nothing much over a mile. Atlantic Jewel looked a decent mare. It's a Dundeel has a good race in him. Pierro was a decent horse. But they wouldn't get close to the likes of St Nick, Farrh, Cirrus Des Aigles. They rely on Coolmore's second string stallions. We'll see what So You Think can do. His foals look pretty good from what I've seen. Good size and strong. They don't really have the big owners like in Europe. They have syndicates and the average person who doesn't want to wait for a stayer. They just wan't the quick cash they'll get in a sprint.

Answer 3

I believe the answer is to have more races that are 2000m+. Simply put, most races in australia are a mile or less therefore it is an obvious strategy to breed for speed. If you have a stayer there are not many races it can race in. Sure the big races like Cox, Caulfield cup etc are for stayers but if you don't have an out and out champion you won't be winning them and therefore you won't really have many options week in week out.



If I had the cash to breed a horse in Australia I would like one that could win 1200m. I get your point though.... I think Victorian Racing actually WANTS the cup the way it is. It wants internationals to target it and is not fussed by the poor showing of australian horses as long as the Cumani's of this world have one eye on our cup.

Answer 4

It's true that a lot of breeding down here has the emphasis on sprinting.



We don't really have all that many staying races, most are over 1000m-1600m, with our biggest middle distance-staying races known being the Melbourne Cup, Cox Plate, Caulfield Cup, Australian Derby and the Mackinnon Stakes.



It makes sense for breeders to breed horses suited to these common distances, as there are heaps more races they can enter every week, as opposed to staying races.



Plus, it's easy to buy overseas bred stayers and import them here.



This is a topic that is always spoken about in Australian Racing forums, but until you can get trainers and breeders to want to aim for the less spaced out staying races, they won't really focus on breeding that type here when you can go over to Europe and buy a proven stayer.

Answer 5

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Answer 6

it makes it for interesting betting which is what the people want, this is why betting was up 20%