Written by Georgie Dennis
Nominations for the G1 Caulfield Cup and G1 Melbourne Cup were released on Thursday, with both races attracting more entries this year than in 2019.
A total of 174 horses have been nominated for the Melbourne Cup, including 30 from overseas, however Godolphin trainers Charlie Appleby and Saeed Bin Suroor do not feature on the list.
The Caulfield Cup has attracted 177 entries, 34 of which are from overseas trainers, headed by market leaders Colette (Hallowed Crown), Verry Elleegant (NZ) (Zed {NZ}) and Master Of Wine (Ger) (Maxios {GB}).
“It is pleasing that there is tremendous depth among the entries for both races with 29 Group 1 winners in the Caulfield Cup and 25 in the Melbourne Cup," Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria's Executive General Manager of Racing, said.
“There’s also lots of really interesting stories among the entries for racing fans and punters to follow from afar as we begin the countdown to both races in these unprecedented times.
“It’s fantastic to see the defending Melbourne Cup champion Vow And Declare among this year’s entries and there is no question that Danny O’Brien holds an incredibly strong hand as he plots a pathway to both Cups.
“It’s fantastic to see the defending Melbourne Cup champion Vow And Declare among this year’s entries." - Greg Carpenter
“The number of internationally-trained entries is higher than expected in the circumstances, due largely to the tremendous interest from Aidan and Joseph O’Brien who have an impressive list of entries in the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.”
Six international stables have been granted travel exemptions to allow their staff to travel to Australia with their horses.
Aidan and Joseph O’Brien, Charlie Fellowes and Roger Charlton are among the trainers who have been allowed to send staff with their horses, however flights into Australia are currently very limited.
Joseph O'Brien is one of the international trainers who have been allowed to send staff over
The staff will fly to Sydney and complete 14 days of quarantine, before travelling to Melbourne to meet the horses.
“As it stands … we have six stables that have got horses in the nominations that have applied for travel exemptions," Racing Victoria's General Manager International and Raceday Operations Paul Bloodworth said.
“That’s the first step for them to get their staff here.
"We've been working with Racing Australia to get those travel exemptions. We've got all of those approved in recent days.
"Now that is effectively the first hurdle that we've jumped and now the next is to actually get the staff into the country.
"You can't fly into Melbourne at the moment so they're going to have to fly into Sydney or another capital city, but it will be most likely Sydney, do their two weeks quarantine and then get down here.
“Because there is a quota on the amount of people that can come into the country at any one time… It’s proving difficult for those stables to secure airfares for their staff.
“Some have got them, some have not at this point and we are working towards that."
