THIS year's 151st Melbourne Cup contenders will undergo scrutiny like never before with vets to test the fitness of the top 35 qualified horses before connections are permitted to make the final acceptance payment for the $6.2 million race, reports The Age/Sydney Morning Herald. It says: And in a worrying sign for the local breeding industry, it is conceivable that only two Australian-bred horses will contest the race tomorrow week. Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey said yesterday tha
THIS year's 151st Melbourne Cup contenders will undergo scrutiny like never before with vets to test the fitness of the top 35 qualified horses before connections are permitted to make the final acceptance payment for the $6.2 million race, reports The Age/Sydney Morning Herald.
It says: And in a worrying sign for the local breeding industry, it is conceivable that only two Australian-bred horses will contest the race tomorrow week.
Racing Victoria's chief steward Terry Bailey said yesterday that veterinary teams will work from Thursday morning to Friday afternoon to ensure there are no fitness queries with any of the Melbourne Cup horses following yet another scratching on the morning of the race last year. It has been six years since the Cup has boasted a full field of 24 and Bailey said he wanted to make as certain as possible that all 24 contenders were fit and well before Saturday evening's $49,500 final payment is due.
Bailey said any horse considered to be short of full fitness would have until Saturday morning to prove itself but if it again failed the series of tests, it would be scratched. With no provision for emergencies for the Cup, Bailey said it was hoped that a full field of 24 would face the starter. Cup horses who contest Saturday's Lexus Stakes and Mackinnon Stakes at Flemington will be thoroughly checked after the races before connections are permitted to pay the final acceptance. ''This will ensure there will be no repeat of Bauer last year,'' Bailey said. Luca Cumani's Bauer was scratched on the morning of the race.
Bailey said that Bauer's connections were given until Melbourne Cup morning to prove the grey's fitness, but the race conditions have since been changed to move the fitness checks forward to before Saturday evening's final declaration payment time.
This morning, the second declaration fee of $3850 is due and it is expected that very few among the Cup's line-up will be Australian bred. In fact, as the order now stands with the certain scratchings eliminated, only Sydney Cup runner-up Older Than Time (20th) and Metropolitan Handicap winner The Verminator (24th) are among the top 27 horses to have been locally bred. (www.theage.com.au)