ALAIN De Royer Dupre's assistant trainer Stephanie Nigge sounded an ominous warning to the connections of fellow international raiders and the handful of locals still in the hunt for the Melbourne Cup after yesterday's second declarations were finalised: reigning Cup hero Americain is bigger and better than he was 12 months ago, reports The Age. It says: Nigge had been apprehensive about Americain's progress since last year's Melbourne Cup after a disappointing season in France, but said that Sa

ALAIN De Royer Dupre's assistant trainer Stephanie Nigge sounded an ominous warning to the connections of fellow international raiders and the handful of locals still in the hunt for the Melbourne Cup after yesterday's second declarations were finalised: reigning Cup hero Americain is bigger and better than he was 12 months ago, reports The Age.

It says: Nigge had been apprehensive about Americain's progress since last year's Melbourne Cup after a disappointing season in France, but said that Saturday's Moonee Valley Cup win left no doubt in her mind that the horse was ready to defend his title.

''He's an older horse now and a stallion so they get bigger and heavier. He was racing without any luck in France this year so it was hard to judge him,'' she said. ''I think now that maybe he is better this year. Last year after Geelong he needed more time to recover, this year after Moonee Valley he is ready quicker. He's ready to go.''

The ease with which Americain handled the tight Moonee Valley track on Saturday surprised Nigge as she expected the horse to find the foreign contours difficult to negotiate, but she was not surprised by the ease of the win.

''He showed me in the week before that he was in good form but I was surprised because of Moonee Valley. I did not think the track was suitable for him,'' she said. ''He seems to have pulled up very well and he looks great. He likes it in Australia.''

Having been stationed at the Werribee quarantine centre since late September, Nigge has a good handle on the other international contenders that arrived in the first shipment but she also has great respect for recent arrival Jukebox Jury, who is owned in part by the connections of Americain.

''The other French horse, Dunaden, is the horse I am worried about, but also Jukebox Jury: he is a very good horse and he beat us in France. Lucas Cranach is also a good horse, I think they will be hard to beat,'' she said. (www.theage.com.au)