A mixture of high-class locals and exciting internationals make up 173 nominations for the world’s richest 2400-metre turf handicap, the $2.5 million Group 1 BMW Caulfield Cup. Nine of the first 10 horses across the line in year’s Emirates Melbourne Cup have been nominated for the 19 October feature, headed by the winner and 2011 Caulfield Cup runner-up Green Moon.
The entries include 20 Northern Hemisphere-trained gallopers, including globetrotting star and 2011 Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux, the Marco Botti-trained pair Jakkalberry and Dandino, and reigning Irish St Leger winner Royal Diamond.
Champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has nominated lightly-raced Northern Hemisphere three-year-old Mars while fellow Irishman Dermot Weld has entered promising mare Voleuse De Coeurs.
One of the most intriguing nominations is the sole three-year-old, Tony Vasil’s unbeaten Prince Harada, who will be aiming to become the first three-year-old to win the Caulfield Cup since the T.J. Smith-trained Mighty Kingdom in 1979 if he takes his place.
Seventy-eight Northern Hemisphere-bred gallopers have been nominated for this year’s edition of Caulfield’s signature race, making up 45 percent of the entries.
Heading that list are the Gai Waterhouse-trained pair of 2012 Melbourne Cup runner-up Fiorente and Carlton House, who is owned by Her Majesty the Queen.
That pair form part of a 14-strong team of entries from Waterhouse, who is joined by Robert Hickmott, as the two leading trainers by sheer weight of numbers.
Among Hickmott’s 14 nominations are three of the first four horses home in the 2011 English St Leger (2900m) including the winner Masked Marvel, along with Sea Moon and Seville.
Sydney’s premier trainer Chris Waller also features prominently with 10 nominations that include runaway ATC Australian Oaks (2400m) winner Royal Descent and imported Doomben Cup (2000m) victor Beaten Up.
Mark Kavanagh has nominated Australian Cup (2000m) winner Super Cool, as well as imports Sharalam and Aribaa, in a bid to capture the only race of the three Spring majors still to elude him.
Hall Of Fame legend Bart Cummings, who last won the Caulfield Cup with Viewed in 2009, has nominated two horses, Commission and Precedence, in his quest to win his eighth Cup in his first year since forming a training partnership with his grandson James.
Those who missed the nomination deadline have until noon next Tuesday to pay the first late entry fee. The only other late entry option is the week of the race, when $55,000 is required to secure a start.
First acceptances will be taken at noon on Tuesday, 10 September.