Strong European Hand Looks to Upset Aussie Dominance of Melbourne Cup

A trio of European horses will head to Flemington Racecourse at the start of November in search of victory in the richest two mile handicap in the world, the Melbourne Cup.

Recognised as an Australian institution, the Melbourne Cup is often referred to as the ‘race that stops a nation’ and the day that world’s sixth largest country will grind to halt in 2010 will be Tuesday 2nd, November. As with any sporting event involving Australians, they like to win and the fact that there is $3.3 million on offer to the winner of the race only adds to the competitiveness of the Melbourne Cup and always guarantees a large field of runners from all over the world.

Despite horses flocking to Flemington from all corners of the globe for a tilt at the Melbourne Cup, the roll of honour retains a firm Australian feel to it with horses trained ‘Down Under’ dominating down the years. Recent winners have come from New Zealand, Japan and Ireland but history suggests that it is the home contingent who is to be feared most.

Australian horses once again account for the leading contenders in the 2010 Melbourne Cup betting with last year’s winner, Shocking, the current favourite to become only the fifth horse the race’s 149 year history to win back to back ‘Cups’. Bart Cummings, the trainer who holds the record for the most Melbourne Cup wins with a staggering 12 victories, trains the second favourite in the market in the form of So You Think, a four year old Colt who has every chance of providing the man whose name is now synonymous with the race his 13th winner. Another Cummings trained runner, Precedence, is also amongst those at the head of the odds along with European Raider, Profound Beauty.

European horses have a long history of taking their chance in the Melbourne Cup but with limited success. In the past fifteen years, five European trained horses have gone off favourite for the Melbourne Cup but none went on to win. The only European success in that time was Media Puzzle, trained by Dermot Weld in Ireland who won the 2002 Melbourne Cup. Weld also trained the only other European winner of the race in the past 20 years, Vintage Crop in 1993.

Weld is the trainer of Profound Beauty, considered the best hope of upsetting the Aussies in 2010 and judging by the form this six year old mare has shown in Ireland, she stands every chance of taking the trophy back to the Northern Hemisphere.

Despite missing out on the potential $500,000 bonus for any horse who wins the Irish St Leger and Melbourne Cup, finishing second in the Irish leg of the double, Profound Beauty still posses the profile of a horse that will go well at Flemington for a trainer renowned for targeting the race. She finished fifth in the 2008 renewal but six wins in nine starts since then suggests she has got better and is expected to get the two mile trip better this time around.

One European Raider who will have no problem getting the trip is Godolphin’s Holberg who won the Group Three Queen’s vase over two miles at Royal Ascot in June and allocated to carry 53.5kg in the race, this four year old could be well in at the Melbourne Cup weights with more improvement likely to come over 16 furlongs.

The Luca Cumani trained Drunken Sailor is another of the European contingent who looks to be in with a good chance of making his presence felt. Rated at 123 and 120 for his last to starts over two miles, this five year old has been running over shorter distances and with just 53kg to carry at Flemington he could pose a big danger and leading threat for causing an upset.

As has become tradition with the Melbourne Cup, the 2010 renewal once again looks wide open with anyone of several runners holding realistic claims of a win. Solid arguments can be made for the chances of the European runners as too for the leading Australian fancies, the only guarantee is that just one will emerge with their name in the history books of one of the world’s most famous thoroughbred races.