Australian-bred Melbourne Cup entries have fallen to a record low amid a Northern Hemisphere dominance of nominations for Australia’s greatest race.
When Melbourne Cup nominations closed on Tuesday, Racing Victoria received 123 entries for the $8.5 million race on November 5.
However, in a further example of how to measure the domestic scene’s decline in breeding for stamina, only 20 Australian-bred horses figure in this year’s entries.
That represents just 16.26 per cent of the total nominations - down from the previous low of 19.35 per cent in 2022.
The year-on-year trend makes for an even bleaker picture, decreasing from a 30.3 per cent representation in 2023.
New Zealand-bred horses, once a benchmark for Melbourne Cup success, are also trending the same way as their Australian counterparts since 2021 and 2022.
From 18 Kiwi-bred nominations in 2023, the number from across the Tasman has held steady this year with 19 entries.
Evergreen stayer Vow And Declare is the last Australian-bred to win the Melbourne Cup in 2019.
It was a year when 32 of the 152 nominations were bred in Australia, representing 21.05 per cent of the entries.
Vow And Declare has contested another three Melbourne Cups but after a top-10 finish in 2023, the nine-year-old hasn’t been nominated for this year’s race.
Chris Waller’s dual Derby winner Riff Rocket and the South Australian-trained The Map are rated the two best Australian-bred chances in latest betting charts.
A record contingent from Waller, an increase in overseas numbers and the presence of last year’s winner, the Anthony and Sam Freedman-trained Without A Fight underpin the nominations.
Waller has nominated 21 horses - up from 14 in 2023 - to account for 17 per cent of the entries but they don’t include last year’s placegetters Soulcombe and Sheraz.
Waller’s entries do include the Cox Plate favourite Via Sistina and last season’s Victoria and Australian Derby winner Riff Rocket.
Warwick Barr
Soulcombe and Sheraz, who haven’t been seen at the races since filling the minor placings in last year’s race, are notable stable omissions.
Both are sidelined with injury.
Waller will be chasing his second Melbourne Cup after Verry Elleegant crowned his rise to the top of Australian racing after a decade of dominance in Australian racing with her victory in 2021.
Circle Of Fire, the Melbourne Cup equal favourite since winning the Sydney Cup at the end of his first Australian preparation during the autumn, is one 16 nominations for Ciaron Maher.
Maher is bidding for his second Cup victory after Gold Trip’s win in 2022.
Among the 20 overseas entries, champion Irish trainer Aidan O’Brien has entered six horses as he tries to secure one of world racing’s most sought-after trophies for the first time.
O’Brien’s nominations include Grosvenor Square, a northern hemisphere three-year-old fresh from a 20-length victory in the Irish St Leger at his most recent start.
Grosvenor Square left fellow Melbourne Cup entry Absurde in his wake at The Curragh and he occupies the second line of Cup betting as a $13 chance.
Absurde, who finished seventh in last year’s Cup, put his Melbourne campaign back on course with a Listed win in England at the weekend, is one of three entries for O’Brien’s compatriot Willie Mullins.
Mullins is expected to bring Vauban back to Australia despite the disappointment of last year’s midfield finish while Hipop De Loire, luckless in the rich Ebor Handicap, could accompany his stablemates on the trip.
Vauban is also in winning form after claiming the Lonsdale Cup at York.
Other Irish nominations also include Harbour Wind for Dermot Weld, the trainer who changed the face of the Melbourne Cup when Vintage Crop scored a historic win in 1993.
Weld returned nine years later to win the Cup for a second time when Media Puzzle won for champion jockey Damien Oliver.
Two Japanese runners have been nominated with Warp Speed and Shonan Bashitto are among the international entries.
Nominations have also been received from England and France.
Melbourne Cup weights will be released on September 17 ahead of first declarations on October 1.
