Horse Racing

Last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Viewed spearheads an 11-horse team for trainer Bart Cummings who is aiming to win Australia’s most famous race for the 13th time in November.

Cummings’s other headline entries are AJC Australian Derby winner Roman Emperor, AJC Australian Oaks runner-up Think Money, VRC St Leger runner-up Precedence and 2007 Queensland Derby winner Empires Choice.

On Tuesday a total of 230 horses were entered for the Melbourne Cup and 227 for the Caulfield Cup, down significantly on last year’s entries of 297 and 282 respectively.

A reflection of the global economic downturn was the drop from 66 to 43 international nominations for the spring racing carnival’s three major races with 39 overseas entries for the Melbourne Cup, 18 for the Caulfield Cup and 11 for the Cox Plate.

Racing Victoria’s racing operations chief Leigh Jordon said that while numbers were down for the Cups the quality had held up well.

“All the main players are represented,” Jordon said.

He said global powerhouse Godolphin was as keen as ever after winning last year’s Caulfield Cup with All The Good.

For more check out Horse Betting.