Dominance of Overseas Horses Spring 2008

Following the victories of the Goldolphin All The Good in the Caulfield Cup on Saturday plus the Luka Cumani trained Bauer in the Geelong Cup yesterday, questions must be asked about the quality of middle distance horses being produced in Australia. However the issue probably goes even deeper than this when we look at the field for Australia's number WFA event, the Cox Plate being run this Saturday at Moonee Valley, where it must be said the field looks to be the weakest in many, many years.

Let's firstly go back 12 months to the Spring of 2007 which was held in the midst of the EI crisis, and look at who won the major races. Caulfield Cup was taken out by Master O'Reilly, who had legitimately come through his grades in Victoria and proved a superior stayer on the day. The ease of his victory, 2.3 lengths, however levelled certain questions at the strength of the field considering a month previous Master O'Reilly was running at provincial tracks in Victoria. His rank failure in his next appearance in the Melbourne Cup also cast considerable doubt about the form of the Caulfield event. The Cox Plate was taken out by the Colin Little trained El Segundo who certainly deserved the accolade of being a Cox plate champion after winning several Group 1 races throughout the 2006/07 season, and being runner up in the Plate the year before. The big one on the first Tuesday in November 2007, went to the Lloyd Williams owned Efficient, who had not won a race since the VRC Derby of 2006, outsiders filling all placings. So as far back as the spring of 2007, there were most definitely question marks over the form of the major races. Even if we go back another year or two, where we saw the great old stager Fields of Omagh win two Cox Plates, with all due respect to him, the writing was on the wall some time ago. The fact is since the halcyon days of the late 90s early 2000s, where we saw the likes of Northerly, Sunline, Elvestrom, Lonhro dominating the great races around the country, Australian horses have since been left behind by overseas invaders. This includes those from the land of the long white cloud, and the situation has really been brought to fruition during the Spring of 2008. It has now become a crisis that cannot be ignored by administrators any longer.

If we look closely at the result of the 2008 Caulfield Cup, the best runs in the race came from the winner, All The Good, runner up Nom De Jur and 4th placegetter Mad Rush, all bred and trained outside of Australia. The 3rd placegetter, Danny O'Brien trained Barbaricus, was lucky to even obtain a start in the race being first emergency and even the best optimism of O'Brien would have given his other two runners in the race Douro valley & Master O'Reilly much more chance than the 150/1 shot Barbaricus. The favourites were not cited. Weekend Hussler who is allegedly the best horse in Australia has not won beyond 1800m, and after his effort at Caulfield, must now be left to run in race up to 1600m only. Douro Valley who was runner up in the Caulfield Cup in 2007, went on to win the major lead up to both Caulfield Cup & Cox Plate in 2008 the Caulfield Stakes, was beaten further than you or I could throw a cricket ball. Master O'Reilly finished 7th last Saturday after winning the event in 2007, however he didn't even get warm in 2008.

So where will the winner of the 2008 Melbourne Cup appear from? Certainly not from any of the Australian stayers. There must be extreme doubt cast over the form of 2007 Cup winner Efficient following the failures this spring of any horse who performed well in 2007. This leaves only the overseas horses to stand up. All The Good, Mad Rush, Bauer & Nom De Jur are all in form, fit and ready to tackle the 3200m on Tuesday week. Throw in Coolmore's Septimus and it is very likely Australian horses will not a fill a placing in the first 5 of this years great race. What a tragic indictment for the Australian racing & breeding industry if this was to occur, and it most likely will.

So why has this happened, what does it mean, and where are we heading? Firstly, this has obviously occurred because Australian breeders are only interested in breeding speedy 2yo squibs to race for the extremely over funded 2yo races like the Magic Millions & Golden Slipper. You cannot blame owners, breeders & trainers for attacking the big prize money, they would be crazy not to. Race schedulers around the country are the one's to blame as rarely do we see more than one race further than 1600m on any race meeting's program. This includes provincial & country racing, in fact most country meetings don't ever see a race of a distance further than 1600m. So why should breeders breed stayers, why should owners buy them, why should trainers even bother to train them in some parts of the country. We cannot answer that question. An even sadder truth is the horses bred for speed to race early, either lose form or break down and rarely race on past their 3yo season.

The ramifications for the industry are far reaching. More horses are being bred, creating a far more even spread ability wise of thoroughbreds racing in the country. There are far too many stallions and non commercial broodmares creating a severe lack of quality throughout the breed in recent years. Where are the champions of the turf in 2008? Don't tell me Weekend Hussler who can't race well beyond a mile is a champion. We haven't seen an outstanding race horse in this country since Lonhro, Sunline or Northerly, and they were at their peaks some 6-7 years ago. And there certainly are not any Might & Powers nor has there been since his reign back in the late 90s. Where are the outstanding WFA horses, even stepping back a notch to the likes of a Filante or a Juggler or an Octagonal who were always competitive in Cox Plates. The quality is not getting any better and the racing industry as a whole needs to look very closely at this and rectify the situation because if they don't, in 10 years time Australia won't even have a runner in the Melbourne Cup. Even the great Makybe Diva was able to win a race like the Cox Plate, a race she certainly would not have won had the field been of previous years quality. She was a great horse, a great stayer, one of which it is unlikely we will ever see again.

Look at the 2008 Cox Plate field. Now, think back about a month to mid September, and say out loud how many of the starters in the race at Moonee Valley on Saturday you honestly thought would be there on the day. That is not even to say how many you thought may have been winning chances a month ago, but how many actually achieved a start. Seriously, there are only two horses in Saturday's race that we thought one month ago may have been there, Princess Coup & Samantha Miss. There are 4 or 5 who would have never made the field, never even have gone close to making the field in some years like 1996, 1997, or 2001. The 2008 version of Australia's number 1 WFA event, is the weakest we have seen in over 45 years of following horse racing. In fact, we would have to say the quality of the field this year brings the name W S Cox Plate into disrepute.

Another impact the lack of quality horses is having is on the punter. The punter is in our opinion the backbone of the racing industry in Australia, without it is doubtful whether the industry would exist at all. He is the one who fronts up day after day, week after week outlaying his hard earned in the ultimate endeavour to find that elusive winner. The task set for punters is now enormous with all these overseas horses it is becoming increasingly difficult for him to piece together form lines. Not to mention whether the overseas horse has travelled well, settled in, acclimatised, eaten well. He has no idea, after so many dismal failures over the years by the likes of Oscar Schindler & Maamool, we then see All The Good & Taufan's Melody win Caulfield Cups completely friendless in the betting markets. And who can blame the punter for shying away from them after previously bad experiences. The other impact on the punter is with the poorer quality Australian stayers lining up in the big Group1 races, this leaves another void in the lesser events over the carnival, the Group 2 middle distance race, and the time honoured Country Cups that are held at this time of the year. Seymour, Benalla, Cranbourne & Moe have all held their version already this year, along with Geelong yesterday, and it must be said their Cup fields have been of lesser quality than what punters would normally become enthused about. Cranbourne in particular generally throws up a couple of Caulfield Cup runners, not this year. And again, as we spiral down through the grades, the dearth of quality horse flesh in these lesser races then impacts on the non Group city races, as well as Class racing around the provincial and country areas. Horses are now racing well out of their grade, it is becoming increasingly difficult for horses to string together several victories, and form lines are certainly not holding up as the used to. The punters conundrum is becoming greater by the day.

So the impact of the breeding industry, along with race scheduling is certainly far reaching. What will Racing Victoria & the VRC say publicly when no Australian horses finish in the first 5 or 6 in the Melbourne Cup? They will spruik how truly an International race that we now have and we should all be very proud to be Australian and be a part of it. And we should all be very proud to be Australian, indeed, however you may leave us out of supporting the giving of our major trophy and prize money to the hit and run visitors who put little else back in to Australian racing other than for one or two days of the year. That prize money in itself, if spread throughout the industry would do far more good than thrown at those who don't need it, those only wishing to prance around in the limelight for a day or two then disappear for another 12 months all at our expense. And all in the name of being a truly international event.

Bring back the days of Might & Power leading all the way, bring back the days of Sunline demoralising a top class field, bring back the days of the fighting tiger Northerly staving off all challengers. Please bring us some stayers who are able to compete at the highest level again.