International contingent for the Victorian Spring Racing Carnival takes shape

Racing Victoria (RV) is set to welcome the first five international horses targeting the 2025 Spring Racing Carnival to Melbourne over the next 24 hours.

The horses from France, Ireland, England and Japan will touch down and head to the Werribee International Horse Centre (WIHC), where they will complete their mandatory two weeks’ post-arrival quarantine. 
    
Thereafter, they will compete against a strong local contingent in races such as the $5 million Sportsbet Caulfield Cup (2400m, 18 October) at Caulfield, the $500,000 Ladbrokes Geelong Cup (2400m, 22 October) at Geelong and the $10 million Lexus Melbourne Cup (3200m, 4 November) at Flemington.

These five horses have all satisfied RV’s pre-travel veterinary protocols, passing a compulsory scan of their distal limbs and completing three physical veterinary examinations. They are:

1. Absurde (Willie Mullins, Ireland) – Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup;
2. Golden Snap (Katsunori Tanaka, Japan) – Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup;
3. Meydaan (Simon & Ed Crisford, England) – Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup;
4. Onesmoothoperator (Brian Ellison, England) – Geelong Cup, Melbourne Cup; and
5. Presage Nocturne (Alessandro Botti, France) – Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup;

Absurde is making his third trip to Victoria, having finished fifth and seventh in the past two Melbourne Cups, whilst Onesmoothoperator returns in pursuit of back-to-back Geelong Cups.

This weekend also sees another six international horses booked to commence two weeks’ pre-export quarantine in the UK and Japan before they are scheduled to travel to Victoria for a tilt at the 165th – and richest – Melbourne Cup in history.

Like the initial five, these six horses have all passed a compulsory scan of their distal limbs and will next undergo a third and final pre-travel physical veterinary examination in quarantine before being granted approval to board the flight.

The second group of internationals includes the first USA-trained Melbourne Cup contender; the Australian-owned, Irish-trained Cup favourite Al Riffa; and a high-quality entrant from Germany bringing the number of countries represented among the visiting contingent to six.

The six horses currently scheduled to arrive in Melbourne across 13 and 14 October are as follows:

6. Al Riffa (Joseph O’Brien, Ireland) – Melbourne Cup;
7. Goodie Two Shoes (Joseph O’Brien, Ireland) – Melbourne Cup;
8. Chevalier Rose (Hisashi Shimizu, Japan) – Melbourne Cup;
9. Flatten The Curve (Henke Grewe, Germany) – Melbourne Cup;
10. Furthur (Andrew Balding, England) – Melbourne Cup; and
11.  Parchment Party (Bill Mott, USA) – Melbourne Cup;

Parchment Party, who is prepared by Hall of Fame trainer Bill Mott and will be ridden by legendary American-based jockey Johnny Velazquez, has already travelled from the USA to the UK to undertake his pre-export quarantine before embarking on the flight to Australia.

As all 11 horses are entered for the Caulfield and/or Melbourne Cups, they will be required to undergo a standing CT scan of their distal limbs prior to each start in the Spring Racing Carnival as part of RV’s post-arrival veterinary protocols.

In addition to the aforementioned, the following international horse has been approved to compete in Melbourne during the Spring Racing Carnival and to be stabled at the WIHC:

12. Lake Forest (William Haggas, England) – VRC Champions Mile

Lake Forest will undertake his post-arrival quarantine in Sydney, where he is due to compete in the King Charles Stakes (1600m, 18 October). Should he perform to the satisfaction of connections in Sydney, he is then earmarked to travel to Melbourne for the $3 million Champions Mile (1600m, 8 November) at Flemington. 

Lake Forest has satisfied all of RV’s pre-travel veterinary protocols to enable him to enter the WIHC after competing in Sydney.