The Victoria Racing Club has received 101 nominations for the 166th\u00a0running of the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington\u00a0on November 3.<\/p>\n
While the overall nomination number is down on recent years, there has been increased interest from international\u00a0connections with 23 individual horses entered\u00a0from four countries,\u00a0England, Ireland,\u00a0Japan\u00a0and USA.<\/p>\n
In 2025, the overall number was 120, of which 19 were from overseas. In 2024 it was 123\/20,\u00a0in\u00a02023 132\/15.<\/p>\n
In 2022 186 overall nominations were received with 43 from overseas, but entries were taken a\u00a0month earlier.<\/p>\n
Entered to defend his title is last year\u2019s winner\u00a0Half Yours\u00a0who gave father-and-son training duo\u00a0Tony and Calvin McEvoy\u00a0their biggest success.<\/p>\n
Besides Half Yours, who is schedule to get his Cup campaign started at Flemington on Saturday week in the Group 1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington, the McEvoy\u2019s also have\u00a0Nearco\u00a0Frod\u00a0and\u00a0Yellow Jersey\u00a0entered.<\/p>\n
Ciaron Maher has 14 horses entered as he chases a second Cup win while\u00a0Chris Waller, who won the Cup with\u00a0Verry Elleegant\u00a0in 2021, has 12 horses entered for the first Tuesday in November including\u00a0Aeliana,\u00a0River\u00a0Of\u00a0Stars\u00a0and\u00a0Soulcombe, who last Saturday had his first start since running second to\u00a0Without\u00a0A\u00a0Fight\u00a0in the 2023 Cup.<\/p>\n
Two-time winner Joseph O\u2019Brien has the most entries from the international\u00a0brigade\u00a0with 11 horses, including last year\u2019s\u00a0runner-up\u00a0Goodie Two Shoes\u00a0and\u00a0Defiantly, who earned a ballot exemption courtesy of his win in the Prix\u00a0Kergorlay\u00a0at Deauville.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Brien\u2019s father Aidan\u00a0is after\u00a0a first victory in the Cup which\u00a0he first started chasing in\u00a02006 when\u00a0Yeats\u00a0finished seventh in the \u2018race that stops a nation\u2019.<\/p>\n
Epsom Derby winner\u00a0Christmas Day\u00a0headlines O\u2019Brien\u2019s list\u00a0as he looks to improve on the runner-up finishes of\u00a0Johnannes Vermeer\u00a0(2017) and\u00a0Tiger Moth\u00a0(2020) who were beaten by Joseph\u2019s winners Rekindling and\u00a0Twilight Payment.<\/p>\n
The 2024 winner\u00a0Knight\u2019s Choice\u00a0is entered having missed the race last year due to a bout of strangles, while\u00a0Middle Earth, placed last year, and\u00a0Okita Soushi, placed\u00a0in 2024, are entered for another shot this year.<\/p>\n
One of the more interesting nominations is champion UK hurdler turned flat performer\u00a0Constitution Hill\u00a0for Nicky Henderson.<\/p>\n
He will take another step towards a trip to Melbourne when he competes in the Group 3 September Stakes at Kempton Park over 2400m.<\/p>\n
VRC Chief Racing Officer\u00a0Leigh Jordon\u00a0said\u00a0the depth of nominations once again highlights\u00a0the Melbourne Cup\u2019s\u00a0global\u00a0appeal.<\/p>\n
\u201cFrom the reigning champion\u00a0Half\u00a0Yours and some of Australia\u2019s leading trainers, to a strong international contingent and the return of a Japanese-trained horse for\u00a0the 20th\u00a0anniversary of Delta Blues\u2019 historic victory in 2006, there are plenty of compelling stories already emerging ahead of the first Tuesday in November,\u201d Jordon said.<\/p>\n
Further opportunities for horses to receive ballot exemption at Flemington include the Group 3\u00a0Archer Stakes\u00a0(2500m) on\u00a0September 12, the Group 3\u00a0Bart Cummings\u00a0(2500m)\u00a0on\u00a0October 3, the Group 1\u00a0Cox Plate\u00a0(2040m) and the Group 2\u00a0Moonee Valley Gold Cup\u00a0(2500m),\u00a0on\u00a0October\u00a024.<\/p>\n
Other ballot exempt\u00a0races\u00a0on offer include\u00a0of the Group 1\u00a0Caulfield Cup\u00a0(2400m) and Group 3\u00a0Geelong Cup\u00a0(2400m), both next\u00a0month.<\/p>\n
Horses among the nominations that have secured their spot through winning a golden ticket include\u00a0Zakouma,\u00a0Tawny Port\u00a0and\u00a0Defiantly.<\/p>\n
Late entries close on September 8 with weights to be released on September 17.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Victoria Racing Club has received 101 nominations for the 166th\u00a0running of the Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington\u00a0on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":84864,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[138973,138974,85335,138975,82486,138976,51273,138977,94502,82931,138978,260,9440,70208],"class_list":["post-84863","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-melbourne","tag-aidan-obrien","tag-chris-waller","tag-christmas-day","tag-ciaron-maher","tag-constitution-hill","tag-defiantly","tag-flemington","tag-goodie-two-shoes","tag-half-yours","tag-joseph-obrien","tag-leigh-jordon","tag-melbourne","tag-melbourne-cup","tag-vrc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84863","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=84863"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/84863\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/84864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=84863"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=84863"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=84863"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}