News

  

The order of entry for the 152nd running of the Melbourne Cup was announced this week. An important part of the build-up, the 151 entries are put in qualifying order and will now jostle over the next 7 weeks for the final 24 positions on November 6th. Winners of the previous two Melbourne Cups, American (USA) and Dunaden (FR) top the order of entry for the first Tuesday in November.

Eight New Zealand-trained horses are nominated for the running of the A$6.2 million race. The 2012 Queensland Oaks winner Quintessential is the highest New Zealand ranked stayer at 36 in the order of entry. Quintessential will contest the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on Saturday.

The Shaune Ritchie-trained mare Zurella was an impressive winner in her first Australian start, the Group 2 Let’s Elope Stakes (Flemington) two weeks ago. Zurella will contest the Naturalism Stakes (2000m) at Caulfield tomorrow, is ranked 51st in the order of entry, one spot ahead of her stablemate (Miss) Artistic. Both mares are aimed at the one of the key lead-up races, the Caulfield Cup on 20 October.

64th in the order of entry, City of Auckland Cup (Group 2) and Avondale Gold Cup (Group 2) winner Single Minded will also contest the Naturalism Stakes which has 11 other Melbourne Cup hopefuls in the field.

Other New Zealand aspirants are Dowager Queen at 67, Maythehorsebemagic at 82, Back In Black 110th and (My) Chicharita at 116.

In other Melbourne Cup news, it is strongly rumoured that The Prince of Wales Charles and Duchess of Cornwall Camilla will spend their day at the Melbourne Cup as part of the Queens Diamond Jubilee celebrations.