Melbourne Cup / Steve Mcghee / 02 November 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now View Market

There are a number of gallopers needing a win at Flemington on Saturday to be assured of a start in Tuesday's Melbourne Cup. But one of those, Vigor, has been hard done by. Steve McGhee believes it's time the rules were changed.

Cup Order of Entry Needs Refining

The winners of the G1 Victoria Derby (2500m), the G1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) and the G3 The Lexus (2500m) this Saturday at Flemington are all exempt from the Melbourne Cup ballot.

But it is a travesty that the first three horses home in the G1 Caulfield Cup are not guaranteed a Melbourne Cup start. It is, after all, the key form race leading up to the $5.5 million Cup.

Vigor should not be a borderline chance to line up in the race and nor should trainer Danny O'Brien be forced to run the horse on Saturday in a bid to cement a Cup berth.

If Vigor doesn't win on Saturday, his chances of running in the Cup will come down to late withdrawals ahead of him. But win, lose or draw, the his trainer has been forced to run the horse on what is likely to be an unsuitable hard track only three days out from a race he should already be qualified for.

It's absurd that the winner of Saturday's G3 race, The Lexus (2500m), is eligible to leapfrog Vigor into the Melbourne Cup field.

There are horses that Vigor has beaten home under handicap conditions and at WFA that are assured of a start, so the rules and regulations need tinkering to ensure the process is fair.

Vigor beat home the best New Zealand-trained Melbourne Cup chance Daffodil in the Caulfield Cup last start. (Daffodil finished a game fourth but Vigor finished a super third from the outside barrier.) But Daffodil is in the field for Tuesday and Danny O'Brien's five-year-old isn't.

Daffodil is eighth in the Cup order of entry. Vigor is 28th. The situation is simply unfair.

The horses that finished from fifth to tenth in the Caulfield Cup - and several others that finished significantly further down the track - are also guaranteed a start in the Melbourne Cup.

Vigor will go for the more challenging route of the G1 Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) under WFA in a bid to gain automatic entry. The trainer has chosen this path over the easier G3 The Lexus (2500m).

There is a heap of borderline runners in The Lexus that need to win the race or they'll be running around on Tuesday in the Lavazza A Modo Mio (2800m) rather than the Melbourne Cup.

Imagine if your horse was 24th and therefore cemented in the Cup field before The Lexus was run and you had to keep an eye on a plethora of absolute last chance types needing to win to leapfrog your pride and joy?

There is never a dull moment in thoroughbred racing and ecstasy can turn to agony in an instant, so it will be a case of the Melbourne Cup or the 'coffee cup' on Tuesday.

The late Cup entry clause for the Victoria Derby winner has now been abolished after nearly two decades where it added interest to the make-up of the final field. The young stayer that wins the Derby on Saturday now has to be nominated for the Cup before the three-year-old classic in order to get a run.

So take particular notice of the Mackinnon Stakes and The Lexus this Saturday, as the Cup dream goes on the line for the owners of several runners. These races are the last roll of the Derby Day dice for many owners.

Vigor at 51kg can win the Melbourne Cup, if he gets a start, as he adores his home track of Flemington. He has five wins and a luckless second from seven starts at headquarters.

However, he is yet to back up twice in a week, having finished sixth in the G1 South Australian Derby (2500m) the only time he attempted it. One positive for Vigor's connections is that the horse will carry eight kilograms less on Tuesday should he make the final field.