ENGLISH trainer Ed Dunlop has a simple message for all the locals who are unhappy with the rapidly burgeoning number of international raiders for the $6 million Melbourne Cup: get used to it because we love your race and we're here to stay.
Dunlop, who will be represented in tomorrow's race by Red Cadeaux and is hoping to avenge last year's second-place finish, was responding to comments made by legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings that the foreign raiders were afforded a saloon passage into the Cup field.
"I respect Bart's comments, but I came here last year with a horse no one paid any attention to and I had no idea what a global race it was," Dunlop said.
"It's been an enormous race over here for many, many years but now it is a huge race globally -- arguably probably the biggest flat race in the world.
"That's testament to the job (Racing Victoria's) Leigh Jordon and all their team have done to bring horses over and of course the prizemoney helps.
"It's a different style of race with these international Group I performers coming here now.
"It's not a close-knit handicap any more. With the greatest respect, there are plenty of horses that can't win the Cup and there are half a dozen that can."
More than half of the field of tomorrow's Group I handicap could be considered foreign raiders who have either been trained overseas or brought here specifically to have the finishing touches put on their preparations by local trainers.
Dunlop found plenty of supporters among the contingent of overseas-based trainers at Saturday night's barrier draw who agreed the Cup had outgrown its Australian roots and was now a global phenomenon.
British-based Luca Cumani, who has gone close on two occasions to winning Australia's greatest race with Purple Moon (2007) and Bauer (2008), both finishing second, has two runners in this year's Cup, Mount Athos and My Quest For Peace.
"That's not my problem, talk to them about it," Cumani said of the complaints.
"I think it is a (worldwide race) and if you want to take racing to the next stage then you've got to make it international.
"If you had tennis only played by Australians or if you had golf only played by Australians then they wouldn't be such big events."
Cumani added that he had noticed the Cup growing more and more in stature every year since his first tilt with Glistening in 2006, which finished 10th.
"It has grown every year -- it gets stronger and stronger," he said.
"I think it has been a bit of a snowball effect.
"More and more people want to participate. The Australians are buying a better quality European horse and Europeans are sending over quality horses."
Italian trainer Marco Botti, who is making his first visit to Australia with Jakkalberry, said he had already been blown away by the atmosphere of the 98,000-strong crowd on Derby Day.
"Obviously in recent years I think the Europeans just loved to come and have a run in the Melbourne Cup and there were so many hard-luck stories," Botti said. "Sometimes you would come here and it was frustrating because the horse doesn't get in.
"We were lucky that we knew it was safe and secure (as a starter) so that was a positive.
"Every year now they tend to buy horses for the Melbourne Cup and we have enough owners who say, 'I want to find a horse that is good enough for the Melbourne Cup'.
"I think the owners love to be here and it's great that it's for everybody."
However, the rumblings of discontent have continued with Maluckyday's owner, Nick Moraitis, who tasted Cup glory with Might And Power in 1997, joining Cummings in questioning whether the race had now lost its national identity.
"It's very sad that there are so many outsiders here," Moraitis said. "A lot of these horses didn't have to go through any qualification in this country and it's sad that the horses that couldn't get into this race had to qualify for it and still couldn't make it.
"I don't know whether it's a blot on the Cup or not. I just don't know but a lot of people in racing seem to be getting upset about it.
"It's getting to the stage where you're not even going to know the form in the race, really.
"They all come here with a reputation but you don't know how really good they are.
"We're just losing the plot. It's not a Melbourne Cup any more. It's a European Cup or something like that."
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