3 minute read
Bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever foresees challenges with new Melbourne Cup rulings for international runners
Prominent bloodstock agent Johnny McKeever believes the old-fashioned way of sourcing European-bred stayers for the Melbourne Cup (Gr 1, 3200m) will have to be re-thought, amid the raft of changes to the conditions of the Group 1 outlined by Racing Victoria on Wednesday.
For many years horses have been sourced for the Flemington showpiece during the European summer, with races like the Ebor Handicap (1m6f) at York believed to be a good nursery for the Group 1.
McKeever himself has purchased high-class European stayers for the Melbourne Cup, most notably the Tony Martin-trained Heartbreak City (Lando), who finished second to Almandin (Monsun) in the 2016 edition of the race, having won the Ebor the start before prompting Australian Bloodstock’s Darren Dance to buy into the gelding.
More recently, McKeever was also involved in brokering the deal for Southern France (Galileo), following his victory in the Irish St Leger Trial (Gr 3, 1m6f) win August 2019 and he went on to finish 19th in the Cup on his first start for his new owners - which also included Dance - and co-trainers Ciaron Maher and David Eustace.
“These changes will certainly make trading different,” McKeever told Racing & Sports Bloodstock. “You are going to have to plan further ahead. There won’t be things like waiting to see who wins the Ebor and everyone scrambling around trying to buy it before it goes to Australia.
“You will have to start identifying horses that might end up being good enough for the Melbourne Cup earlier, but they may not make the grade and as a result people are not going to pay as much money on that gamble, with the risk of them never being good enough to get to the Melbourne Cup.
“You don’t know what is going to happen to a horse in a year's time, whereas with a race like the Ebor for example, you are pretty sure you are on the right horse and they will pay a big price for him because he is set and ready to go.”
Before even boarding a plane to Australia, overseas runners will have to undergo stringent vet checks and scans - at the expense of the owners - and McKeever believes it will be unlikely many tried stayers will pass the checks.
“Another thing that will make it so difficult, the veterinary checks are going to be so stringent there probably won’t be a stayer in Europe that will pass the veterinary requirements to get them down there,” he said.
“Obviously with the scans they intend to use will show up even the smallest issues, even with horses, who have no history of problems, could very well fail.
“The old fashioned way of sourcing horses for the Melbourne Cup is going to have to be revised and probably really going to have to be horses that have been trained in Australia for at least a year before the Melbourne Cup.
“This is maybe what the Australians want because a lot of Australian racegoers don’t know any of these European horses that run in the Melbourne Cup because they just arrive, run and leave. It may work better for Australia, but there is no doubt it will strangle trade.”
The Melbourne Cup is known for throwing up some of the best fairytales and McKeever believes one thing the new rules will do is squeeze out those owners who are not willing to pay for the expensive vet checks, even before the horse has got on the plane.
“I think the sad thing is as well, all these vet checks cost a lot of money, so if you are a small time owner who just by chance happens to own a quality stayer, the race will probably no longer be an option for you,” he said.
“A horse like Heartbreak City, who I bought a couple of years ago for the race, we sold half of him to Darren Dance and the other owners stayed in and they probably would not have opted to go through all the checks they now intend to do and the race will lose those sorts of people won’t go through the whole rigmarole of all the checkw, which is of course very sad as well.”
