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The highlight of this year’s Australian horse racing calendar is undoubtedly the 2010 Melbourne Cup and with it marking the 150th running of the race is certainly drawing more attention from both horses and jockeys around the world than ever before.
Horse racing enthusiasts will be aware of the huge number of international candidates targeting the 2010 Melbourne Cup prize as their ultimate goal this year – and it seems star hoop Craig Williams is no exception.
Having ridden mostly in Japan over the past few months, Williams returned to racing in Melbourne this week and will ride at Moonee Valley on Saturday before the spring racing carnival really heats up.
After a hostile break from David Hayes’ training camp at the end of last year, the 33-year-old has no backing of a major stable and so if he is to ride in the 150th Melbourne Cup field will need Japanese horses to be given the green light to participate this year.
Japanese runners have not been allowed to race in the $6 million event since Delta Blues and Pop Rock quinellaed the 2006 Melbourne Cup finishing places.
Williams would have a good chance of adding the 150th Melbourne Cup accolade to his bow if the international brood was allowed to travel to Melbourne having formed a strong partnership with Jaguar Mail after winning the Group One Tenno Sho in Kyoto in May.
It was a win which would certainly spark fear into other Melbourne Cup runners as the stayer completed the 3, 200 metre distance 0.6 seconds faster than the Melbourne Cup record set by Kingston Rule.
Jaguar Mail, owned by Katsumi Yoshida who raced the successful Delta Blues, will make the move to Aussie shores if Australian officials declare Japanese quarantine facilities as acceptable.
Other hopeful international 2010 Melbourne Cup runners are the English Jeremy Noseda-trained Sans Frontieres and the on-form Profound Beauty, trained by one of the world’s top trainers Dermot Weld.
