Tomorrow sees the nominations narrowed for the 2010 Melbourne Cup on November 2, with first declarations taken for the race at midday.Tomorrow also marks the first declaration stage for the 2010 Caulfield Guineas (October 9), 2010 Thousand Guineas (October 13), 2010 Caulfield Cup (October 16) and 2010 Cox Plate (October 23).
However, the majority of attention will be upon the 150th Melbourne Cup, with a number of questions to be answered tomorrow.
Importantly, the intentions of international contenders will be revealed.
Horses who wish to run in the Caulfield or Geelong Cups need to be in quarantine by this weekend, while horses who are coming specifically for the Melbourne Cup must enter quarantine by September 25.
Highly rated international contenders who are unlikely to be amongst the first declarations include Mastery, Claremont, Illustrious Blue, Jaguar Mail, Meiner Kitz and Purple Moon.
Local hopes will also be scrutinised with the release of first declarations.
It has already been confirmed that the Queensland Derby runner up Kutchinsky, The BMW winner Littorio and the Mark Kavanagh-trained Shamoline Warrior will not be among first declarations tomorrow afternoon.
Also likely to come under scrutiny is the 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient.
Efficient has struggled to overcome injuries. Owner Lloyd Williams admitted last month that he was unlikely to be ready to run in the Melbourne Cup, with the Australian Cup in the autumn a viable alternative.
Just Horse Racing and Melbourne Cup 2010 will bring you any surprise non-declarations tomorrow, as well as the first order of entry which will determine who is likely to make the field on the first Tuesday in November.
Written by Andrew Hawkins
