Some frantic behind-the-scenes negotiations and a mountain of paperwork and bureaucratic activity has finally resulted in permission for Japanese challengers to gain travel permits to bid for the Melbourne Cup 2010, the first time such obstacles have been overcome for three years.
An outbreak of equine influenza in Japan in 2007 resulted in the Australian racing authorities taking no chances that local horses could be infected, resulting in severe restrictions on the movement of horses between the countries ever since.
The Federal Government and AQIS are now satisfied that the pre-quarantine facilities established in the Japanese capital, Tokyo, and in Nakayama ensure that no horse travelling from Japan to Australia can carry with it the devastating infection, clearing the way for a two-pronged challenge from the ‘Land of the Rising Sun’, consisting of Jaguar Mall and Meiner Kitz.
The Japanese challengers should be taken very seriously by Australian racing fans, for whom the outstanding performances of Delta Blues and Pop Rock, first and second in the 2006 renewal of the Melbourne Cup, are still fresh in the memory. Seven-year-old Meiner Kitz won the 2009 Tenno Sho, Japan’s top stayers event in 2009, before finishing a three-quarters of a length runner-up to Jaguar Mail in this year’s renewal. Jaguar Mail’s connections have already secured the services of leading rider Craig Williams for all races up to and including their charge’s bid for the Melbourne Cup in November.
Both Jaguar Mail (57.5kg) and Meiner Kitz (57kg) are priced up at odds of 25/1 by British betting firms but their Australian counterparts seem surprisingly to have dismissed the seemingly strong Japanese challenge, with Melbourne Cup odds of up to 100/1 being available about the pair!
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