The King Edward VII Stakes
Group 2 - 2406m - 3yo C&G

Japan (the horse; not the country) won the King Edward VII stakes in comprehensive fashion. From his Jockey Ryan Moore: "This is a high-class colt. He's very good, and he put them to bed very easily there," he said. "He was the best horse. It was just keeping it simple, really. He could be more than a Leger horse—he's a good horse. He will be very effective over a mile and a half."

He looks to be headed toward the St Leger but there appears to be some thought of meeting all-aged horses in the King George first, or even going on to the Arc. Bangkok and Eagles By Day took out the minors; neither of whom are talking about heading to Melbourne.

Watch the race here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GZQLxVm-NpI


The Hardwicke Stakes
Group 2 - 2406m - 4yo+

It was another favourite that took out the Hardwicke Stakes. Defoe has already had a few mentions in this thread, including noting his lead-up win in the Coronation Cup at a new career peak. Gelding really seems to have done him some favours. It was only a 0.75L win ahead of Nagano Gold, whose jockey spent the first furlong of the race determining his mount was still in one piece after Masar on his outside came out of the gates sideways. He was also held up and checked in the dash for home as he swept from the rear.

Nagano Gold is a Czech horse. In 2016 there was a Czech entrant for the Melbourne Cup, Trip To Rhodos, but they weren't able to come in the end due to quarantine regulations. Because there is no agreement between Australia and the Czech Republic, a horse needs to spend 60 days in an approved country prior to importation. They left it too late in 2016, it looks like connections here are going to keep him in Europe.

Watch the race here: https://youtu.be/yZ4ZQzDeuhg


I listened to a radio interview from a couple of weeks ago with the VRC's Executive General Manager, who was asked about some of the foreign horses they were trying to get to Melbourne for the Cup (https://player.fm/series/rsn-racing...e-cup-wish-list). He said that there were a couple of runners in today's Takarazuka Kinen that had expressed some interest.

The Takarazuka Kinen is a Group 1 2200m Turf race to be held at Hanshin racecourse later this afternoon. In recent times at least, the Japanese horses who have made the trip to Australia have tended to have proven they can run the Cup distance, rather than be the horse who can run it most effectively given the style of race. So it's interesting that a "couple of potential candidates" are contesting a far shorter race this time.

No word on which of the runners are among those to have expressed interest, but the #1 horse Kiseki is trained by Katsuhiko Sumii who took out the 2006 Melbourne Cup with Delta Blues - and also trained Pop Rock who finished in 2nd. Kiseki also won a G1 3000m race for 3yos in 2017, so little fear of the 2 miles.

After googling about, I discovered that it was reported earlier this month that Kiseki had received an invite from the Moonee Valley Racing Club to contest the Cox Plate. Almond Eye received a similar invite and had been anticipated to be in this race (runners are selected by popular vote and she was on top of the count) but withdrew. It's a fair chance that these are the two runners that were hinted at in the radio interview.

Rey de Oro is the favourite in the race, but 6 of the 12 runners are at $10 or under (Kiseki is at $11 first up) so it will be hotly contested.