Melbourne Cup set to have no New Zealand-trained horses

Auckland Cup winner Trav (green) is the only Kiwi still in Melbourne Cup contention but looks unlikely to secure a start. Photo/Kenton Wright

The hopes of a long-shot New Zealand winner in next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup appear to be over.

Barring a miracle in the next two days, there will be no New Zealand-trained horses in the iconic race at Flemington after long-time contender Mark Twain was ruled out on Thursday.

He was steady without being back to his best in the Bendigo Cup on Wednesday, so will bypass the Melbourne Cup and have a spell.

That leaves this year’s Auckland Cup winner Trav as the only possible New Zealand-trained starter on Tuesday but that is now far more likely to be in the A$250,000 Australian Heritage Cup over 2800m.

“I doesn’t look like he will get into the Cup and we are not too fussed,” says Trav’s trainer, Raymond Connors.

“He has been going all right in races but maybe the Cup is a bit too hot and the 2800m race is a better option.”

Irish raider Al Riffa and Caulfield Cup winner Half Yours share $7 favouritism for the Cup with the final field to be announced on Saturday afternoon.

Michael Guerin wrote his first nationally published racing articles while still in school and started writing about horse racing and the gambling industry for the Herald as a 20-year-old in 1990. He became the Herald’s Racing Editor in 1995 and covers the world’s biggest horse racing carnivals.