"I had Ironstein entered for the Cup and he had won a group three race and two listed races, is fully qualified but doesn't get a start.
"Then there was the Pommy horse [Saptapadi] that had won a maiden only and gets into the field - you are kidding."
Trainer Gerald Ryan, although happy to let his owner lead the charge, quietly agreed that winners of Australia's major staying events should gain Melbourne Cup starts.
"The winner of The Metropolitan, for example, should be able to get into the Cup," Ryan said. "I'm not saying Ironstein would have won it, but I'd say he would have finished a nice 10th at worst."
Part of the blame has been directed at handicapper Greg Carpenter after his weight assessments of the Northern Hemisphere runners.
He has defended his handicapping of the Melbourne Cup after criticism that overseas horses received inflated weights.
"The race is not being put on for internationals and they are not being guaranteed starts," Carpenter said.
"It was a little disingenuous to say a listed win in Germany got a horse into the Melbourne Cup this year. Illo passed the ballot condition because he won a listed race over 2400m, but it ignored the fact he was a group three winner in Germany.
"A lot has been made of At First Sight and Saptapadi being only maiden winners gaining a start, but they had very good form in group races at level weights in Europe.
"One of the differences between European and Australian group staying races is that in Europe they are all run at set weights, so the best runners are running at each other at level weights. In Australia, it's possible for horses to win the Brisbane or Sydney Cup on the minimum.
"The VRC has, in the past, resisted guaranteeing those horses automatic runs into the Melbourne Cup. I don't think it's my role to artificially give horses more weight than they deserve to get them into the race."
However, it was equally disingenuous of Carpenter to neglect to mention that several group races in the Northern Hemisphere attract fields of as few as four or five runners, one or two of whom can be jumpers running off some fat before the hurdling season.
Cup legend Bart Cummings is another to call for a restriction on the number of Northern Hemisphere stayers allowed to start in the Cup.
One horseman cashing in on the trend is Rosehill and former Kiwi trainer Chris Waller, enjoying success with what could be called third-rate UK stayers.
Hawk Island, who cost Waller A$14,500, has won more than A$800,000. My Kingdom Of Fyfe, sacked from the Queen's stables, is now a multiple group winner.
As well, several other Aussie trainers also noted Waller's winning run and promptly decided to join in.
However, with the Aussie dollar flying high they could afford to set their sights higher. Consequently, even Cummings joined the queue by buying Ilio, Lee Freedman went to Germany to pick up Lucas Crannach and now even Gai Waterhouse has gone to Tattersalls and bought a couple of stayers for next year's Cup.
Freedman, who has prepared five Melbourne Cup winners, has expressed deep concern at the direction of the Australian breeding industry. "We are breeding sprinters," he said.
Top Victorian jockey Damien Oliver was in complete agreement.
"If the horses aren't quick enough to sprint, they're trying to make them into stayers, whereas, I suppose, if you buy a staying-bred horse and it doesn't stay then you are just left with a slow horse."
Freedman is also looking at the home of breeding stayers in Australasia, New Zealand, by preparing for the post-Zabeel era. He is worried the top staying sires are no longer coming Downunder.
Champion horsewoman Gai Waterhouse wants help from Australia's racing clubs, calling for more staying races of 3200m.
She pointed to the popularity of the long-distance events and was critical of clubs which had shortened their 3200m races to 2400m.
"Staying races are meant to be 3200m and longer," said Waterhouse.
New Zealand is also guilty. The Wellington Cup is now 2400m and has lost much of the lustre it had as a 3200m event, but at least this year the Chalmers will be run at 3200m.
There appear to be only four races over the Cup distance in New Zealand: one for intermediate-grade stayers at New Plymouth, another for lower-rated runners at Wingatui on Melbourne Cup Day and the New Zealand and Auckland Cups.
Some might suggest it is too late for the Australian breeding industry to recapture its staying lines. Since the importation of Star Kingdom in the late 1950s and Wilkes a few years later the die was cast.
However, while our cousins across the ditch may be out of business we have to pull up our socks.
The thought of Cummings, Freedman, Waterhouse and David Hayes buying their stayers from Europe and not at our yearling sales or racing stock from our trainers should be sending a chill down the spine of every breeder. After all, our bloodstock industry lives on the back of the Australian dollar.
