Melbourne Cup protocols: Is it harder for younger horses to pass?

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

With O’Brien's remarks igniting a conversation around the Melbourne Cup's veterinary standards, the complexities of these protocols come into sharper focus. The intent behind these measures is to ensure the safety and well-being of the horses, especially following a history of serious injuries in the race.

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Is it easier to fail younger horses?

Recently, trainer Aidan O’Brien spoke out against Racing Victoria’s safety measures, stating that they are unfair on 3-year-olds who are still growing. “Very few horses pass the criteria, especially young horses. It's very difficult for 3-year-olds to get through because they are still growing, and their bones are still maturing so I wouldn't be sure about any of them getting in and being allowed to run. It's ridiculous really,” O’Brien said on September 19. Of note, his 3-year-old Jan Brueghel (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) entered quarantine on September 28.

Racing Victoria informed The Thoroughbred Report that since the protocols were introduced in 2021, there has been no observation that Northern Hemisphere born 3-year-olds are overrepresented among horses identified by the expert review panel as having heightened risk of injury based on the scan results.

Therefore, based on the Racing Victoria statement, it would appear that there is no additional difficulty in passing these scans merely because a horse is a 3-year-old.

“We make no apologies for setting a high safety benchmark with our veterinary protocols which were instituted based on industry and community concerns after an unacceptable run of serious injuries, particularly among visiting international horses,” said Racing Victoria in a statement.

“Since the introduction of the veterinary protocols in 2021, the past three Spring Racing Carnivals and Melbourne Cups have been conducted without serious injuries and we are eager to maintain that trend which is in the best overall interests of Victorian racing.”

The reasoning behind the veterinary protocols

After the death of Aidan O’Brien trained Anthony Van Dyck (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}) in the 2020 Melbourne Cup, Racing Victoria completed a stringent review of all deaths in the Melbourne Cup over the past 40 years.

In the past forty years, there have been five limb injury-related fatalities in the G1 Melbourne Cup. Anthony Van Dyck was lost in 2020, while The Cliffsofmoher (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}), trained by Aidan O’Brien, suffered a fatal injury in 2018. Ed Dunlop's Red Cadeaux (GB) (Cadeaux Genereux {GB}) was euthanised two weeks after the 2015 race due to complications following surgery on his injured leg. In 2013, the Alain de Royer Dupre-trained Verema (Fr) (Barathea {Ire}) also suffered a fatal injury, and back in 1998, Singapore-trained Three Crowns (NZ) (Paris Opera) met a similar fate. Additionally, Araldo (GB) (High Chaparral {Ire}) was euthanised in 2014 after being spooked by a fan and kicking a fence, and that same year, Japanese-trained Admire Rakti (Jpn) (Heart’s Cry {Jpn}) died of a heart attack following the race.

Gallery: Horses fatally lost to limb injuries in the Melbourne Cup, images courtesy of The Image Is Everything

“Four fatal limb injuries in eight years, from 188 horses that started in those eight Melbourne Cup races, that’s a 2.1 per cent fatality rate, which is over 48 times the rate of fatal limb injuries across Australia in a typical year. In addition, 100 per cent of the fatal limb injuries were suffered by international horses, who represented 41 per cent of the Melbourne Cup starters,” said Kick Up's website.

Imported horses identified as high risk

Arising from the 2021 Racing Victoria report were 44 recommendations and 41 of these were implemented. The three that weren’t implemented were about changing the distance of the race, changing the field size, and restricting the number of international runners.

The report noted that all recent fatalities were with imported horses, and therefore it was determined that horses who originate from outside Australia and New Zealand should be subjected to more stringent testing to increase safety. The report also noted that the increased veterinary standards would naturally reduce the number of imported horses for the Cup, so there was no reason to have a cap on numbers.

The biggest implementation was to increase the number of veterinary checks done on imported horses, both for ‘two-way ticket’ horses (who will return back to their overseas trainer after the Cup) and ‘one-way ticket’ horses (who will stay in Australia). These protocols and checks are completed by Racing Victoria’s panel of veterinarians. It is particularly important to note that these checks cannot be done by private veterinarians who are paid by the connections of the horses. Having RVL complete these checks ensures a level of separation and fairness for all potential runners.

Since their implementation, there have been no fatal injuries in the Cup.

“We don’t shy away from introducing the extra measures that we’ve put in place. The Melbourne Cup is our greatest race, and we want to make it our safest race,” said Leigh Jordan, Victoria Racing Club's Executive General Manager – Racing.

“The execution of those rests with Racing Victoria. These measures, when they were introduced were before their time, but diagnostic testing is used more and more. I’ve noticed Hong Kong are using scans a lot more, as are the Breeders’ Cup. Perhaps the only controversy is over the interpretation of the protocols.”

What exactly happens for imported horses?

All horses travelling to the Melbourne Cup from overseas must undergo a mandatory full body scintigraphy and CT/MRI of their distal limbs, at the expense of their connections, two to six weeks prior to entering pre-export quarantine, while horses that have had a previous major fracture or orthopaedic surgery will be excluded from travelling.

Additional checks occur during quarantine and, again, are done by RVL veterinarians, not private veterinarians. All international horses that arrive at Werribee International Horse Centre must also undergo a CT scan of their distal limbs prior to each start in Victoria.

These checks, while the most stringent in the world, have reduced the number of horses travelling to Australia for the Cup by ruling out horses before they leave their homeland, and have resulted in safer racing.

Social licence and the broader impact of the Cup on racing

The concept of a social licence has been around for the last decade or more and is often discussed around Cup week. A social licence is defined as an agreement between a business, it’s stakeholders and the wider public that the business (or in this case, horse racing) is acting in a fashion that takes into account the interests of its stakeholders, the impact on the community and environment, and the role in the wider society.

At the recent 2024 Asian Racing Conference, Hong Kong Jockey Club CEO Winfried Engelbrecht-Bresges said in his keynote, “There has been a significant change after COVID when you look at consumer behaviour and if you look at the industry, and topics like social acceptability, and when I look at the Asian Racing Federation itself, we have excelled after coming out of COVID, but our challenges are significant.

“If we want to manage these challenges, overcome these challenges, and come up with good strategies, it is not one single jurisdiction who can do this – we, as a sport, must work much closer together and really stride together.

“We have to evolve globally. There are differing priorities locally, but we have to think globally, and especially when it comes to having the necessary protections to keep our social licence.”