John Velazquez booked for first Melbourne Cup mount

John Velazquez will add plenty of spice to this year’s Melbourne Cup after it was revealed the Hall of Fame rider will partner Parchment Party, the first American-trained runner to compete in the Flemington showpiece.

There is a strong international challenge amongst the 120 nominations for the ‘race that stops the nation’ but it is Bill Mott’s wide-margin Belmont Gold Cup winner that really shows the global reach of the prestigious contest, with the four-year-old earning his ticket when scoring at Saratoga in June.

Leigh Jordon, the executive general manager of racing for the Victoria Racing Club, spoke of both Velazquez and the international contenders at the release of Melbourne Cup nominations on Tuesday.

He said: “In terms of international horses, we’ve got a really wide representation and probably the widest representation we’ve had for the Cup. We’ve horses from England, Ireland, France, America, Germany and Japan.

“The highlight from the USA is Parchment Party and could he be our first-ever US-trained horse to run in the Melbourne Cup. He won the Grade Two Belmont Gold Cup, which is one of the ‘golden tickets’ into the race.

“He’s trained by Bill Mott who is a Hall of Fame trainer and I’m quite excited to announce that Parchment Party will be ridden by John Velazquez.

“Some of his stats are unbelievable. He’s ridden over 6,700 winners in his career, he is a Hall of Fame jockey and his career earnings are over half a billion US dollars.

“He’s won Kentucky Derbies, he’s won all the Triple Crown races and he’s won over 20 Breeders’ Cup races. He truly is a legend of the sport and it’s great to have him here riding in the Cup on the first Tuesday of November.”

Aidan O’Brien missed out on the chance to saddle Jan Brueghel in last year’s Melbourne Cup, but has made three nominations including the mouthwatering prospect of St Leger favourite Scandinavia making the trip to the southern hemisphere later in the autumn.

Mount Kilimanjaro and Aftermath are the other Ballydoyle possibles, while Aidan’s son Joseph O’Brien appears to have leading claims of securing his third victory in the race with stable star Al Riffa, who was subject of a recent big-money transfer to new owners Australian Bloodstock.

Willie Mullins has become a regular visitor to the Spring Carnival and his quest for a first Melbourne Cup success continues with Absurde and Ebor sixth Hipop De Loire.

Meanwhile, former Closutton inmate Vauban is on course to take part in the race once again and is one of three for Gai Waterhouse and Adrian Bott, with stablemates Sir Delius and Alalcance both also respected from the home challenge.

Last year’s shock winner Knight’s Choice has the chance to become the first back-to-back winner since Makybe Diva, who famously completed a hat-trick between 2003 and 2005.

Of the other big names searching more success in their country’s most famous race, Ciaron Maher has 13 nominees, including last year’s third Okita Soushi, while multiple Group One scorer Via Sistina is an intriguing name amongst 27 for Chris Waller.