Melbourne Cup Odds: Rating Admire Rakti
November 2nd, 2014 by Pom de TurfHe might be causing a bit of a stir over in Australia in the 2014 Melbourne Spring, and a look at the Racing odds for Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup will tell you that he’s the clear favourite to add to his Caulfield Cup victory before he heads home to Japan, but you might be surprised to learn that Admire Rakti isn’t what you’d call a superstar on his home turf.
In fact, he’s very nearly a top-twenty stayer, but no more than that, according to Japanese Racing Association, and in the opinion of lots of Japanese pundits. Of course, it’s not certain that form in Japan translates to form over here in Australia, and Admire Rakti hardly has the Melbourne Cup in the bag yet, but it’s interesting to note that he didn’t come to the 2014 Melbourne Spring as an all-conquering hero. Could it be that Admire Rakti is the thin end of a very high-quality wedge of Japanese horses who will soon be making the trip over to Australia? After the equine flu scare that has kept the Japanese horses away for what feels like forever, it’s great to think that we’ll be seeing more of them in years to come. But will they be dominant, as many Australian pundits fear?
Certainly, this is a Melbourne Spring that has already been characterised by some real success for imported horses, and there have already been concerns raised by Australian trainers and owners, who feel we might be slipping off the pace in our own Festival. But it does something of a dis-service to Admire Rakti ahead of his Melbourne Cup attempt to say he is anything other than a great horse. It just sounds like there are some other great horses over in Japan that we might be seeing in those Racing odds for future Melbourne Cups and for the other big races in the Melbourne Spring…
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