It is a glaring example of the altered mindset towards Cups horses now compared with when Cummings was doing his thing.
A Melbourne Cup winner has not run in the Aurie’s Star Handicap since Rogan Josh in 1999 and in the past decade only Johnny Get Angry has contested the Aurie’s Star and Melbourne Cup in the same campaign.
That’s not to suggest VRC Season Premiere Race Day hasn’t recently had an impact on Australia’s biggest race of the year.
Eight years ago Almandin won the 2016 Melbourne Cup after finishing last in a 2000m handicap on the Aurie’s Star Handicap undercard.
Gone are the days of trainers starting their Cups horses over 1400m or shorter in the August and running every second week all the way through the Melbourne Cup.
Makybe Diva launched each of her Melbourne Cup campaigns over 1400m on Memsie Stakes Day with five of the next six locally-trained winners having done likewise.
But since 2016, only Verry Elleegant has resumed over 1400m in August.
Rekindling, Cross Counter and Twilight Payment were all European raiders, Without A Fight resumed in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes (1800m), Gold Trip kicked off in the 1500-metre Listed Winter Challenge in Sydney, while Vow And Declare did not appear until the Group 1 TAB Turnbull Stakes (2000m).
Almandin’s Aurie’s Star Day run was his second of the campaign, which is the closest recent campaign to what Ciaron Maher is trying to pull off with Berkshire Breeze.
The grey gelding has run on the first Saturday of the month going right back to April, when he resumed with a second placing to stablemate Desperado over 2000 metres at Caulfield.
Saturday’s $150,000 Inside Run Trophy (2530m) will be Berkshire Breeze’s final start before the Group 3 Lexus Archer Stakes (2500m), which this year has moved from Penfolds Victoria Derby Day to the Makybe Diva Stakes Day on September 14.
Although run on a new day, the Lexus Archer Stakes still offers a golden ticket entry into the 2024 Lexus Melbourne Cup, which some of Berkshire Breeze’s rivals this weekend could also have their eyes on.
The calendar is changing, as are training methods, and this latest tweak to the program could be the thing that brings the VRC’s first meeting of the season back to life as a Lexus Melbourne Cup pathway.
Bart would be proud.
