Tony Millard’s Chilean Triple Crown winner Panfield will not be in Australia on Tuesday 2 November for the Melbourne Cup.
Panfield’s name was absent from the 174 strong list of nominations received last week for the A$8 million Gr1 Lexus Melbourne Cup.
Tony Millard – risk considered too high (Pic – HKJC)
“The veterinary protocols – due to horses breaking down in past Melbourne Cups – set out by the Australians was extreme and would have interfered with his race preparation. The same protocol does not apply to the local horses so it is not really a level playing field,” Millard told the Sporting Post.
Recently introduced regulations and measures by Racing Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club requires more boxes to be ticked for connections to race a horse in Melbourne’s Spring Carnival, such as a series of pre-export tests with regard to the soundness of the horse before having to comply with further pre-race testing while in quarantine at Werribee in Melbourne.
The SA Champion Trainer of 1992 and ’94 said that on top of the veterinary protocols, the COVID situation in Melbourne ‘has gone from bad to worse and that they are presently in lockdown’.
“We felt that the risk was too high so we have decided to focus on the International races in Hong Kong in December. It is a shame as the horse has come through the summer well,” he added.
A son of Lookin At Lucky, Panfield claimed Chile’s 2019 Triple Crown with consecutive G1 triumphs and burst onto the scene in Hong Kong with a strong third placing in the BMW Hong Kong Derby (2000m) before his tenacious victory in May’s Gr1 Standard Chartered Champions & Chater Cup (2400m).
Millard had told the Hong Kong media in July that he and the Panfield connections were considering the protocols and that it would be nice to have a tilt at the Melbourne Cup.
Well versed in travelling horses, Millard has campaigned overseas a total of 10 times from Hong Kong with seven different horses; his best result, a fine win in the 2016 KOR Gr1 Korea Sprint (1200m, sand) with Super Jockey in South Korea, who also placed second in the 2015 Gr1 Dubai Golden Shaheen (1200m, dirt) in the United Arab Emirates.
He also crusaded Sweet Sanette to finish a brave third in the 2011 Gr1 King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) at Royal Ascot behind Prohibit and Star Witness, respectively.
Tony Millard finished last season with 30 winners and gross stakes of HK$47 895 000.
