Godolphin sends two pair to do bidding at Breeders and Melbourne

Godolphin will send It's Tricky and Alpha to contend for Breeders' Cup honours in Kentucky. Lost In the Moment and Mondun will carry their colours for the Melbourne Cup.

Lost In The Moment, here with Mickael Barzalona aboard, will contend for the Melbourne Cup along with stablemate Modun.

The Godolphin duo Alpha and It's Tricky are among the entries for the Breeders' Cup next weekend.

The two Kiaran McLaughlin-trained horses are due to arrive at Churchill Downs on Tuesday to prepare for their races in Louisville, Kentucky.

Alpha has been entered in Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Juvenile over a mile and half a furlong next Saturday and is set to face a up to 13 opponents in the two-year-old contest on dirt.

It's Tricky is due to race a day earlier in the nine furlong Grade 1 Breeders' Cup Ladies Classic on dirt. The maximum number of runners is 14.

The Dubai-based operation also have Lost In The Moment and Modun in the second declarations for the Melbourne Cup.

The Group 1 race has proved an unconquerable fortress for all but a handful of foreign raiders, but the paucity of homebred entrants for next Tuesday's race has seen administrators come in for criticism.

Final acceptances on Saturday for the A$6.2 million (Dh23,564m) race might see only two Australian-bred horses make the field of 24, prompting industry figures to blame greed and the emphasis on big-money sprints in the domestic racing calendar for the local crop's lack of staying power.

In the past two decades, overseas trainers have spent a fortune flying horses south in the hope of winning the gruelling 3,200-metre handicap but only four from outside Australia or New Zealand have succeeded. That three of them have won in the last decade, including France-trained Americain last year, has set alarm bells ringing among commentators not comfortable with Australia's racing riches being ridden off on foreign horses.

"There are no staying races [here]," celebrated trainer Gai Waterhouse said this week.

"All they do is keep pulling [the races] back in distance. They must be mad, the clubs and the authorities. People love staying races."

A number of Australian race tracks have downgraded their traditional two-mile races to 2,400m, including the Perth and Brisbane Cups in recent years.

* Agencies