Cover image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
The internationalisation of the Melbourne Cup is viewed as a modern phenomenon, one sparked when Vintage Crop (Ire) (Rousillon {USA}) won the race for Dermot Weld in 1993. Certainly the 21st Century Cup has proven rich pickings for overseas raiders, with 14 of the past 19 winners bred in the Northern Hemisphere.
But internationally bred runners had a foothold on the race well before Vintage Crop, with three American-bred winners between 1980 and 1990, while horses bred across the Tasman Sea have historically enjoyed a wealth of success. There were 31 New Zealand-bred Melbourne Cup winners in a golden 50 years from Dalray's (NZ) (Balloch {GB}) win in 1952 to Ethereal's (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) success in 2001.
Incentivise, aiming to become the first horse since Ethereal to win the G1 Caulfield Cup and the Melbourne Cup in the same year, would be only the fourth Australian-bred winner in the 21st century, following in the history-making steps of Vow And Declare (Declaration Of War {USA}), Shocking (Street Cry {Ire}) and Viewed (Scenic {Ire}).
But he is also aiming to become the first Melbourne Cup winner by an Australian-bred stallion - in his case Shamus Award - since Rogan Josh won the race for Old Spice in 1999.
Gallery: Australian-bred winners of the Melbourne Cup in the 21st century
In the 21 editions since, only two horses by Australian-bred stallions, Maybe Better (Intergaze) and Criterion (NZ)(Sebring), have even placed in the race.
When you consider that nine of the top 10 stallions on last-season's Champion Sires' Table were Australian-bred, the fact that an Australian-bred stallion hasn't sired the winner of our second richest race this century is fascinating.
A long-term trend
It would be simple to put that stark trend down to the confluence of two factors, the internationalisation of the Cup and the increasing focus of the Australian industry on precocity and speed, however, it is something which has been happening for a very long time.
Looking back through Melbourne Cup history and there is only one other horse since 1950 by an Australian-bred stallion to have won the race. That was 1973 winner Gala Supreme, who was by Gala Crest.
Comic Court, the 1950 winner trained by Jim Cummings, and strapped by his son Bart, was by Australian-bred Powerscourt. It's amazing to think that of the 12 Cup winners that Bart Cummings trained, just one of them was by an Australian-bred stallion, Rogan Josh.
In fact, just three of Bart's Cup winners, the final three, were bred in Australia, the other two being 1996 winner Saintly (Sky Chase {NZ}) and 2008 victor Viewed (Scenic {Ire}).
Incentivise | Image courtesy of Bronwen Healy
Incentivise, who comes into the race on a nine-race winning streak, is one of four Australian-bred horses in the 2021 edition, the highest representation since 2018. Just one of that four is by an Australian-bred stallion, Persan (Pierro). The Chosen One (NZ) is Kiwi-bred but by Australian-bred stallion, Savabeel.
History in the making
Incentivise's sire, Shamus Award, who began his breeding career at Widden Stud before moving to Rosemont Stud, is no stranger to creating history. In 2013, he became the first maiden to win the G1 Cox Plate. Should his brilliant son win on Tuesday, he would be the first Cox Plate winner to sire a Melbourne Cup winner since the days of Heroic and Manfred, who produced Cup winners in the 1930s.
What's more, Shamus Award would become just the second Danehill (USA)-line stallion to produce a Melbourne Cup winner, following on from Desert King (Ire), who had his daughter Makybe Diva (GB) win the race an unprecedented three times in succession from 2003 to 2005.
Shamus Award | Standing at Rosemont Stud
But in terms of his profile, Shamus Award is not your typical, speed-based Danehill-line stallion. He may be by Snitzel, an Oakleigh Plate-winning son of Redoute's Choice, out of a mare by Success Express (USA), but the distance statistics of his progeny suggest a significant capability for stamina.
Shamus Award has produced five stakes winners from 55 runners in the 1700 metres - 2300 metres distance range and three stakes winners from seven runners over distances more than 2300 metres. Those three stakes winners are all Group 1 winners, in Duais, Mr Quickie and Incentivise.
Incentivise's pedigree is fascinating in that he is out of Miss Argyle, a mare by Iglesia, whose greatest claim to fame as a racehorse was setting the Flemington 1200-metre track record, a mark which still stands today.
His maternal line tracks back to a family which was bred extensively by Eureka Stud. There are some stamina threads through that, notably the 1978 Queensland Oaks winner Mother Of Pearl (Rascolnik).
Miss Argyle when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
That brings us to a final historic fact about Incentivise's pedigree. All four of his grandparents were bred in Australia.
We have tracked the pedigrees of every Melbourne Cup winner back to the very first running in 1861 and we can't find one of them that were exclusively Australian bred through the first two generations of their pedigree!
