I did a double take at last week's headline in The Age newspaper "International raid gathers pace" - the connotation being that, yet again, someone was moaning about the number of international horses set to take on the Race That Stops a Nation (the irony too wondrous to overlook given the sheer number of Australian horses stamping passports for international flights of late).

But, for once, the headline was deceptive.

Andrew Eddy's article is a good one and analyses the efforts Racing Victoria has been involved in in terms of raising the international profile of Australia's most famous race.

Some of you may be surprised to learn that the Cup has been open to international competitors for more than a decade now "but officials realise its appeal must be extended into new countries for it to keep growing".

Nominations for this year's Cup have been received from the connections of horses based in the following countries:

France (5), England (20), Germany (2), Hong Kong (2), Ireland (11), Japan (2), South Africa (1), the USA (1) and United Arab Emirates (6), as well as a number of NZ entries.

Among the international entries are seven of the world's top 50 horses.