Golden Eagle favourite Light Infantry won’t have to change his name days out from the $10 million event after connections of another Australian horse with the same moniker said their horse wasn’t ready to race.
Ciaron Maher and David Eustace’s firming favourite has avoided the embarrassing scenario which engulfed the Melbourne Cup four years ago, despite a war historian preparing to debut his own horse called Light Infantry.
After winning the lead-up 2018 Herbert Power Stakes under the name Yucatan, the favourite was hastily re-named Yucatan Ire before the Cup after it emerged there was another horse registered with Racing Australia under the same name.
Former Racing Australia chief executive Barry O’Farrell described the situation at the time as “unacceptable” and admitted some punters would be “confused” with a high-profile horse changing his name so soon before a major race.
But the same drama won’t engulf top Golden Eagle contender Light Infantry in Australia’s second-richest race after a subtle change to the Australian rules of racing.
It allows Racing Australia to have discretion on how imported horses can be named, meaning Light Infantry could just carry the FR suffix after his name to distinguish him from the Australian-bred version.
Golden Eagle favourite Light Infantry.Credit:Wolter Peeters
Sydney trainer Mark Newnham has been consulted about the naming of the Golden Eagle favourite given his Light Infantry is stepping up his work for a summer debut.
Newnham’s horse is raced by successful owner-breeder Geoff Grimish, a Vietnam War veteran and noted historian who names his horses with a military theme. He has previously owned successful gallopers such as Red Tracer, Shellscrape and Counterattack.
“I was asked if there was any chance my horse will be racing around the same time and I said, ‘No, he’s only just going back into work and he won’t be racing until December or the new year’,” Newnham said.
“Because it’s only staying for one run [the Golden Eagle’s Light Infantry] it will be allowed to keep its name and if it was to come back next year it might have to change its name then. Geoff was worried they were going to make us change, but I said, ‘Don’t worry, it’s our name’.”
A Racing Australia spokesperson said the regulator approved a change to its international naming policy after the Yucatan saga and the French-bred Light Infantry will carry a suffix in all form guides to distinguish it from the Australian version.
Light Infantry is expected to return to Europe after the Golden Eagle, in which he was a $4.50 favourite with Sportsbet on Monday. Peter Moody’s I Wish I Win was on the second line of betting at $4.80.
International jockey Jamie Spencer will ride Light Infantry in one of his final serious gallops before the Golden Eagle at Canterbury on Tuesday morning as the horse seeks to become the first fly-in runner to win the race.
The final field for the Golden Eagle will be declared on Tuesday with Chris Waller’s Welwal, who ran in the French Derby earlier this year, trying to squeeze into the 18 runners.
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