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Whateley impressed by star-studded Melbourne Cup nominations
Connor Scanlon • September 3rd, 2025 5:27 pm
A total of 120 horses – 101 local and 19 international – have nominated for the 2025 Melbourne Cup (3200m).
Gerard Whateley was very excited about the nominations for ‘the race that stops a nation’, and went through the main horses and trainers which put their names forward for the $10 million Group 1.
“27 of those (nominations) are trained by Chris Waller, which is just remarkable,” Whateley told SEN's Whateley.
“So, in Waller’s 27, Via Sistina is one of those who we would dearly love to see contest a Melbourne Cup. She’ll be an eight-year-old by then.
“The defending champion Knight’s Choice – was 100 to 1 last year – he’s back.
“Aeliana, Buckaroo as well. Okita Soushi who was a placegetter last year.
“Gai Waterhouse has got two. Ciaran Maher has Middle Earth.
“Sir Delius and Vauban have been heavily favoured.
“Joseph O'Brien has probably the most interesting (nominations) at the moment. Al Riffa is the Cup favourite, he has been bought by Australian connections, and we’ve seen Joseph win this race before with Rekindling and Twilight Payment.
“Willie Mullins is gonna keep trying – Absurde is coming back for a third dip.”
The conversation then shifted to Vauban, who is coming off back-to-back disappointing Cup runs, despite starting as the favourite in each run.
Trainer Wayne Hawkes believes Vauban has “no excuses” now, after recently changing ownership from Willie Mullins to Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott.
“Vauban, gee that’s a name isn’t it? Two Melbourne Cups in a row he was favourite,” Hawkes said.
“I hate to say it, I hate to talk about the elephant in the room, but there’s a difference this year.
“This is nothing against Willie Mullins, but Adrian Bott and Gai Waterhouse have got (Vauban).
“He’s very climatised now, he’s got no excuses. It’ll be interesting to see how he does run, trained down here.
“Two years in a row he’s been early Melbourne Cup favourite, he owes the punters a lot of money.
“Could you imagine if that horse won?”
Hawkes also touched on the most interesting nomination he found from the 120.
“The interesting one I reckon is going to be Parchment Party,” Hawkes admitted.
“He won three months ago, and he won a race that is now exempt for the ballot for the Melbourne Cup in America, on the dirt.
“The dirt horse coming to run on the grass, that would be a fantastic thing to see.”
The Hawkes stable didn’t nominate any of their horses for the Melbourne Cup this year, so Wayne Hawkes broke down why they chose against nominating.
“It’s like the grand final, everyone wants to be there,” Hawkes revealed.
“But when it’s all said and done there’s only two teams – there’s only 24 slots in the Melbourne Cup.
“So, if you don’t have one, you don’t have one, and I don’t have one unfortunately.
See the full list of nominations for the 2025 Melbourne Cup below:
1 - Absurde (FR) (Willie Mullins)
2 - Adelaide River (IRE) (Kris Lees)
3 - Aeliana (NZ) (Chris Waller)
4 - Aftermath (IRE) (Aidan O'Brien)
5 - Age Of Sail (GB) (Kris Lees)
6 - Al Riffa (FR) (Joseph O'Brien)
7 - Alalcance (GB) (Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott)
8 - Anisette (GB) (Chris Waller)
9 - Antrim Coast (NZ) (Steve Richards)
10 - Arapaho (FR) (Bjorn Baker)
11 - Asterix (NZ) (Chris Waller)
12 - Athabascan (FR) (John O'Shea & Tom Charlton)
13 - Augustus (GER) (Ciaron Maher)
14 - Basilinna (NZ) (Emma-Lee & David Browne)
15 - Belle Detelle (Chris Waller)
16 - Belvedere Boys (Matthew Dunn)
17 - irdman (IRE) (Chris Waller)
18 - Brayden Star (GB) (Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young)
19 - Buckaroo (GB) (Chris Waller)
20 - Bur Dubai (GB) (Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr))
21 - Changingoftheguard (IRE) (Kris Lees)
22 - Chevalier Rose (JPN) (Hisashi Shimizu)
23 - Chief Little Rock (IRE) (Anthony & Sam Freedman)
24 - Cleveland (IRE) (Kris Lees)
25 - Country's Light (Tetyana Furdetska)
26 - Deakin (FR) (Phillip Stokes)
27 - Distrustful Award (Peter Luttrell)
28 - Don Diego De Vega (FR) (Annabel & Rob Archibald)
29 - Duraji (IRE) (Dermot K Weld)
30 - Encoder (Michael Freedman)
31 - Epic Poet (IRE) (David O'Meara)
32 - Etna Rosso (IRE) (Chris Waller)
33 - Euphoric (Greg Eurell)
34 - Femminile (Chris Waller)
35 - Fernao (IRE) (Annabel & Rob Archibald)
36 - First Immortal (Mark & Levi Kavanagh)
37 - Flatten the Curve (FR) (Henk Grewe)
38 - Flying Bandit (Kerry Parker)
39 - Full Count Felicia (USA) (Chris Waller)
40 - Furthur (IRE) (Andrew Balding)
41 - Gilded Water (GB) (Ciaron Maher)
42 - Go Daddy (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
43 - Golden Century (NZ) (Chris Waller)
44 - Golden Path (NZ) (Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr))
45 - Golden Snap (JPN) (Katsunori Tanaka)
46 - Good Banter (NZ) (John O'Shea & Tom Charlton)
47 - Goodie Two Shoes (IRE) (Joseph O'Brien)
48 - Grand Pierro (Jason Warren)
49 - Half Yours (Tony & Calvin McEvoy)
50 - Harbour Wind (IRE) (Dermot K Weld)
51 - Hipop de Loire (FR) (Willie Mullins)
52 - Hutchence (GB) (Chris Waller)
53 - Interpretation (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
54 - Jennivamoose (NZ) (Ciaron Maher)
55 - Juja Kibo (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
56 - Kadavar (NZ) (Chris Waller)
57 - Kinesiology (GB) (Chris Waller)
58 - Kings Valley (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
59 - Knight's Choice (John Symons & Sheila Laxon)
60 - Kovalica (NZ) (Chris Waller)
61 - La Crique (NZ) (Simon Alexander)
62 - Land Legend (FR) (Chris Waller)
63 - Laspirit Deeler (Lee & Cherie Curtis)
64 - Lastotchka (FR) (Mick Price & Michael Kent (Jnr))
65 - Leica Lucy (NZ) (Chris Waller)
66 - Litzdeel (Danny O'Brien)
67 - Mark Twain (NZ) (Roger James & Robert Wellwood)
68 - Meydaan (IRE) (Simon Crisford)
69 - Middle Earth (GB) (Ciaron Maher)
70 - Militarize (NZ) (Chris Waller)
71 - Mister Wolfgang (NZ) (Peter McKay)
72 - Moira (CAN) (Chris Waller)
73 - More Felons (IRE) (Chris Waller)
74 - Mormona (FR) (Annabel & Rob Archibald)
75 - Mount Kilimanjaro (FR) (Aidan O'Brien)
76 - Muktamil (IRE) (Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young)
77 - Naval College (GB) (Annabel & Rob Archibald)
78 - Newlook (FR) (Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young)
79 - Nikau Spur (NZ) (Corey & Kylie Geran)
80 - No Rumours (Paul Preusker)
81 - Okita Soushi (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
82 - Onesmoothoperator (USA) (Brian Ellison)
83 - Our Anchorage (IRE) (Bjorn Baker)
84 - Our Gold Hope (Robert & Luke Price)
85 - Parchment Party (USA) (William Mott)
86 - Point King (IRE) (Anthony & Sam Freedman)
87 - Post Impressionist (IRE) (Anthony & Sam Freedman)
88 - Presage Nocturne (IRE) (Alessandro Botti)
89 - Quietness (GB) (John O'Shea & Tom Charlton)
90 - Real Class (NZ) (Chris Waller)
91 - Red Aces (Nick Ryan)
92 - Revelare (Robert Hickmott)
93 - River Of Stars (IRE) (Chris Waller)
94 - Royal Supremacy (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
95 - Sav On Ice (Darryl Carrison)
96 - Sayedaty Sadaty (IRE) (Ciaron Maher)
97 - Scandinavia (USA) (Aidan O'Brien)
98 - Scary (NZ) (Emma-Lee & David Browne)
99 - Sharp 'n' Smart (NZ) (Graeme Rogerson)
100 - Sir Delius (GB) (Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott)
101 - Smokin' Romans (NZ) (Ciaron Maher)
102 - So You Are (Stirling Osland)
103 - Star Of India (IRE) (Chris Waller)
104 - Star Vega (IRE) (Anthony & Sam Freedman)
105 - Statuario (Emma-Lee & David Browne)
106 - Sweltering (Chris Waller)
107 - Tabletalk (IRE) (Tom Clover)
108 - Tajanis (IRE) (Chris Waller)
109 - Tapildoodledo (NZ) (Kerry Taplin)
110 - The Map (Dan Clarken & Oopy MacGillivray)
111 - Thedoctoroflove (Trent Busuttin & Natalie Young)
112 - Torranzino (NZ) (Paul Preusker)
113 - Trav (NZ) (Raymond Connors)
114 - Treasurethe Moment (Matt Laurie)
115 - Trinity College (IRE) (Chris Waller)
116 - Valiant King (GB) (Chris Waller)
117 - Vauban (FR) (Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott)
118 - Via Sistina (IRE) (Chris Waller)
119 - Whisky On The Hill (GB) (Glen Thompson)
120 - Zardozi (Ciaron Maher)
