(Rod Gallegos is a leading commentator with Sky Racing.)

Ongoing and, in fact, intensifying interest in the Melbourne spring carnival from international racing stables is starting to grate with some people, particularly when it is suggested that maybe half of the Melbourne Cup field may be foreign-trained.

Talk of putting a ceiling on the overseas acceptors has been mooted. A hard solution to justify: after all, opening a door may be interpreted as an invitation to enter freely.

Maybe it is time to look at the qualifying conditions that obviously may be seen as slanted towards the foreign invaders because they rarely are balloted out.

Anyway, the curious concentration on sprint races in Australia and a sequence of major racing undergoing a shortening of distance has had the effect of working against the locals while benefitting the visitors.

The interest of overseas stables in the Melbourne Cup probably has been gaining momentum for the past 20 years and, in that time, there have been three winners (Delta Blues, Media Puzzle and Vintage Crop) and 11 minor placings which is a pretty useful record.

Wily Irishman, Dermot Weld, and Italy-born, England-based Luca Cumani, are two trainers, who, in particular, seem to have acquired an insight into what is required for our most prestigious staying test.

Weld has won the race twice while Cumani has been frustrated by two close seconds - Purple Moon in 2007 and Bauer in 2008.

*****

IS RACING in Australia still languishing in the bad old days of male chauvinism?

If it isn't, why doesn't Michelle Payne consistently get more race rides?

Her performance on Yosei to become the first woman to ride the winner of the Group 1 Thousand Guineas at Caulfield was as good as it gets.

Remember, too, she rode the same horse to an historic win in the Group 1 Sires Produce Stakes at Randwick and partnered Allez Wonder last year in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap.

One may be considered a fluke but three Group Ones and her overall record is good enough to demand more opportunities.

***

THIS year's Caulfield Cup is shaping up to be an enthralling exercise. In recent years it has been somewhat overwhelmed by the Cox Plate which has been cleverly marketed as the weight-for-age championship.

Personally, I find the Caulfield Cup to be a far more intriguing contest and, additionally, it usually reveals a splendid guide to the Melbourne Cup.

Not surprisingly, I have been scouring the Sportsman form guide searching for some good value and I am torn between two - the local Zabrasive and the invader from England, Manighar.

Manighar, from the Luca Cumani stable, has good wet-weather form and is a four-time winner over 2400 metres.

Zabrasive, on the other hand, has three unplaced runs in Melbourne since resuming from a spell but I do sense a form improvement.

After all, he showed plenty of promise in the autumn winning the Rosehill Guineas and finishing fourth in the AJC Derby.

If you're planning a First 4 assault in the Caulfield Cup, the Victorian TAB is offering a $200,000 jackpot.

*****

MAY I just reiterate a few words of wisdom to troubled jockey Danny Nikolic. He is a jockey of extreme talent but unfortunately too often his mouth is in top gear while his common sense is in neutral.

The recent beer swilling incident was, to coin a phrase, a storm in a tea (beer) cup.

He was fined $200 which wasn't a particularly harsh penalty. Unfortunately, Danny seems intent on further antagonising the stewards with an outspoken criticism of their performance.

Danny, remember that valuable and appropriate saying: A shut mouth catches no flies!

Arguing with stewards is tantamount to spitting into the wind.