After the win of French stayer Dunaden in Wednesday's Geelong Cup, Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter reflected on TVN how the dynamics of the Emirates Melbourne Cup had been dramatically changed.

Dunaden is well on the way to emulating another French stayer, the Melbourne-owned Americain, who completed the Geelong and Melbourne Cups double last year and is back for another crack at the Cup, this time via the Moonee Valley Cup on Saturday.

Carpenter was referring to the French influence now permeating the local racing scene. Only a couple of French -trained horses had competed, without success, at the spring carnival before Americain's wins last year and now 12 months later Dunaden may equal that feat.

Americain was just the fourth foreign-trained winner of the Melbourne Cup since the race was ‘'internationalised'' in 1993.

Irish trainer Dermot Weld was the first, with Vintage Crop in 1993, and he did it again with Media Puzzle in 2002. It was Japan's turn with Delta Blues in 2006 and now the French have entered the fray.

The French middle-distance horses have been arguably the best in the world in recent years and now they appear to have adapted quite nicely to Melbourne Cup campaigns.

Of course, there has been a clamour of discontent that our famous race has been hijacked by foreign horses but it should be remembered that many of the ‘'invaders'' have in fact been bought by Australian owners.

Such is the parlous state of the Australian breeding industry - in terms of producing staying horses - the Melbourne Cup would have remained a quaint anachronism on the international racing scene without this injection of new blood.

This year we will see a record number of ‘'foreign'' horses in the Melbourne Cup, probably as many as 12 or 14 of the maximum 24 starters, and while the days are long gone when a hobby owner or trainer could win a Melbourne Cup with a horse that may have cost just a few hundred dollars as a yearling, the race is all the better for it.

Apart from Americain and now Dunaden, this year's field will include several horses we have not yet seen here such as the flashy grey Jukebox Jury, Red Cadeaux and a very impressive type from the Godolphin stable called Modun.

They will all step out for the first time in Melbourne on Cup Day and I'm a firm believer that they are great thing for the race - and will make for an even more exciting spectacle than usual.