Dunaden is the first horse to claim the Melbourne Cup / Hong Kong Vase double

There were plenty of winners resulting from Dunaden’s victory in the Hong Kong Vase last weekend.

The obvious ones are the horse, trainer, owners and of course jockey Craig Williams.

However the flow on effect from the race also looks set to benefit all of Australia thanks to its relation to the Melbourne Cup.

Dunaden is the first horse to ever claim the Melbourne Cup / Hong Kong Vase double and in doing so he’s shown the world a clear opportunity.

Americain came close to doing it last year when he finished third and with Dunaden going even better the very next year the world has been put on notice.

Chief executive of the Victoria Racing Club, Dale Monteith, says don’t be surprised to see even more international horses down under in 2012.

“From my perspective, Dunaden’s win in Hong Kong is only a positive for the Melbourne Cup,” Monteith said.

“He showed the double can be done and hopefully if an Australian-trained horse wins the Melbourne Cup next year, then connections might look at Hong Kong as well.”

The Melbourne Cup was rated the world’s best staying race in 2010 and given what Dunaden has managed to achieve there’s virtually no doubt that will be the case again.

“When Americain won the Melbourne Cup last year, it was rated the world’s leading staying race with a 120 rating,” Monteith said.

“This year, given the Hong Kong Vase performances of Dunaden and the Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux (third in the Vase), it should help to keep the Melbourne Cup’s rating.”

If there’s one downside to Dunaden’s achievement it’s that he may have run himself out of contention for a Melbourne Cup defence next year.

As a result of his win he’s expected to be given a huge weight somewhere in the realms of what Makybe Diva carried in her record breaking third straight victory.