The looming clash between the top two Timeform rated sprinters in the world, Australia’s Lankan Rupee (Timeform rated 132) and Ireland’s Slade Power (Timeform rated 130) is set to provide a unique opportunity for Melbourne’s Spring Carnival.

While the Melbourne Cup has been the focus of international attention, a clash of the top two Timeform rated gallopers in the world - over any distance on any course - is a rare occurrence. And for Australia to have that opportunity presented to it says a great deal about how far it has come on the international racing stage.

Slade Power recently purchased by Darley is expected to line up against Lankan Rupee in the Darley Classic over 1200m under standard weight for age conditions, down the Flemington straight on the final day of Cup week.

Australian sprinters burst onto the international racing stage in 2003. Choisir recorded historic wins on British soil in (the then) group two King’s Stand Stakes (1000m) and group one Golden Jubilee Stakes, during Royal Ascot week.

Choisir then followed up with a gallant second behind crack sprinter Oasis Dream in the group one July Cup (1200m) before heading off to stud at Coolmore.

Those efforts earned Choisir a Timeform rating of 126, equal to his best Australian Timeform rating, and to say it was a defining moment for Australian racing is an understatement.

Those performances dispelled the myth that British thoroughbreds were superior to ours over sprint distances, and paved the way for many other top Australian sprinters to venture to the northern hemisphere where, they have enjoyed considerable success. These include: Takeover Target, Miss Andretti, Scenic Blast, Starspangledbanner, Star Witness, Ortensia and of course the best of them all, the undefeated Black Caviar.

Now the roles are reversed with Ireland’s champion sprinter venturing south of the equator, joining a select group of overseas sprinters to do so, first Cape of Good Hope in 2005 then more recently Lucky Nine and Gordon Lord Byron - but will he perform to his best form down under?

The task of travelling to the other side of the world and competing in top form is not easy, but as with all endeavours experience is a great teacher.

In recent years trainers seemed to have almost perfected the art of travelling horses further and achieving excellent results on the race track.

Recent examples include the Dubai World Cup meeting, Hong Kong International meeting, Singapore’s International meeting, the Japan Cup and the Melbourne Cup itself - that now boasts multiple overseas runners each year.

An examination of Australian sprinters venturing to the UK, shows the majority have performed to or slightly above their Australian Timeform ratings.

As mentioned previously, Choisir ran exactly to form in Britain while Takeover Target - in winning the 2006 King’s Stand Stakes - ran to a Timeform rating of 126, up a pound from his 2006 Newmarket Handicap victory.

Crack mare Miss Andretti performed similarly winning the 2007 King’s Stand Stakes running to a Timeform rating of 127, also up a pound from her Newmarlet Handicap win, as did Scenic Blast who won the 2009 King’s Stand Stakes, running to 128 and the Newmarket Handicap the same year.

While Star Witness did not win at Royal Ascot in 2011, he did run second in the King’s Stand Stakes and third in the Golden Jubilee, running to form returning a Timeform rating of 124.

Of course champion mare Black Caviar - the equal highest Timeform rated filly or mare in the history of Timeform with a rating of 136 - experienced a horror run before “falling in” to win the 2012 Diamond Jubilee Stakes rating 13 pounds below form - no other horse at the entire meeting ran so far below form and still managed to win.

It is now common knowledge that everything that could go wrong for Black Caviar did – but in my view it was her finest hour and it could not have happened on a bigger stage – raw courage and determination were front and centre in the victory - attributes that separates champions from also rans.

Of the three overseas sprinters to race with success in Australia, both Cape Of Good Hope and Lucky Nine were prepared in Hong Kong, while Gordon Lord Byron was trained in Ireland.

All three raced well in Australia running close to their peak Timeform ratings with Cape Of Good Hope and Gordon Lord Byron both winning in group one company, and Lucky Nine just going down to Buffering in the group one Manikato Stakes.

While Cape Of Good Hope, who began his racing career in the UK, was trained in Hong Kong for any of his runs, he became accustomed to travelling, racing with distinction in Japan, Australia and Britain.

In 2004, Cape Of Good Hope was placed second in the King’s Stand Stakes, third in the Golden Jubilee Stakes and fourth in the July Cup running several pounds below his then master Timeform rating of 123, before returning home and running second behind crack Hong Kong sprinter Silent Witness at the International meeting, taking his rating to 125.

Cape Of Good Hope then came to Australia for the first of three visits running third in the 2005 group one Lightning Stakes behind Fastnet Rock, before winning the group one Australia Stakes and running to his Hong Kong Timeform rating of 125.

After a brief stop off back home, in 2005 Cape Of Good Hope headed off to Royal Ascot again which was held at York. A fourth placing in the King’s Stand Stakes was followed by a win in the Golden Jubilee Stakes.

His second trip to Australia was in the Spring of 2005 running placings in both the Salinger Stakes and Age Classic, before completing his career at his third visit when third to Takeover Target in the 2006 group one Lightning Stakes running to a below form Timeform rating of 118.

In the case of Lucky Nine, he ran to a Timeform rating of 124 in the Manikato, a couple of pounds below his peak form in Hong Kong and Singapore. As the winner of two group one Krisflyer Sprints in Singapore and numerous group one races in Hong Kong - including the 2011 International Sprint, - Lucky Nine was right up there in terms of quality overseas sprinters to race in Australia.

As was Gordon Lord Byron, who won the group one George Ryder Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill during The Championships, running to 124, two pounds below his best European form.

All three are excellent examples of what we can expect to see when Slade Power takes on Lankan Rupee. Rated 130 by Timeform, at that level Slade Power is assessed as being in a slightly higher league than any of the three aforementioned visitors. And he will need to be, if he is to get close to Lankan Rupee.

We at Timeform believe Lankan Rupee has the capacity to improve slightly on his current 132 Timeform rating and it will possibly take a horse of the calibre of Slade Power to force him to that new level.

The empirical evidence associated with the rigors of travel gleaned from the three cases above, does confirm a slight “home town” advantage when racing in Australia.

It suggests Slade Power might not be able to reproduce his 130 figure in the Spring - a downgraded rating closer to 128 being the more likely outcome - which if produced by Slade Power, would have won all bar Black Caviar’s 2010 Darley Classic renewal in the last 20 years.

Another sobering statistic for the Slade Power camp - that reinforces the Australian “home town” advantage - is that since Vintage Crop’s Cup win in 1993, 74 European horses have contested the Melbourne Cup without first having a run in Australia – all have lost. I realise staying and sprint races are different and the fact Gordon Lord Byron was able to win on debut in Australia during the Autumn in Sydney and Lucky Nine so narrowly defeated in the Melbourne Spring, probably adds some weight to that argument.

Timeform’s view is that Lankan Rupee will run to a Timeform rating of 132 and Slade Power 128. Using the average poundage allowance for previous Darley Classic renewals, this equates to a margin of just over a length in favour of Lankan Rupee.

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