Racing needs tradition and innovation.

RACING:The Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation, will always hold a prestigious place on the racing calendar and the Cup Week will never lose its gloss in terms of being the ultimate social and sporting occasion to attend by those who want to see and be seen.

Purely, as a horse race though, the Melbourne Cup contest is coming under pressure.

Firstly, in a sense, the Melbourne Cup has become a victim of its own success in that its global marketing venture has brought an increasing number of overseas entries to the race.

At first that was a drizzle but, in recent years, that has escalated into a downpour whereby local runners have dropped away to the point that several of the most well-to-do...