TWILIGHT Payment could well be the only European-trained horse in the line-up for next Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup when the final field is revealed this morning [Saturday].

The Joseph O’Brien-trained eight-year-old won the famous handicap a year ago and has been in great form this season, finishing a close second in the Irish St Leger on his latest start.

Extra pre-race veterinary checks and procedures introduced this year by Racing Victoria are thought to have discouraged many potential European raiders from travelling to the Melbourne Spring Carnival this year.

The Andrew Balding-trained Spanish Mission is the only other European contender for the Cup but he must undergo a late veterinary inspection today, having been found to have swelling in a foreleg in recent days.

Joseph O’Brien has described the new veterinary process as “a nightmare”. Two days after the O’Brien-trained State Of Rest won the Cox Plate, the trainer told Racing.com: “I can’t tell you how much of a struggle it was to get through all the hoops and the scans. If I’d known how difficult it would’ve been to get through all the hoops, I’m not sure we would have even gone down in the first place.”

O’Brien pointed to the mandatory scintigraphy scan as problematic. “The scans are not too bad but the horses have to get sedated every time and for the scintigraphy. It’s a real nightmare in the run up to a big race. State Of Rest for example, I think he had to be sedated four times in one week in order to get through all the protocols in time which is unheard of.”

The Irish horses in Australia already underwent a scintigraphy scan in Ireland before they travelled. The only scintigraphy machine in Ireland is owned by Curragh Equine Diagnostics, a joint venture between Anglesey Lodge and Sycamore Lodge veterinary practices.

Tom Austin of Anglesey Lodge said: “We regard it as a life-saving machine. It can find fractures before they happen, fractures which are not visible on ordinary X-rays. It is a more specialised imaging modality.”

Austin said the cost per horse ranges from €600 to €1,200 depending on how much of the horse needs to be scanned. It takes three people two hours to perform the scan and the horse can be taken home after 48 hours.