THE first arrival of international horses for the Melbourne Spring Carnival completed their quarantine on Saturday before eight, all Irish-bred, headed off to Caulfield, returning some excellent results. Most interest centered around the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes over 2,000 metres with Johannes Vermeer running an excellent closing second for Aidan O’Brien, Riven Light was seventh, unfortunately injured during the race, and The Taj Mahal a disappointing tenth.

The Hugo Palmer-trained Wall Of Fire will go straight to the Melbourne Cup following an impressive second in the Group 2 Herbert Power Stakes over 2,400 metres, won by the German-bred Lord Fandango and trained locally by Archie Alexander. Kidmenever was a lacklustre eighth in the same race for Charlie Appleby, but was found to have the ‘thumps’ post-race and will need to trial in front of stewards before he races next. Palmer’s stable also had Mask Of Time run fourth in the Group 1 Toorak Handicap over 1,600 metres and will take him to Moonee Valley on Cox Plate day for the Crystal Mile. Also in the Toorak Handicap was Kaspersky who led but faded to a disappointing 16th for Jane Chapple-Hyam.