The Gurkha heads monster team of entries down under for O'Brien

If Aidan O'Brien is to better the late Bobby Frankel's world record of 25 top-level triumphs in a calendar year he will need plenty of irons in the fire, and the trainer appears to have given himself a decent chance of plundering two of Australia's biggest prizes by entering a host of contenders for the BMW Caulfield Cup and William Hill Cox Plate.

Blanket entries by Ballydoyle is not a new or unusual thing, but Racing Victoria's executive general manager Greg Carpenter yesterday described the interest as "significant" as the trainer engaged 15 different horses - including last week's Sussex Stakes winner The Gurkha - in the two races.

In 2014, O'Brien, who won his 12th Group/Grade 1 of the year on Saturday when Minding struck in the Nassau Stakes, entered five horses with six nominations - two in the Caulfield Cup and four in the Cox Plate - while he had just three possibilities for the Cox Plate 12 months ago.