THERE has been so much recent debate about the International presence at the spring carnival and if the Melbourne Cup has suffered as a result.

The debate should be ‘how bad would the Cup be without them?’

The gulf between European 2000m-plus horses and Australia’s best was exposed again on Saturday with Benbatl and Blair House battling out the Ladbrokes Caulfield Stakes, before Yucatan’s eye-popping Herbert Power win.

Rather than whinge, punters should use it to their advantage.

Bookmakers still tend to be fairly generous when serving up prices about the foreigners.

Benbatl drifted to $9, despite having the strongest form we’ve seen from an import for a long time; and even after the brittle local form was put to the sword in that race, punters could still get $7 about the lightly raced Yucatan in the Herbert Power.

Furthermore, the unheralded A Prince Of Arran lobbed into third at $31.

The strike rate of imports first up off the plane is about 12% in Victorian stakes races (excluding the Melbourne Cup) since 2012, but factoring in the generous prices served up, you would be making a healthy profit backing every one of them.

It won’t be that straightforward on Saturday, with potentially nine imports lining up in the Caulfield Cup, but you wouldn’t be rushing to put the pen through many of them.

Imports have won the Caulfield Cup four times (all first up off the plane) in the past 20 years. The common theme? Every one of them started at double figure odds, from Taufan’s Melody’s $67 win in 1998, All The Good at $41 a decade later, Dunaden $14 in 2012 and finally Admire Rakti $11 (2014).

Despite their clear superiority, the market place still tends to underestimate imported gallopers at their first run in Australia.

It’s great to see Spirit Of Boom quick out of the blocks again, with Debutant Stakes winner Champagne Boom the first horse to race out of his second crop.

There has been many stories over the years of sires that have one good season, but can’t back it up, so having an impressive stakes winner so early with the second crop is a great sign.

Champagne Boom was bred by Eureka Stud from a family that has long been one of the McAlpine family’s favourites, led by AJC Oaks winner Just Now and other stakes performers including Startell, Telltina, Tellson, Tellem, Stanzaic and Scenic Warrior.