Aussie trainers set for big bucks

Two-time Melbourne Cup winning jockey Damien Oliver believes Australian trainers can cash in on the strict quarantine requirements that will prevent Japanese horses racing in this year's spring carnival.

Japanese hopes will not race in the world-famous week of racing in Melbourne after Racing Victoria's last-ditch bid to allow horses to fly directly from Japan failed.

Victorian authorities received official notification from Bio-security Australia of the decision on Tuesday.

It comes on the back of 2006 Melbourne Cup winner Delta Blues' defence being halted by the equine influenza outbreak last year.

Oliver rode Japanese stayer Pop Rock to second place in 2006. He said the decision was not unexpected.

"I was kind of thinking it would be difficult to get them here with the quarantine rules," he told Melbourne radio station SEN on Wednesday morning.

"They (authorities) wanted them to spend a month in another country other than Japan."

"It's a little bit of a shame for them but it will certainly make it easier for the local contingent."

Oliver, who was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame on Tuesday, has not settled on a mount for this year's Cup.

"I am still looking at the moment. No firm commitments at this stage, it's still pretty early," he said.

"The weights aren't out until the start of September so when the weights come out we will have a look through them then and see how we go from there."

The 36-year-old was second last year on English horse Purple Moon.