Plenty to mull over thanks to carnival's Shirley connection Rolling along: Mull Of Killough works for Abigail Harrison at Werribee. Andrew Peacock, aka the Kooyong colt, was down from his best fighting weight, seen against Bob Hawke in 1984, but still cut loose with a verbal flurry during Melbourne Cup day at Flemington. "Why are you down on international horses coming to Australia?" he said. Peacock is the sire of Jane Chapple-Hyam, now stationed at Newmarket in Britain and who trains Mull Of Killough, a visitor and contender in Saturday's Emirates Stakes. Mull Of Killough, with Jamie Spencer up, had just run a cracking third in a listed 1800 metre race and Peacock was showing the Leilani enthusiasm. Part-owned by Peacock, the former member of the Victorian federal seat of Kooyong, Leilani was second in the 1974 Melbourne Cup. Peacock always had my admiration, not because of his in-fighting against John Howard, but an association with Shirley MacLaine, one of the great actresses of our time. Now residing in Texas, the former leader of the Coalition in opposition was surprised I was still around, although giving the impression I would be better placed in aged care if my attitude towards invaders was any indication. Apart from the Mull Of Killough placing, others to stimulate the Peacock ire were Side Glance (Mackinnon) and Ruscello (Lexus), which triumphed at Flemington last Saturday. I don't want to back them, regardless of the trainer's pedigree, nor their jockeys. They don't do much for local betting turnover, either. Mull Of Killough and Side Glance hardly enhanced the Cox Plate. Mull Of Killough will have the services of Damien Oliver in the Emirates because Spencer was engaged for Havana Gold, a French group 1 winner scheduled to make his Australian debut in the race until his scratching on Thursday. Forgotten Voice, a hurdler in Europe, adds international flavour to the Queen Elizabeth in which La Amistad will be out to equal the feat of her champion half-sister, Makybe Diva, by taking the same event as the great mare in 2002. Possibly the visitors, a different category to the European-breds trained here, are becoming more prevalent and an email arrived similar in tone to Peacock from former colleague Alan Aitken in Hong Kong. "You've all given [Gerald] Mosse a kicking at times for his rides, but credit where it's due - he won't ride one better than [Red Cadeaux] in a Melbourne Cup and get beaten very often," he wrote. Incidentally Mosse, from France, was fined $1000 by Racing Victoria stipes for using his whip on Red Cadeaux, runner-up to Fiorente, in a forehand manner on nine occasions before the 100m, which is four more than is permitted. Had the margin to the minor placegetter Mount Athos been about a head, and not a length-and-a-half, the breach could have been the subject of a protest. Hong Kong, though, will add Asian spice to Saturday's Flemington program with Lucky Nine, a strong chance in the VRC Sprint Classic. Lucky Nine was lipped in the Manikato at Moonee Valley on October 25, but will he handle the straight six? "He's an absolute warrior - he's done all that he's done battling constant problems right from early on with his feet [problems many Europeans have coming to HK], problems with internal bleeding, though has been otherwise pretty sound," Aitken said. Since he got to HK, he's had 26 runs, 20 of them in group 1s where his record is five wins, four seconds, three thirds. And most of the time he has missed the place in a group 1 he has been injured or knocked down. We have only one group 1 up the straight here at 1000m and his runs in that 2012 and 2013 have been his only straight races in HK, so it's a bad sample. Tough as nails - this is his sixth overseas trip and eighth overseas race in two years, he's been unlucky in Japan more than once, would have won the Tapeta Sprint in Dubai from a good gate last year. Alas, last Tuesday turnover was down 2 per cent on the NSW and Victorian TABs. Not so with Betfair. "We're encouraged to see such growth among our international customer base," said Daniel Bevan, the communications manager. It's no surprise that tote pools are shrinking as customers seek the lower margins and better services that the Betfair exchange and online operators provide. Last year, the matched volume of the Melbourne Cup locally was $3,585,772 and overseas $1,961,596 for a total of $5,547,368. This year in Australia it was $3,841,689 with $2,136,128 abroad, an increase of 8.9 per cent, for an overall rise to $5,977,000, or 7.76 per cent. After starting the $8.09 favourite on Betfair, Fiorente was $12 in the run before hitting the front. Fiorente made Tuesday memorable, but also shaking the hand that once held the hand of Shirley Maclaine was an added treat.