A total of 25 international horses have nominated for a run in the $2.5 million Caulfield Cup this October.

This number, which is up from 22 in 2011, has thrilled the Melbourne Racing Club’s chief executive officer Alasdair Robertson.

Defending champion Southern Speed has been nominated for the Caulfield Cup - photo © Taron Clarke

“We’re very pleased with the initial reception to the BMW Caulfield Cup from both Australia and New Zealand and beyond,” Mr Robertson said.

“The international contingent is particularly exciting, providing further weight to the Caulfield Cup as a standalone international feature.”

As well as the international nominations, there have been a number of high class Australian-trained nominees.

A total of 222 horses have nominated for the Caulfield Cup, including last year’s winner Southern Speed.

Southern Speed won the 2011 Caulfield Cup by one and a half lengths in front of Green Moon and Tullamore.

The now five-year-old mare has won five of her 19 race starts and has earned more than $2.4 million in prize money.

Southern Speed demonstrated her class throughout the autumn carnival this year, constantly finishing in the top five at the top level of Australian racing.

Americain is also one of the horses nominated for the Caulfield Cup this spring.

The seven-year-old entire has won 11 of his 31 starts to date and is now trained in Australia after spending his formative years in France.

Americain rose to fame by winning the 2010 Melbourne Cup and has continued to produce top results in all of his Australian starts.

He won the Group 2 Drake International Sprint last year before finishing an unlucky fourth in the $6 million Melbourne Cup in his next start.

Americain then won the Group 2 Zipping Classic later in November.

While he did not win any of his three autumn starts earlier this year, he performed consistently at Group 1 level and appears on track for his spring campaign and a possible Caulfield Cup tilt.