The numbers of international nominations for the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate ar down on last year but officials are confident the overseas challenge will be again be strong.

The Caulfield Cup has attracted 209 nominations while 173 horses will be vying for a start in the $3 million weight-for-age Cox Plate.

Among those entries are 25 international nominations for the Caulfield Cup including three from Japan, while the Cox Plate has attracted 20 international nominations including invited runners Arod and Gailo Chop.

Japan's Admire Rakti won the Caulfield Cup last year while the Aidan O'Brien-trained Adelaide became the first northern hemisphere-trained winner of the Cox Plate.

O'Brien has three nominations for this year's Cox Plate - Cougar Mountain, Highland Reel and Ol' Man River.

Last year there were 221 Caulfield Cup nominations including 44 overseas entries while the Cox Plate had 225 nominations, 29 from overseas.

"Numbers are down but that doesn't concern me because the quality is there," Racing Victoria's international recruitment officer Leigh Jordon said.

Racing Victoria's general manager - racing, Greg Carpenter, said he was delighted with the entries from Australia and abroad and is hopeful of getting more international runners than the past two years.

"We are delighted to receive entries across the Caulfield Cup and Cox Plate from 22 international trainers representing the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Japan, Ireland and for the first time Qatar," Carpenter said.

"We have labelled this a year of transition when it comes to international participation in the spring racing carnival and we have seen that reflected with entries from 12 international trainers who have yet to bring a runner to Melbourne.

"To complement this with entries from world class trainers like Aidan O'Brien, Andre Fabre, Mikel Delzangles, Ed Dunlop, Saeed bin Suroor and Sir Michael Stoute, who have all campaigned previously, is most pleasing.

"We are particularly pleased to see three Japanese horses, including the highly rated pair Fame Game and Hokko Brave, entered to defend Japan's crown in the Caulfield Cup, as we are to receive three entries from Aidan O'Brien who claimed an historic Irish victory in last year's Cox Plate."

Premier Sydney trainer Chris Waller has 18 nominations for the Caulfield Cup while David Hayes and Tom Dabernig have 13 entries including last year's runner-up Rising Romance.