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25.
Melbourne
Cup Hints & Tips
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05/11/2002 |
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Melbourne
Cup Tips
Interesting facts about the Melbourne Cup:
1. The Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861. Archer easily won that race over two
miles in a time of 3:52.00s. In 1968 Rain Lover set the two miles race record
time of only 3:19.10s.
2. In 1972 the race was converted to the metric distance of 3200 metres which is
18.69 metres or 61.30 feet short of two miles. There is no doubt that some of
the metric winners would not have won had the race remained two miles or, as
many people wanted at the time, been changed to 3218.7 metres!
3. The metric record of 3:16.30s was set by Kingston Rule in 1990. Brew, ridden
by Kerrin McEvoy, won in the time of 3:18.68s. last year.
4. In 1985 the race reached $1 million dollars in prize money for the first
time. What A Nuisance, ridden by Pat Hyland, won the $650,000 first prize.
5. Jim Cummings trained one Cup winner, Comic Court in 1950. In 1965 his son
Bart trained his first Melbourne Cup winner, the four year old mare Light
Fingers. Bart Cummings holds the trainers' record having trained an incredible
11 winners. He last won the race in 1999 with Rogan Josh. However last year and
this year Bart Cummings has missed out on getting a runner into the Cup field.
6. Last year, when Ethereal won the Melbourne Cup, Sheila Laxon was the first
woman trainer to officially win the Melbourne Cup. However Catalogue who won the
1938 Cup was trained by Mrs. A. McDonald. Women then could not be registered as
trainers. It was her husband who was the registered trainer.
7. The two most successful Melbourne Cup jockeys are Bobbie Lewis and Harry
White with four wins each.
Bobby Lewis won on The Victory 1902, Patrobas 1915, Artilleryman 1919 and
Trivalve 1927. He finished second four times and third on Phar Lap in 1929. Had
the race been run then under Quality Handicap conditions, like it is now, which
means a compressed weight scale, there is no doubt Phar Lap would have won very
easily.
Harry White won on the Bart Cummings' trained Think Big in 1974 and 1975. Think
Big did not win a race in between those two Melbourne Cup wins. Harry White also
won on Arwon in 1978 and another Bart Cummings' trained horse Hyperno in 1979.
So Harry White also holds a unique record of two Melbourne Cup doubles!
Interesting facts about the Melbourne Cup:
8. Horses to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double are Poseidon 1906, The Trump
1937, Rivette 1939, Rising Fast 1954, Even Stevens 1962, Galilee 1966, Gurner's
Lane 1982, Let's Elope 1991, Doriemus 1995, Might And Power 1997 and Ethereal
2001.
9. Horses to have won two Melbourne Cups are Archer 1861-1862, Peter Pan 1932
and 1934, Rain Lover 1968-1969 and Think Big 1974-1975.
The longest priced winners are The Pearl 100/1 (1871), Wotan 100/1 (1936), Old
Rowley 100/1 (1940) and Rimfire 80/1 (1948).
10. 33 favourites have won the Melbourne Cup. The shortest priced winners were
Archer 2/1 (1862), Revenue 7/4 (1908) and Phar Lap 8/11 odds on (1930). 65 Cup
favourites have finished in the first three placings.
11. The heaviest weight carried to victory was by Carbine in 1890 with 10 stone
5lbs (65.5kg).
12. Five year olds have won the race 41 times. Four year olds (41), six year
olds (25), three year olds (23), seven year olds (9) and eight year olds (2).The
last three year old to win the race was Skipton in 1941.
13. Between the time weights are released for the Melbourne Cup and the running
of the race most of the Cup hopefuls are not in the race. After the weights have
been released for the Melbourne Cup, the last original top weight to win the Cup
was Comic Court with nine stone five pounds (59.5kg.) in 1950.
14. Over the last 10 years seven Melbourne Cup winners finished either first or
second at their previous start! Last year's winner, Ethereal, won the Caulfield
Cup.
15. Historically the best guides to the Melbourne Cup have been the Caulfield
Cup and the Mackinnon Stakes.
16. Jockeys riding in the Cup who have won the Melbourne Cup in the last 10
years:
2001 Scott Seamer - Ethereal
2000 Kerrin McEvoy - Brew
1998 Chris Munce - Jezabeel
1997 Jim Cassidy - Might And Power
1995 Damien Oliver - Doriemus
1993 Mick Kinane - Vintage Crop
1991 Steven King - Let's Elope
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