Well, it is Melbourne Cup time again. Australians are a nation of gamblers, and the Melbourne Cup is the biggest event on the betting calender. It is estimated that 90% of Australians have a flutter on the first Tuesday in November.
Does anybody have any last minute tips before the big one?
It is likely that an overseas (ie Non Australian or NZ horse) will win for the first time since 1993, due to the high quality of Irish/English entrants, and the lack of quality local stayers.
Media Puzzle is the current favourite, largely because of sentimental reasons as the jockey, Damien Oliver’s brother was killed last weeking in a fall.
I am having an each way bet on 20, Distinctly Secret, and a boxed trifecta with 10, Rain Gauge, 14 Media Puzzle, 16 Pentastic and 20, Distinctly Secret.
What does anyone else think? You can check out the field here
Normally I get into the form guides and bet big on the cup field, because the odds get all out of whack from so many novice punters (I know, I know, if the odds are wrong you should stay out, but…), but this time I haven’t been able to get myself into it, mostly because of the large influx of foreigners.
I’ll still probably drop $20 each way on Helene Vitality. Not due to a surge of confidence, just because it sounds like a skin cream, and the last time I neglected to bet on a horse due to it being named after what it was going to be made into if it lost, Rogan Josh took the cup.
If I ever afford a horse, I’m going to call it Dulux or Perkins for the same reason…
I’m not a gambler, but rather one of those “once a year, Melbourne Cup” punters. I do know that the Melbourne Cup, as BigNik pointed out, ironically is the absolute worst race for a novice punter to bet on. Many hardcore gamblers don’t bother with it.
I normally enter one of the sweeps run at work, and maybe put five or ten dollars on at the TAB. This year, I’m on annual leave from work, and I’ll be driving to pick up my stepson from kindergarten when the race is being run, so I’m not going to bother. I don’t even know the field. I’ll listen in on the car radio though (and enjoy the absence of traffic!).
Geez, we didn’t even have an SDMB virtual sweep this year…
Actually, it’s not that bad for a novice - the sheer weight of money coming from those who are betting because they like the colour of the silks, or because the name reminds them of Uncle Ray’s heart attack in 1986, mean that the odds tend to flatten out. You won’t get anywhere near the odds you’d get on a shot that should be 50-1, but you’ll tend to get better odds than you should on a favourite with a dull name.
For a mug punter it’s actually a pretty good race. If you know what you’re doing, though, and there’s no unbackable favourite who’s suddenly offering value odds, you’re best waiting it out.
Well, that makes sense. I’d never put that much thought into it. Consider some ignorance fought.
By the way, definitely a feel good result today. It will go down in racing history. The winning jockey must tomorrow attend the funeral of his brother, a fellow jockey killed in a fall last week.
Yeah I was shopping while it was on and everything stopped. And then the blather began. Do they really think that it was such a hysterically historic moment they needed to rave about it?
Ah yes, as usual I LOST my dough on the Cup…a whole five bucks that I generally bung on one of the lesser-known nags. This year it was the New Zealand ‘Hail’ that took my fancy (but only because it would have paid about $260 if the silly thing had won).
But Damien Oliver did himself very, VERY proud today, and after watching the race, I must admit I was in tears.
Another Irish victory - Dermot Weld’s second Melbourne Cup. He’s still the only european trainer to win the thing. His last winner, Vintage Crop, was owned by former Irish PM and all round dodgy character, Charlie Haughey.
I never bet, even on the Melbourne cup (strangely enough, gambling is about the only vice I don’t have. :)). The race came on the radio just as I was headed out, so I had a nice traffic-less drive to uni.
I must admit the Damien Oliver soundbite (“Melbourne Cups don’t mean anything to me any more… I’d give it back to get my brother back”) kinda got to me. I’ve heard it a couple times since and it’s the way his voice breaks toward the end. Definitely the right result for the race.
Heh, didn’t stop me … I was doin’ 110kph heading out of Melbourne at the time. I should note my appreciation of the Victorians who stayed at the track/home and gave me such a good run back to Sydney!
S’cuse me Mr. Woolly…you know that whopping big gum tree on the side of the freeway just near the Broadford turn off? Did’ya see the funny looking box sitting just behind it? The one that the kids said…“Oooh, dad, did you see the pretty flashing light”?
You were doing one hundred and ELEVEN k’s per hour…and we’ve got you NOW sunshine. Bwahahahahaaaaaa. That’ll teach you to leave our fair state feeling so smug. The Fed’s will be knocking at your door in the very near future because WE TAKE SPEEDING VERY SERIOUSLY HERE IN VIC. (It pays for the rest of the budget shortfall!!)
And NEXT time, be very careful what you cross the bridge with, 'cos the Fruit Fly people have got your numberplate on record now too.
[Hijack for Aussies Only]…has anybody EVER had a car check at the Albury/Wodonga Fruit Fly checkpoint, or any other station for that matter? Just curious, 'cos I remember when I was a kid, and even when my tackers were little, it was tradition to get out of the car at Lavington and gorge yourself with apples, bananas and pineapples JUST IN CASE the inspectors were there. Of course, they never were, and we all suffered unnecessary major tummy-aches for hours later.[/Hijack]
My dad tells a story of driving back into New South Wales thirty or forty years ago, having picked up a box of wonderful, fresh, tasy and cheap cherries in country Victoria.
At the border: Checkpoint bloke: Good afternoon driver. Do you have any fruit or vegetables?
My dad: I don’t have any cherries!
Checkpoint bloke: I didn’t mention anything about… oh okay, bugger off with ya then!"
And today we had ‘Oaks Day’, the traditional ladies day at the races.
This morning as I was going to work, the city was full of ladies in their absolute finery on the way to Flemington. Freshly painted faces and freshly purchased designer outfits, the place was ablaze with femininity and Chanel No, 5.
HOWEVER…tonight as I was returning HOME from work via the city, it was a different story altogether.
Shoeless femmes staggering along Swanston St too pissed and sun-struck to walk a straight line, shouting obscenities at groups of drunken lads who were trying to chat them up. Half-unconscious one’s slumped on the steps of Young and Jacksons, hats askew and dress-straps falling off their shoulders. The city was ALIVE with female humanity at its worst. ‘Ladies’ (and I use that term very loosely in this context) who had probably gone off with dreams of having the time of their life, but who instead will now wake up tomorrow morning wishing for Berocca and death, whichever can be delivered first.
God I love Melbourne during the Spring Racing Carnival!!
It was big news but was overshadowed on the sporting pages by Mick McCarthy’s resignation as manager of the Irish football team.
Weld is a highly successful trainer but, despite his success in the Melbourne Cup, he doesn’t race his horses outside of Ireland all that much. That’s left mainly to Aidan O’Brien backed by the millions of John Magnier and Michael Tabor. As a two mile flat race, the Melbourne Cup is an unusual proposition for European thoroughbreds which are usually bred for the classic distances of one mile and a mile and a half. The only significant two mile flat race I can think of in Ireland or Britain is the Chester Cup but Weld seems to keep the Melbourne Cup in mind whenever he has a classy stayer. Weld’s other runner went well under top weight too. He was always going to struggle to win carrying that much and did well to come home fourth after they went such a quick gallop.
Hope you enjoyed the race - I’d love to be there for it one day.
