Racing fans will line up for a glimpse of Melbourne Cup royalty when the annual pre-race parade brings Melbourne to a standstill. Australia’s first lady of racing, trainer Gai Waterhouse, will travel down Melbourne’s Swanston St in a horse-drawn carriage in front of an expected crowd of tens of thousands… Read More »
Ed Dunlop has had winners all over the world and trained a couple of champions but a Melbourne Cup win by Red Cadeaux would be a dream come true. Now classed as a veteran, Red Cadeaux is poised to create his own slice of Melbourne Cup history on Tuesday just… Read More »
Japanese trainer Tomoyuki Umeda thinks nothing of handling half-tonne racehorses but finds a wombat a bit of a handful. “It’s so heavy,” the diminutive trainer of Melbourne Cup favourite Admire Rakti said as he cradled the big marsupial. The foreign raiders here for a shot at Tuesday’s Cup met some… Read More »
Bayern has won the Breeders’ Cup Classic by a nose, surviving a stewards’ inquiry prompted by multiple horses bumping near the start of the race. Trainer Bob Baffert had to wait, along with a crowd of 61,114 at Santa Anita, to confirm he had finally won North America’s richest race… Read More »
Most connections view an inside barrier as an advantage but for one horse in the Melbourne Cup it is far from ideal. For the second time in two races, the Marco Botti-trained Seismos has drawn the No.1 gate. In the words of jockey Craig Newitt, Seismos took the term dour… Read More »
It seems the number eight is just as lucky in Japan as it is in China. And the trainer of the Melbourne Cup favourite Admire Rakti, Tomoyuki Umeda, is pleased that’s where the horse will start from on Tuesday. Admire Rakti is attempting to add the Melbourne Cup to his… Read More »
BARRIER WINS SINCE 1958 MELBOURNE CUP * Starting stalls introduced for the first time in 1958 1: (1) Kingston Rule 1990 2: (2) Might And Power 1997, Kiwi 1983 3: (3) Media Puzzle 2002, Saintly 1996, Think Big 1975 4: (2) Kensei 1987, Polo Prince 1964 5: (4) Fiorente 2013,… Read More »
Melbourne Cup favourites Admire Rakti and Lucia Valentina have kept their place at the top of betting charts with favourable barrier draws for the $6.2 million race. Japanese stayer Admire Rakti, the favourite since winning the Caulfield Cup, will start from barrier eight while Lucia Valentina has gate two. Signoff,… Read More »
Lexus Stakes winner Signoff has been joined by Unchain My Heart in claiming the last two places in the Melbourne Cup. Signoff earned his berth with an automatic entry after a clinical victory over Big Memory in the Lexus at Flemington on Saturday. Unchain My Heart, certain to run the… Read More »
He might still be learning his craft but Deep Field has shown just why he is talked about as Australia’s next sprinting superstar with a Group Two win at Flemington. The four-year-old came to Melbourne for the tab.com.au Stakes (1200m) with a Sydney record of four starts for four wins… Read More »
A careless riding supension from Derby Day will not affect Tye Angland riding in the Melbourne Cup but he will miss a Group One ride later in the week. Angland was suspended for shifting in aboard Hawkspur shortly after the start in Saturday’s Group One Mackinnon Stakes (2000m) at Flemington,… Read More »
Glyn Schofield will ride French import Au Revoir in the Melbourne Cup and he has the Sydney stewards to thank. Led by chief stipe Ray Murrihy, the stewards found themselves in the unlikely situation of going into bat for a jockey on Saturday after results at Flemington opened the door… Read More »
Qualifiers through the Lexus Quality (Hotham Handicap) since 1987 and where they finished in the Melbourne Cup. Until 2005, both first and second placegetters in the race were guaranteed a Cup start but since then only the winner automatically makes the field. 1987: Scarvila (15th Melbourne Cup) 2nd: Colour Page… Read More »
Trainer Pat Hyland has had some good fillies pass through his stable, but none more special than Myer Classic winner Bonaria. The former Melbourne Cup winning jockey prepared a Victoria Oaks winner in Saleous and a smart galloper in Ballet Society, but Bonaria is a special mare. Ridden by Michael… Read More »
More than two decades after Damien Oliver steered a maiden to win the Victoria Derby, he has done it again on Preferment. The Hall of Fame rider with more than 100 Group One wins to his name, was again dominant on the big stage at Flemington with Preferment’s narrow victory… Read More »
He has been a work in progress but Preferment has finally shown the ability his trainer knew he had on the biggest stage of all. A maiden leading into Saturday’s Victoria Derby, the colt gave Chris Waller his most prestigious win at the Flemington carnival with a superior staying performance…. Read More »
MELBOURNE Nov 1 AAP – What the jockeys said after the running of the Group One $1.5 million Victoria Derby at Flemington on Saturday. Damien Oliver (Preferment) 1st: “The gear change (blinkers off) worked well. (Trainer) Chris (Waller) was very understanding, we had a good discussion about it and we… Read More »
Trainer Robert Heathcote had good news in two states with his star Buffering recovering from an injury scare and his three-year-old Punta Notre making a great city debut at Doomben. Buffering worked strongly in Melbourne on Saturday morning and is back in the frame for the Group One Darley Classic… Read More »
Outsider Bonaria has come from the back of the field to claim the Group One Myer Classic at Flemington. Sent out a $26 chance in the $500,000 race, Bonaria stormed down the outside of the track to beat Sydney mares Sweet Idea ($6.50) and Catkins ($7.50). “She is a horse… Read More »
The Chris Waller-trained Preferment has become the first maiden in more than two decades to win the $1.5 million Victoria Derby. Coming from worse than midfield, Preferment ($8.50) outstayed Bondeiger ($11) in the Flemington Classic to give Waller and jockey Damien Oliver Derby day Group One doubles. For Oliver it… Read More »
