29/10/2005 edition

Melbourne Cup Betting Tips

What an outstanding win by Makybe Diva in the Cox Plate! Will the champion 7YO mare, Makybe Diva, winner of the 2003 and 2004 Melbourne Cups create history by becoming the first horse to win three consecutive Melbourne Cups?

Here are some interesting betting tips and 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  3:16.30 was set by Kingston Rule in 1990.

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. In 2004 prize money was $4,500,000 with $2,700,000 for the winner, Makybe Diva!

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 in 2001 and 2002 Bart Cummings missed out on getting a runner into the Cup field. In 2003 he had a runner, the 4YO horse Frightening, which was ridden by Shayne Dye.

6. When Ethereal won the Melbourne Cup in 2001, 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! 
Continued next page

This edition of Punt to Win:
Melbourne Cup betting facts and tips
Get those betting odds
The Melbourne Cup quick pick horse racing betting system
Horse Watch betting system - future winners
Betting favourites in small fields
Betting tips from the track: Moonee Valley Cox Plate Day and Rosehill
Racing results for horses carrying a weight handicap of 59kg.
Future winners - unlucky horses
Punt to Win 22/10/2005
Punt to Win index

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