The Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is arguably Australia's most important horse racing event, and of course emanating from that is the rich history developed since the first ever race took place, in 1861. The Melbourne Cup field is exclusively composed of thoroughbred racehorses, with only those with the finest ancestral lineage able to compete. This years’ Cup is just round the corner, on its customary first weekend of November date, this year falling on 3rd November. As such, we thought it is appropriate to reminisce some of the most memorable moments from throughout the years.

The 11-Year-Old that Changed History Forever 

In 1876, an 11-year-old jockey named Peter St Albans rode the winner in the Melbourne Cup. This race was the largest Melbourne Cup field of all time, with 33 runners, a practise which has since been made impossible since the restriction of entries to a maximum of 22. Scandalously, it’s reported that St Albans had to lie about his age to be granted the opportunity to ride in the race. Reports from the time suggest different ages for him for this reason, it’s difficult to know his exact age to the day. Regardless, this is one hell of a record, and one which won’t be beaten any time soon.

 

The reason as to why St Albans had a really lucky escape and was allowed to ride, is due to having the perfect weight of 39 kilograms. The filly he rode, named Briseis, had a previous owner named Tom Hales, who could not make the requirement of weight for the Melbourne Cup. For that reason, Hales gave permission for Peter Albans to ride the filly, due to Peter’s affinity with the horse in training. He was said to have rode an impressive session of work on the filly, and was subsequently given the nod to ride her in the big race!

 

With Hales’ blessing, Peter went on to beat Sybil and Timothy, the more favoured runners in the race, clocking a race time of 3.36.25 in the process. This win was hugely celebrated at the time and day of the race, and many had celebrated and cheered for Peter Albans miraculous win-especially the punters who actually had taken a bet and leap of faith in him.

Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup Double Winners 

The Melbourne Cup is of course one of the most desired wins for any jockey out there. In addition to the Melbourne Cup, there are other events that share such high status in both the context of Australian racing and the wider horse racing world such as The Cox Plate and The Caulfield Cup. Not many horses have managed to win both the prestigious Melbourne and Caulfield Cups, with only 11 wins in historical records to date. The last double win was in 2001 by Ethereal, and the very first to win a double, was by the horse Poseidon.

 

For punters that want to bet on the Melbourne Cup, The Caulfield Cup can be a decent yardstick in terms of performance, as the event occurs in the month of October-only a few weeks away from the Melbourne Cup and is largely comparable in terms of conditions.

 

Widest Winning Margins of Melbourne Cup History 

The widest winning margin that was ever to be recorded within Melbourne Cup history, was by 8 lengths. This has only occurred twice: in 1862 when legendary Melbourne Cup horse Archer hosed up and once again in an effort by Rain Lover in 1968. Occurring at almost a century apart, nobody has managed to beat this record to date-yet.

Bay Coloured Horses Have Brought Success

History would tell us that bay coloured horses in fact, have the most successful record within the history of the Melbourne Cup. Over the last 158 years during the Melbourne Cup tournament, the majority of winning horses have all been bay colour, winning a total of 69 times in total. Of course, this colour is one of the most common in horse breeds. If any superstition was as popular in the context of the Melbourne Cup, it would definitely have to be this one!

Example bay coloured horses of today include: Constantinople, Mirage Dancer, Huntington Horn, Mer De Glace, The Chosen One and Raymond Tusk.

 

Melbourne Cup Barriers 

Since the beginning of Melbourne Cup history, there have been barriers that have yielded more wins than others. The top barriers to date that have given a total of 8 wins, are barriers 5 and 8. Barriers 1,4,6,11,14,17,19 and 22 have all given 7 wins in total, and are not far behind the best barriers 5 and 8. One barrier however, that has had no luck in being the Melbourne Cup winning barrier, is number 18. For 84 years, not one win was made from number 18, which has very much created a superstition within the horse racing community for this barrier. Number 13 is also considered another unlucky draw, even though Ethereal, Baghdad Note and Phar Lap, have all won from that barrier!

Saddlecloth Numbers: The Best in the Business 

The saddle cloth that is used to identify the horse within the race, has often got a number with varying different colours to represent the horse and its jockey. Within the history of the Melbourne Cup, numbers 4 and 12 have produced the most wins, in all the years this tournament has been running for, with a total of 11 wins each. The saddle cloth representing number 10, is very close behind with 10 wins in total and in third position, is the saddle cloth number 8, with 8 wins in total.

Melbourne Cup Jockey Weights: Facts and Figures

There are many stories to tell when it comes to discussing the weight of jockeys. The largest weight ever to be recorded and supported by a horse, was at 68 kilograms, from the Phar Lap horse in 1931. As can be expected, the horse unfortunately could not carry the jockey across to win at the finishing line. However, the heaviest recorded weight that actually did secure a win, was at 66 kilograms, by the Carbine in 1890. This still holds record today as the heaviest weight to date, to manage a win and victory within the Melbourne Cup.

 

The lightest weight recorded that also brought a victory on the other hand, was at a small 33.5 kilograms, by the horse Banker in 1863. Weight is definitely a significant factor to consider when it comes to making a win at the Melbourne Cup, however there is one weight that has shown to be the most popular and comfortable for a victory, and that is at 54.5 kilograms. Many riders nowadays tend to go for this option as the average weight as history supports this mass to be quite popular within all of the Melbourne Cup winning trends. In total 54.5 kilograms has brought 8 champions the spoils of victory for Melbourne. 

Who Was the Most Successful Trainer?

Within Melbourne Cup history, there are many legendary riders that have gotten their names recorded within the history books. However, there is one trainer in particular that stands above the rest, with the most success. Bart Cummings managed to win 12 cups within his entire career. This puts him at an elite position, as he has 7 more cups then the closest rival within that list. His last victory and twelfth win, was in 2008 by the horse Viewed, a famous Australian Thoroughbred. 

This information was brought to you by https://www.sportsbet.com.au/  

Michael Stoute

Sir Michael Stoute is a Barbadian, British thoroughbred horse trainer who has achieved incredible success over his five-decade career. Stoute is widely considered one of the best trainers in horse-racing, winning in all five British classic races - the 2,000 Guineas Stakes, 1.000 Guineas Stakes, Epsom Oaks, Epson Derby and St. Leger Stakes. 

At 19 he moved to the UK to become an apprentice to trainer Pat Rohan, establishing his own stable in 1972. He was the only trainer of the 20th century to win a Classic in five successive seasons and was named Champion trainer 10 times between 1981 and 2009. Stoute's success continued overseas with victories in Ireland, Canada, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, the United States and the United Arab Emirates. 

His most famous horse was Shergar who won the 1981 Epsom Cup by a record 10 lengths. The horse was stolen from a yard in County Kildare, Ireland in 1983 with kidnappers settling a ransom of £2 million. At the time Shergar's value was set at £10 million and despite a nationwide search was never found. One theory was the IRA had stolen him. 

In, 2009 Stoute became the first trainer to finish with a clean sweep of places in Ascot's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes with Conduit, Tartan Bearer and Ask. He had further success at Ascot in 2013 training the Queen's Gold Cup winner, Estimate.

He currently trains at Freemason Lodge Stables and at Beech Hurst Stables, both in Newmarket.

Native River

Owned by Garth and Anne Broom, under the banner of Brocade Racing, and trained by Colin Tizzard in Milborne Port, Dorset is a bay gelding, by Indian River out of a Be My Native, best known for winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2018. Having finished third, beaten 2¾ lengths and a short head by Sizing Europe and Minella Rocco, in the Cheltenham showpiece in 2017, Native River was involved in an epic duel with Might Bite in 2018, eventually outstaying his main market rival in the last half-a-furlong or so to win by 4½ lengths, with 33/1 outsider Anable Fly a further 4 lengths away in third. In so doing, Native River gave trainer Colin Tizzard his first winner in the race.

Immediately after the race, Tizzard said, “It was unreal, wasn’t it? To win the Cheltenham Gold Cup means everything to everyone’s life. Let's not pretend it’s not,” adding, “We’ve had a wonderful preparation and you think something could go wrong in the race, but it didn’t.”

Unlike in 2017, when the Cheltenham Gold Cup was something of an afterthought after victories in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury, the Coral Welsh National at Chepstow and Betfair Denman Chase, also at Newbury, Native River was trained with the “Blue Riband” event as his only major target of the season in 2018. En route, he did win the Betfair Denman Chase for second year running, jumping well for a ready 12-length win over Cloudy Dreams.

In winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Native River achieved a Timeform rating of 172, still 10lb inferior to that achieved by his stable companion Cue Card in his heyday, but he is still only eight years old and remains relatively lightly raced, so it remains to be seen where he ends up in the hierarchy of staying chasers since World War II. Currently 8/1 third favourite, behind Presenting Percy and Might Bite, for the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 2019, Native River has stamina in abundance, but isn’t, necessarily an out-and-out mudlark so, barring accidents, looks one to keep on the right side wherever he goes.

Frankie Dettori

Lanfranco Dettori was born in Milan, Italy on the 15th December 1970 and has a dazzling record in the sport of flat horse racing, winning pretty much everything there is to win. Thanks to his stellar record of wins, Dettori has become something of a TV personality and will be most remembered by the wider racing public as the jockey that managed to achieved 7 winners in the same Champions day at Ascot in 1996. The combined odds of the seven winners worked out at 25,051-1, earning one lucky punter £500,000 on the day.

Career Success

Dettori has won so many major races on the flat it would take too long to list them all here, but since the age of 12, the jockey has had ‘the bug’, something he shares with his son Rocco, who himself is just 13 years of age.

He began his career in the Britain in 1985 under the stewardship of Luca Cumani, who took on the young Frankie as a stable jockey. His first senior win in Britain was in 1987 and he has since gone on to achieve more than 3,000 wins in an amazing career.

Near Miss

Dettori had a lucky escape in 2000 when the light aircraft he was travelling in crashed near Newmarket. A crash that the authorities admitted he was lucky to walk away from. Despite this, the wins kept coming and by 2007, the only British Classic win not in the jockey’s back pocket was the Epsom Derby. Frankie redressed the balance however, romping home later that year on Authorized to claim the prize that had eluded him for so long.

Controversy

After admitting to substance abuse to keep down his weight on BBC’s Newsnight in 2010 and then failing a drugs test in 2012 after having been found to have used cocaine, there followed an acrimonious parting of the ways with the Godolphin stable. After serving a 6 month ban and a brief period as a freelancer, he joined the Stable of Sheikh Joaan Al Thani for whom he continues to regularly ride winners.

When Frankie Dettori does eventually hang up his whip and jockey’s uniform, the sport will be poorer for it and his trademark jumping dismount will be sadly missed.