Believe that to your own pearl , Victoria is ei free & the melbourne cup is alot of money. But to the racing purest the race is a pile of crap!! , but as far as money goes would like it in my pocket.

Melbourne cup is a funny race its like a public way to spend money ,once a year people who dont know nothing about racing spend money on it,
Damned if i know why except the sheep factor ie my mate spends money on this certain day so i must. !!!
You can't get to see it unless your jammed in like a sardine but most real punters & race people stay away from it

Yeah I agree completely with this.

It's so bizarre how popular the Cup is, even here in NZ. I just can't understand why 20,000 people here in Auckland go to Ellerslie and watch a 2-mile handicap in another country on the big screen. On a Tuesday!

I'll always believe that the Cox Plate is Australia's greatest race.

The way that the Melbourne Cup has suddenly seems to go from the minds of Coolmore suggests to me that maybe they aren't too happy with the way the Aussie racing officials dealt with the situation. Magnier did an interview a couple of weeks ago, and he didn't sound too happy.

It costs so much money for any european to send a horse there.

Correct me if i'm wrong, but don't the English and Irish pay all the tavel costs for Aussie runners over here but you guys never pay a penny for our transport. We are far too kind letting your sprinters over here year after year to kick our butts and taking our prize money and doing it free of charge :D

I've always wanted to know how that works and i mean everywhere.

I know the JRA will pay IF it's a horse they consider special.

Silent Witness got the royal treatment, they even paid for Highlilli (yea!!!!! greatest workout partner ever... except for the one time he actually beat the Witness by mistake:D . God I miss those two...) while Bullish luck got NO such treatment cause the JRA su.... I mean let's not get into that right now. :mad: :D

As far as i know, it really all depends on the country. We are far too generous in my opinion. If there were a few American horses that were coming over for Royal Ascot, we'd pay for their transport, and even stabling (i think)...... same with the horses from Oz. Dubai will pay for everyone's travelling fees as long as their horse(s) run more than once during the carnival. I'm not sure whether overseas horses that go for the world cup meet get their expenses paid or not though.

I don't even think that overseas horses get any travel paid if they go to America for the BC (i could be wrong about that).

It really frustrates me that the horses like Miss Andretti were allowed to travel for free and take our prize money (that we are seriously lacking) out of British racing, and was allowed to do so almost free of charge, but if our horses want to go to Oz, the owners have to pay for everything.

More bad news for AOB.....

Scorpion lame after trackwork at Sandown 29 Oct 2007

Racing Victoria

Racing Victoria stewards report that Tom Magnier, son of John Magnier, owner of Scorpion (IRE), an acceptor for the Melbourne Cup, on Monday advised Racing Victoria that Scorpion was lame in a hind leg after galloping on Monday morning.

Further tests will be undertaken and RVL Veterinary Surgeons will
continue to monitor the horse’s condition

http://www.thoroughbrednews.co.nz/sp...cing/?id=31978

Thank god you didn't say Mahler.

Scorpion is a tough fella, he has gone through more than his fair share of problems in the past. He split his pastern last year.

Really hope Mahler can do the business in this. Inexperience might beat him though. Can anyone tell me what sort of record 3yos have in this race?

I think Mahler had a better shot of the two.

He can win here with that weight, it usually is a race about weight in my opinion.

He'll at least get a placing.

By the time melbourne cup rolls around all the horses that are showing something are out too play so while its a great show case of racing in Australia the odds are crap as everyone knows;) ,
So while I will admit to not being very keen on the cup itself (in fact i find the race itself abit like watching paint dry ) .I do find the card has some great horses to watch so i thought id name a few & though they will be of no surprise i feel they really are worth mentioning :-)

EXCEEDINGLY GOOD Lee Freedman 78 : All Class !!!! The best now & in the future really exciting entire thats all class heads above the rest.

16 WEEKEND HUSSLER Ross McDonald 105 : wins easily going away from a midweek race onto Stardom

ROYAL ASSCHER (NZ) : Fit & producing the goods

16 SHREWD RHYTHM David Hayes 93 : Likes Flemington but might be getting abit worn by now depending on the jock might be value for money.

Will post more as i get time :rolleyes:

Good call!

In fact I'm not overly keen on the Derby either...Apart from Elvstroem, who in recent years has won another race that season afer winning it? Some, like Benicio, have never raced again after winning it. November is way too early to go 2500m. I'd love it if they reduced the distance.

But the other races on Saturday are wonderful. What an amazing card it always is.

I see Kerrin McEvoy's riding our Kiwi hope Princess Coup in the McKinnon...I think she's a huge chance in that race. They're wasting their time running her in the Cup on Tuesday as well though, Encosta de Lago horses don't stay 3200m.

Yes abit like redoutes choices but the mckinnon is shaping up as a great race !!! & Ahhhh brings back 1 of my best plunges on Good old Brew !!! with a name like that how could it have lost :D 2 wins in 2 days made me a small fortune;)

Thanks.

So, on stats alone, it looks like Mahler is up against it.

I think the last three year-old to even run in the race was Nothin' Leica Dane, who ran second to Doriemus in 1995.

However, I'm not sure if many (if any) Northern Hemisphere three year-olds have attempted it before. Obviously they're much stronger and more developed than the locals, who only turn 3 in August.

Oh, the trip will be no problem. He has already won over the trip (Queens Vase at Ascot). My concern would be his inexperience, that's all. He never ran as a 2yo, so he has limited racing experience.

It just gets worse for O'Brien.

From RP.........

by Tony O'Hehir
.


RETIREMENT beckons for Scorpion after trainer Aidan O'Brien on Tuesday confirmed that the three-time Group 1 winner would miss the Emirates Melbourne Cup on Tuesday because of a suspected muscular injury picked up when he worked at Sandown racecourse on Monday.

O'Brien flew into Melbourne early on Tuesday following a delayed flight from Los Angeles and after checking out Scorpion, as well as Mahler who will fly the flag for the Coolmore-Ballydoyle team in Tuesday's big race at Flemington, he spoke of the sadness and frustration brought by events at Monmouth Park and at Sandown in the preceding 48 hours.

Facing the assembled media pack outside the quarantine yard at Sandown, O'Brien said: "Scorpion is very lame and the problem is in the stifle area of his off-hindleg. The x-rays are clear and no bones are broken, so it looks as if it is a ligament or muscle problem.

"He suffered a hairline fracture to the pastern of the same leg two years ago. He recovered fully from that injury and this is a different problem.

"The horse is going to be fine. We will see what the vets have to say, but I'd imagine he is probably going to be retired now. The plan had been to keep him in training next year but he is a special horse and now that this problem has cropped up the likelihood is that he won't run again."
O'Brien was still in the US when his representative Andrew Murphy, who is on his second trip to Melbourne where he supervised Yeats' bid for last year's Melbourne Cup, phoned to alert him of Scorpion's situation.

O'Brien said: "After the day we had at the Breeders' Cup I was prepared to believe anything. Andrew told me that Scorpion and Mahler had worked well but that when Scorpion cooled down it became obvious there was a problem. We can't be sure what happened, but the likelihood is that he tweaked something when he worked.

"It is a pity as we thought he was the right type of horse for the race. Having learned from our experience with Yeats here last year, we believed Scorpion was a bit quicker horse at this stage of his career and that he might suit the race better."

In all he won four races and £958,059 (€1,373,830) in win and place prize-money.

the mckinnon is a great pointer for the melbourne cup but i dont like miss finlands chances

Miss Finland isn't what she is cracked up to be. And she surely won't stay the 3200 like Cardus said.

I'm hoping Hayes keeps her out.

He should have sent her to America for the Oaks instead of Anamato and then let her cruise in our restricted company up here. Black type galore for Mares up here.