Even money won’t get you rich 22/10/2005
Australia’s best galloping contest, the W. S. Cox Plate, is run today. Freak mare Makybe Diva is — as Pop used to say — as short as beer at Christmas to win the classic weight-for-age event and with normal luck in the running should bolt it in. But Moonee Valley is a tricky course and anything near the front on the turn and with a turn of speed can thrash a champion.
I’m going for quinellas with the Diva, and I’ll be including Charles’ tip which is capable of storming home like a thirsty Scotchman.
Here’s Charles:
The breakdown of Mummify in the Caulfield Cup was a heart-breaking tragedy, which brought back memories of the 1979 Melbourne Cup, when Dulcify broke down and had to be destroyed. Eyepopper’s run was unique – the horse was starting first up after a five month spell, and finished second!
This year’s Cox Plate is a very hard race betting-wise, because Makybe Diva
is unbackable and, irrsepective of the weather conditions, looks all but
unbeatable. The selection is God’s Own 2 units to place. Three year olds have
always run well in the Cox Plate, and his Guineas win was remarkable.
The answer to last week’s question was Grace Darling, who won the 1886
Caulfield Cup, and ran a close second in the Melbourne Cup after suffering
severe interference. It would be nearly twenty years before a horse would
finally complete the double, and another thirty three years before it was
achieved again.
The Collingwood Football Club was formed at the Grace Darling Hotel in Smith
Street, which is still standing. Both horse and pub were named after the
English heroine, who was a household name in Victorian times.
This week’s question: there have been a number of Caulfield-Melbourne Cup
winners, and in several years two horses have placed in both cups. But what
was the only year in which the same THREE horses filled the places in both
the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups? (not in the same order of course)
UPDATE AND ONLY PARTIALLY ON-TOPIC:
Heard another beaut comparative phrase on radio this morning: “He was as full as a meat inspector’s fridge”.
