What Is The Melbourne Cup Race
The Melbourne Cup is a thoroughbred horse race that is open to horses that are three years of age or older. Compare this with the Kentucky Derby in America where only three year old horses are permitted to compete. Another difference between the two races is that the Melbourne Cup is contested on the grass. The Victoria Racing Club is hoping the 2021 Melbourne Cup Carnival will be able to have crowds of up to 100,000 spectators, as early planning as to what the club's four major race days may look like is underway following a 2020 when patrons were not permitted to attend the famous four-day carnival. The Melbourne Cup is a prestigious greyhound race in Australia. The Cup is the final event of the three-week Superdogs series which carries over $1 million in total prize money. The Cup is run over 515 metres (1,690 ft) at Sandown Park in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia in November. In 2016, the Cup had total prize money of A$ 600,000. The Cup was first run in 1956 and was worth £500 to the. The Melbourne Cup race is a big field handicap that holds Group 1 status and is targeted by top Flat turf thoroughbred racehorses. What that means, in other words, is this event has lots of international interest in it. There are always many entries. The maximum field allowed to race at Flemington here is 24.
Some viewers took particular issue with Channel 10's roster of talent, with a number of online critics lashing out at Dave Hughes....
Some viewers took particular issue with Channel 10's roster of talent, with a number of online critics lashing out at Dave Hughes.
The big day is here.Source:Getty Images
The Melbourne Cup is nearly here.
The race that stops the nation — the seventh race of the day at Flemington — will be run at 3pm AEDT.
For those keeping track of the action but not in Victoria, NSW, Tasmania or the ACT, that translates as follows:
Perth — 12pm
Darwin — 1.30pm
Brisbane — 2pm
Adelaide — 2.30pm
You can watch the race live on Channel 10 or stream it on the network’s online platform 10play. You can also live stream the race on racing.com.
Monday, 8 March, 2021, by Mick Floyd
All greyhound trainers, owners and breeders dream of winning a TAB Melbourne Cup. For most of us punters though, we dream of backing the Melbourne Cup winner.
And it is a great feeling you can jump on early and ride the winner home at big odds. So with just 268 days until the 2021 edition of the world’s greatest greyhound race and with the release of the TAB pre-nominations market, we’re going to do just that.
It takes a special dog to win the TAB Melbourne Cup. It has to be fast and tough and able to thrive under the brightest lights on the sport’s biggest stage.
And history shows that Cup winning greyhounds fit a certain profile. For instance, in the last 10 years:
– Nine winners were male
– Nine winners were trained in Victoria
– Nine were between 29 and 35 months of age
– Eight had made their debut the year before they won the Cup, and seven had already won a race by the start of that year
Applied to the current racing populations it narrows the field down to just… 258 dogs! It’s hard to make a dollar backing that many greyhounds in one race, let’s narrow down the list further.
We know experience matters in the big finals, especially for a race like the Melbourne Cup. In fact, five of the last six TAB Melbourne Cup finalists had already contested a group race final prior to the Australian Cup final.
Of the 258 dogs on our list, we’re now down to 10:
DO IT (Jeff Britton), $51
MR. FIX IT (Angela Langton), $51
FERDINAND BOY (David Geall), $34
JEPARA (Angela Langton), $51
BLACKPOOL FLASH (Renee Kenyon), $51
EARN THE ANSWERS (Lyn Smith), $21
ASTON RUPEE (Glenn Rounds), $14
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
LAKEVIEW WALTER (Monique Whelan), $17
MR. AMERICA (Jason Thompson), $17
That’s an impressive list of some of the sport’s best youngsters, and it’d be no surprise to see some – or all – of them among the leading contenders come November. There’s a lot of group races on the calendar and plenty of option in the the lead up to the Cup. But did you know that the last four TAB Melbourne Cup winners had contested Western Districts Derby series in the year of their Cup triumph?
Five of our list of candidates lined up in the Western District Derby heats.
FERDINAND BOY (David Geall), $34
BLACKPOOL FLASH (Renee Kenyon), $51
ASTON RUPEE (Glenn Rounds), $14
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
MR. AMERICA (Jason Thomson), $17
All of the above are fast dogs, a non-negotiable trait among TAB Melbourne Cup winners, and it’s a trait that’s on show from the start of their careers. In fact, the last three Cup winners broke their maiden by winning in the fastest time of the night.
And only one of the above won its maiden in BON – by 13 lengths no less on the day before the 2020 Cup. Therefore, based on the deeds of Cup winners past, it’s a big congratulations to 2021 TAB Melbourne Cup winner
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
OK, it may be a little bit early to get the trophy engraved. Especially since he has yet to race over 500m and his trainer Joe Borg says his littermates are just as good (or maybe better).
And for every inspirational quote you can find about history being a great teacher, there’s one telling you the future is yet to be written.
But don’t say we didn’t tell you so!
The 2021 TAB Melbourne Cup will be run on Friday 26 November.
Click here for the latest TAB Melbourne Cup market from TAB
*Odds quoted correct as at 1pm on Monday 8 March 2021