Two Sundays have passed since a six-year-old mare named Profound Beauty won a listed race in Ireland called the Saval Beg Stakes. Most racing fans haven’t heard of 2,800-meter race, but followers the Melbourne Cup know it very, very well. That might be because the only two horses from Europe ever to win the world’s most prestigious two-miler – Vintage Crop in 1993 and Media Puzzle in 2002 – both won the Saval Beg.
This is a preview of Watch This Man!
. Read the full post »
November 18, 2009 – 8:00 pm
A lot of comments about my recent Huffington Post piece on the avalanche of media coverage at the Melbourne Cup Carnival versus the minimalist approach exercised by American newspapers at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita.
This article by Tony Arrold ran in The Australian on Monday. Arrold, who is the newspaper’s Sydney racing writer, brings up several points, and he got me thinking:
Damien Oliver has raced all over the world – Europe, Asia, and even out of the way places such as Mauritius. Should Ollie give it a go in the States?
November 9, 2009 – 8:38 pm
Now I’ve done it.
First, I got back from Down Under and started mouthing off about how the media doesn’t get horseracing here in the U.S.
But they get it in Australia, which is why the massive crowd last week at the Melbourne Cup dwarfed the one at the Breeders’ Cup World Championships at Santa Anita.
Next thing you know I went and put my thoughts down on paper. Now my rant is live at Huffington Post!
Click HERE to have a read, and feel free to let me know if I’m on the money or off the mark.
November 3, 2009 – 4:28 pm
Corey Brown on Shocking edges Kerrin McEvoy aboard Crime Scene to win the 2009 Melbourne Cup.
Trainer Mark Kavanagh scored his first Melbourne Cup as did jockey Corey Brown, who piloted Shocking to triumph in the 2009 Melbourne Cup before a crowd of 102,161. Godolphin’s lone entry, Crime Scene, ran a gallant second three-quarters of a length back, and Mourilyan, a runner owned by Chechen President Ramzan Kadyrov, ran third.
Cups King Bart Cummings, who had been on target to win his 13th Melbourne Cup with defending champion Viewed, had to settle for seventh with his best credentialled runner. Cummings’s other two entries, Roman Emperor and Allez Wonder, ran 21st and 16th.
November 2, 2009 – 7:54 am
On the Sunrise Set With Mark Beretta
All credit where credit is due: Mark Beretta and the crew from Sunrise turned a soggy Melbourne morning into an unforgettable experience along the banks of the Yarra River outside the Crown Casino.
See for yourself right HERE.
We covered a lot of ground, and I would be remiss if I failed to commend the show’s researchers for digging up the awesome footage from the races I mentioned.
P.S. If your curious about the black-and-white clip, it’s from the 1896 Melbourne Cup, which was won by Newhaven.
October 27, 2009 – 12:00 am
Why do millions of Australians drop everything to watch the Cup? There’s pomp and there’s pageantry, and it goes without saying that the great race is an essential part of the country’s historic legacy. But there’s another reason, and he’s pictured at left: battlers such South Australian trainer Jake Stephens and his vaunted runner Alcopop.
Just three years into his training career, Stephens is now vying for center stage on Cup Day for one of the greatest prizes in Thoroughbred racing with another son of South Australia, the Cups King himself, Bart Cummings.
This is a preview of Take a Close Look at This Battler
. Read the full post »
October 19, 2009 – 12:00 am
Racing Victoria Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter imposed a 1 kg penalty on Caulfield Cup winner Viewed following his commanding 2¾-length triumph in the 2,400-meter classic. With 58kg, the defending Melbourne Cup champion joins 2007 Melbourne Cup winner Efficient as topweight in the Race That Stops the Nation.
Carpenter described Bart Cummings’s runner in glowing terms when announcing the penalty: “‘The win of Viewed on Saturday confirmed him as one of the great stayers of the modern era.”
This is a preview of Viewed “One of the Great Stayers”
. Read the full post »
October 17, 2009 – 12:00 am
![09.10.24 JBC [Caulfield Cup]](http://blog.ericokeefe.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/10/09.10.24-JBC-Caulfield-Cup.jpg "09.10.24 JBC [Caulfield Cup]")
Bart Cummings continues to push the limits of the possible. On Saturday, the 81-year-old hoisted his seventh Caulfield Cup courtesy of jockey Brad Rawiller and defending Melbourne Cup champion, Viewed. Better yet Viewed bested another Cummings runner, Roman Emperor. Cummings’s one-two performance marked the second instance Cummings has quinellaed the Caulfield Cup.
Viewed becomes the third Melbourne Cup winner to claim the Caulfield Cup the following year. His decisive 2¾-length victory is certain to attract a penalty from Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper Greg Carpenter.
This is a preview of Cups King Unstoppable at Caulfield
. Read the full post »
