Corey Brown on Shocking edges Kerrin McEvoy on Crime Scene to win the 2009 Melbourne Cup.
And they’re off! Owners and trainers from eight countries nominated a bumper crop of 253 runners in the hopes of winning the 150th edition of the Melbourne Cup on Nov. 2.
12-time winner Bart Cummings nominated an even dozen, including the highly rated four-year-olds So You Think (Cox Plate winner), Faint Perfume (VRC Oaks winner), Dariana (Queensland Derby winner), and Rock Classic (Australian Guineas winner).
This is a preview of 253 Hopefuls Nominated for 2010 Melbourne Cup. Read the full post »
Some of the most important casting decisions for The Cup have already been made and the papers signed. Director Simon Wincer has personally overseen the acquisition of more than two dozen Thoroughbreds, each of whom is now being schooled in the intricacies of the moviemaking art.
From The Man From Snowy River to The Lighthorsemen and The Young Black Stallion, Wincer’s ability as a filmmaker to capture the passion and allure of horses is unmatched in Hollywood, but he does admit there are one or two obstacles to recreating the dramatic running of the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
Brian O’Connor of The Irish Times pours on the praise for the new book by the Master of Rosewell House, two-time Melbourne Cup winner Dermot Weld:
“Vintage Crop told the story of his famous 1993 success in the Melbourne Cup, a victory that quite literally changed the face of the racing world, and which cemented Weld’s place in the sport’s history.”
As with any Weld enterprise, the book was no fluke. Instead, as O’ Connor points out, it was a long-held dream. “His interest in literature was famously illustrated just minutes after that famous Melbourne Cup when he quoted long passages of the legendary bush poet Banjo Patterson to a startled Australian press corps.”
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?
Twenty-three titles made the grade for the 2009 Irish Sports Book of the Year. Not surprisingly, Dermot Weld’s account of some of his greatest gallopers is one of the contenders.
Racing fans will no doubt be riveted by the behind-the-scenes look at the workings of Roswell House. I enjoyed seeing the way Dermot’s coy answers to my questions were just the tip of the iceberg. How did he nurse Vintage Crop back to health for the 1993 Melbourne Cup? Why didn’t he give up on Media Puzzle, a runner whose career had so many setbacks?
During my whirlwind tour of the Melbourne Cup Carnival and the Breeders’ Cup, one of the most surprising developments I witnessed was that the world’s winningest stables was almost completely written off by the pundits and the betting public.
On the first Tuesday in November at Flemington in the Melbourne Cup, Crime Scene with 2000 Cup winner Kerrin McEvoy up went off at 40-1. As we all know, McEvoy’s runner took the lead 3 furlongs out and finished a strong second to Shocking.
This is a preview of Godolphin: Overlooked and Under Appreciated. Read the full post »
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.
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.”
Director Simon Wincer and the hero of The Cup, two-time Melboune Cup winner Damien Oliver.
TOWN MOOR is no ordinary racecourse. To label it as such is like calling the Tour de France “a strenuous country ride” or Buckingham Palace “the home of a London family”. Town Moor is to thoroughbred racing what the barren plains of Marathon are to long distance runners: heroic, historic, defining.
This is a preview of PRINT: Read the First Chapter of The Cup by Eric O’Keefe. Read the full post »
Some of the most important casting decisions for The Cup have already been made and the papers signed. Director Simon Wincer has personally overseen the acquisition of more than two dozen Thoroughbreds, each of whom is now being schooled in the intricacies of the moviemaking art.
