Melbourne Cup 2009

Wednesday 6am BST

G3 H’cap 2406metres

Crime Scene is virtually assured of a place in the Melbourne Cup. About 14 of the others have an MC entry, and are hoping to win this by a couple of lengths to get a penalty to lift them into the Cup.

There are about half-a-dozen Kiwis.

1 X619X Crime Scene (IRE) 3 57.5 Kerrin McEvoy Saeed Bin Suroor 13
2 X6842 Basaltico (IRE) 13 55.5 Damien Oliver Luca Cumani 13.6
3 8X070 Gallions Reach (NZ) 19 55.5 Glen Boss Richard Yuill 95.7
4 66550 Guyno (NZ) 6 55.5 Jason Whiting Lou Luciani 9
5 880X0 Spin Around 14 55.5 Mark Du Plessis Steven Cooper 55
6 X0270 Young Centaur 7 55 Craig Williams John Sargent 12
7 X9112 Stormhill 8 54.5 Brad Rawiller Clinton McDonald 13.8
8 80099 Cats Fun 15 54 Luke Nolen Jarrod McLean 60.3
9 X6336 Sterling Prince (NZ) 10 54 Hugh Bowman Wayne Hillis 22.3
10 20185 Hoorang (NZ) 9 53 Ms Michelle Payne Ian Shaw 15.3
11 70066 Arapaho Miss 16 53 Dean Holland Pat Carey 20.2
12 02568 Six O’clock News (NZ) 18 53 Noel Harris Patrick & Trent Busuttin 14.6
{

14 X0096 Completion (NZ) 2 53 Daniel Moor Brendan Woodman 35.2
15 34632 Leica Ding 20 53 Danny Nikolic Darren Weir 11.5
16 22811 Maestro of Murano 21 53 Adrian Patterson Roslyn Day 31
17 20453 Zacroona (NZ) 4 53 Dwayne Dunn Lee Freedman 46.8
18 5X458 Dandaad (NZ) 1 53 Ms Clare Lindop Bart Cummings 8

19 9X553 Think Money 12 53 Bart Cummings 15
20 X9784 Golden Charmer 5 53 Dean Yendall Dan O’Sullivan 86.3
21 80094 Doubly Sure (NZ) 17 53 Mark Minervini 176.1

Understand that Vision and Power could go well in the Cox Plate if the rain comes and El Segundo could surprise if back to the horse he was

. It’s a ‘Dead Track’ at the moment..

They seem to use numbers in addition to the penetrometer ones.

3 is good

4 and 5 are dead

Their policy is to water the track so that it is dead. But it will normally dry out to become good during the afternoon.

I see Betfair is streaming all the races live, starting 2.10am UK time:

http://www.bettingpro.com/category/Raci … 102300128/

OZ bookie Mark Read comments:

HARD TO LOOK PAST WHOBE

As racing’s focus turns to Moonee Valley and the Cox Plate, IASbet.com bookmaker Mark Read says you shouldn’t overlook the obvious when it comes to assessing the race.

"Whobegotyou ($3) has run at the track four times for four wins, he won the Yalumba Stakes last start and is a deserving favourite."

Read suggests sticking to the local hopes with Heart Of Dreams ($5.50), Zipping ($17), and El Segundo ($15) all creating interest.

"El Segundo has won the race before, Zipping was second last year and Heart Of Dreams has been running great races in all the key lead ups."

Bart Cummings’ three year old So You Think ($11) has been one of the better backed runners and as we learnt last week, ignore Bart at your peril!

The Schweppes Stakes (1200m) should be a fantastic race according to Read.

"This is a Group One field in a Group Two race, Lucky Secret ($3.30) and Apache Cat ($3.60) must be respected with fantastic Moonee Valley records, but Light Fantastic ($13) and Danleigh ($9) represent the Value, Danleigh won the Manikato Stakes over the same distance at the Valley a month ago and should again be prominent"

Yes, but he can’t keep it up, can he?

Probably puts the kibosh on my Roman Emperor bets.

Actually had a winning race, which surprised me after my non-runners etc. (The Caulfield Cup turned out okay as well last week.)

Frontrunning

Starspangledbanner

won the Caulfield Guineas. Trusting lame. Denman had what has been described as a torrid trip. I’ve seen a video of the finish, and I think it is

So You Think

who is finishing quite well on the outside.

My stable connections really fancy Alverta who has been set for the next. Estee and Moment In Time are good chances in spite of the poor draws.

Bart Cummings looks as if he would be a good baddy in Home and Away. He’s got that ‘get off my land or i’ll flamin shoot ya’ kinda look. Anyway he won the Cox plate so good on him.

I’ve taken a risk on Changingoftheguard. Obviously his price went up because the bandages are still to be removed and what have you. If he gets a run he will need blinkers though.

I already knew that

Red Ruler

was out, and that

Ready To Lift

was on trial. She is now retired.

Whobegotyou

strained his back or whatever yesterday.

I don’t mind those so much, but it is a little galling to find out that

Light Vision

is out as well.

[edit: also forgot that Ista Kareem had the thumps yesterday, so he’ll only run at the vet’s discretion. (I think it was IK, might be another horse.)]

It looks like I’m reduced to having a saver if Efficient wins or Roman Emperor places, or an okay win if Roman Emperor wins or there is an unlikely European victory.

It is also annoying to find out that

Capecover

is still trying to get into the Melbourne Cup by trying to win the Bendigo, after the trainer said he would give up on it. Have decided to ignore the horse (again).

Maybe it is just because I don’t get to see much actual horse racing, but I was rather taken with

Leica Ding

‘s victory in the Geelong Cup, so I’ve added £8.47 @ 13.5 in the Place market to my earlier listed Win bet (page 9 of this thread, not of my bets).