It will be a very different looking Melbourne Cup at Flemington today with no fans on track for the race that stops a nation, but the race itself is set to go the way of recent years.
Cross Counter Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Because of Covid-19 restrictions, the tens of thousands of fans that normally turn up will be forced to watch from elsewhere.
Foreign horses have won eight of the last 10 Melbourne Cups and they again lead the favouritism for the $8.2 million race which starts at 5pm New Zealand time.
There are nine european entrants with Irish pair Anthony Van Dyck and Tiger Moth, who are both trained by Aiden O'Brien, among the leading contenders.
Prince of Arran, Master of Reality and Twilight Payment are the other heavily backed foreign raiders.
The New Zealand contingent includes the locally owned and trained The Chosen One and the New Zealand-bred horse Verry Elleegant.
The Chosen One, trained by Kiwis Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman, is back at the Melbourne Cup for the second time, while Verry Elleegent, a Caulfield Cup winner is trained by Sydney-based New Zealander Chris Waller.
The race starts at 5pm and will be broadcast on Checkpoint on RNZ
Horses and jockeys:
1. ANTHONY VAN DYKE Hugh Bowman
2. AVILIUS John Allen
3. VOW AN DECLARE Jamie Mott
4. MASTER OF REALITY Ben Melham
5. SIR DRAGONET Glen Boss
6. TWILIGHT PAYMENT Jye McNeil
7. VERRY ELLEEGANT Mark Zahra
8. MUSTAJEER Michael Rodd
9. STRATUM ALBION Jordan Childs
10. DASHING WILLOUGHBY Michael Walker
11. FINCHE James McDonald
12. PRINCE OF ARRAN Jamie Kah
13. SURPRISE BABY Craig Williams
14. KING OF LEOGRANCE Damian Lane
15. RUSSIAN CAMELOT Damien Oliver
16. STEEL PRINCE William Pike
17. THE CHOSEN ONE Daniel Stackhouse
18. ASHRUN Declan Bates
19. WARNING Luke Currie
20. ETAH JAMES Billy Egan
21. TIGER MOTH Kerrin McEvoy
22. OCEANEX Dean Yendall
23. MIAMI BOUND Daniel Moor
24. PERSAN Michael Dee
Flemington Photo: PHOTOSPORT
New Zealand success
New Zealand-bred horses have won 43 Melbourne Cups (42 individual winners). New Zealand's bloodstock reputation began when Martini Henry won the Melbourne Cup in 1883 and was cemented with racing greats, such as Carbine (1890) and Phar Lap (1930), as well as New Zealand-bred and trained Rising Fast (1954), who is the only horse to have won the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in the same year.
More recently, Kiwi captured the hearts of New Zealanders when he stormed down the straight to win the Cup in 1983. Other notable winners include Empire Rose (1988), Doriemus (1995) and Might and Power (1997). Ethereal was the last New Zealand-trained horse to win in 2001.
New Zealand dominated the Cup during the late 1900s. In the period between 1947 and 2001, 33 of the 55 Cups contested were won by New Zealand-bred horses.
New Zealand-bred horses have filled the first three placings on six occasions in the Cup. The first Kiwi trifecta was Nightmarch, Paquito and Phar Lap in the 1929 running. The other years were 1955, 1960, 1974, 1975 and 1978.
New Zealander Sheila Laxon became the first female to 'officially' train a winner of the Cup when her mare Ethereal claimed the 2001 running of the great race. However, it was fellow countrywoman Granny McDonald who can lay claim to being the first female to train a Melbourne Cup winner. While licenced to train in New Zealand, women were banned from training in Australia.
It was left to her husband to obtain a temporary licence to train so that McDonald's eight-year-old gelding Catalogue could be entered into the 1938 running.
-TAB