Melbourne Cup 2009

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By Tony O'Hehir6.45PM 4 AUG 2009 AIDAN O'BRIEN has entered four for the Emirates Melbourne Cup at Flemington on November 3, including Totesport Ebor favourite Changingoftheguard, in a bid to improve on last year's poor showing by the Ballydoyle team.
The trainer will be hoping that however many he sends this year, his runners will fare better than last year's trio of Septimus, Alessandro Volta and Honolulu, who finished 18th, 20th and 21st of 22 after setting the early pace.
A total of 230 entries have been made for 'the race that stops a nation', including 39 overseas entries which represents a drop of 18 on the number of overseas entries made for the race last year.
O'Brien said on Tuesday: "We have entered Age Of Aquarius, Johann Zoffany and Rockhampton as well as Changingoftheguard. All of them are only entries at this stage and they have other races to take in before any decisions are made.
"Changingoftheguard is going for the Ebor and Age Of Aquarius will be aimed at the St Leger at Doncaster."
Godolphin's six entries for the Melbourne Cup include Eastern Anthem, Schiaparelli, Kirklees and Age Of Reason.
Luca Cumani, who has gone close to winning the race with Purple Moon and Bauer who finished second in 2007 and 2008 respectively, has entered Cima De Triomphe who runs in the Arlington Million in the US this weekend.
Dermot Weld, who won the race with Vintage Crop in 1993 and again with Media Puzzle in 2000, has entered Profound Beauty, fifth a year ago and winner of both her starts this year, Ghimaar, who won the big 2m amateur handicap at Galway last week, and Directa King who has not run since scoring by 17 lengths at the 2008 Galway festival.
The versatile Deutschland, runner-up in the Guinness Galway Hurdle on Thursday, could be Melbourne-bound according to trainer Willie Mullins.
Six years ago Holy Orders, owned like Deutschland by Allan McLuckie, became something of a celebrity in Melbourne in the lead-up to the race when he refused to exert himself on the gallops and his antics were shown on the nightly TV news.
Mullins said on Monday: "Allan is quite keen on Deutschland running in the race this year. But it is only a speculative entry at this stage. We'll see how he gets on in the Ebor and take things from there. He has gone up 22lb on the Flat this year and might still be improving."
 
Profound Beauty was very impressive tonight, the 16/1 available after the race with Hills seemed fair enough and has now gone. She'll probably get an awful handicap mark but she's very very good so it seems and would go there with a decent chance.

I'm a bit gutted they aren't taking Sariska on next week to be honest.
 
Shes some horse, have backed her all three starts this year and she just keeps on improving. It will be a good one that beats her, but she will probably get a horrible mark for Melbourne.
 
Gamla Stan said:
Every Irish runner gets a 2 stone penalty for being Irish doesn't it?
Click to expand...

No. The recent horses that have gone over there have been too exposed. The likes of Septimus and Yeats may be top class, but they are neither improving nor well handicapped. Improving and/or well handicapped horses win handicaps rather than top-class horses.
 
Indeed - Ballydoyle need to send less Yeatses and more Mahlers. (Or both, preferably, since the likes of Yeats and Vinnie Roe add plenty to the mix just by being there).
 
Efficient and Maldivian head the weights for the 2009 Emirates Melbourne Cup, which were released on Wednesday.


The 2007 cup winner Efficient and current Cox Plate champion Maldivian will have to carry 58kg (9st 2lb) to victory, and both horses have also been given the same weight in the Cox Plate.

Since Vintage Crop became the first European trained victor in 1993, the only other Australian-trained horse to head the weights was Northerly in 2004.

Next on the list is last year's winner, the Bart Cummings-trained Viewed on 57kg (9st), 4kg more than he carried to victory.

Viewed looks to join Archer (1861-2), Rain Lover (1968-9), Think Big (1974-5) and Makybe Diva (2003-04-05) as the only horses to win the race in successive years.

Godolphin's Sheema Classic winner Eastern Anthem and Goodwood Cup winner Schiaparelli are the highest-weighted European horses on 57kg.

Aidan O'Brien's unlucky Ebor runner-up Changingoftheguard has been allocated 50.5kg (7st 13lb) and Age Of Aquarius 51kg (8st 7lb).

Dermot Weld's Profound Beauty, fifth last year under 51.5kg, has been given 53.5kg (8st 6lb).

Racing Victoria Limited Chief Handicapper Greg Carpenter said: "The 4kg increase given to Viewed is the same penalty applied to previous winners such as Media Puzzle, Kingston Rule, Black Knight and Gold And Black in the modern era.

"It is slightly less than the penalty given to Makybe Diva after her initial success and a similar penalty to that issued to Think Big when taking into account the weight-for-age component.

"The 2kg increase for Profound Beauty reflects the progression she has demonstrated in Ireland this year being undefeated in her three starts.

"It is the same weight Empire Rose carried to victory in 1988 and the only mare to win the Melbourne Cup with more is Makybe Diva," he said on www.racingvictoria.net.au.

Luca Cumani, so narrowly denied with Purple Moon and Bauer in recent years, has Cima De Triomphe (55.5kg) and Balsatico (51.5kg) entered.
Other notable British possibles include Askar Tau (53.5kg), Munsef (53kg) and Mourilyan (54.5kg).
 
Is it just me or does that give Profound Beauty an outstanding chance? Will the weights rise much?
 
Looks a handy weight alright but what concerns me is that her running style will be unsuited to the race. They seem to sprint early on and then slow it right down for most of the second circuit and kick for home off the bend. You really need a horse with a decent turn of foot for a Melbourne Cup I reckon, whereas Profound Beauty is a mare that travels very well through her races, but is relatively one-paced under pressure.

That said, Dermot Weld has forgotten twice as much about the type of horse needed to win a Melbourne Cup than I'll ever know.
 
Id be encouraged by her run in it last year, and the fact that shes trained by weld, im sure he wouldnt be targeting it if he thought she wasnt able for it.
 
Profound Beauty looked really good at Leopardstown and Weld is a master at this race, she ran well last year and is nicely weighted. All in all, a lot of positives so we could have another Irish winner this year.

The Ballydoyle pair have been treated fairly well in the weights as well.
 
Apparently Kirkless has gone into quarantine after Saturday's win and will run in the Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup. Looks massively improved this season, and his top 3 RPR's have all come in his last 3 races. I think he is exactly the type of horse you want, one who stays 1m4, but has the toe of a 1m2 horse, and would be a much better candidate for Godolphin than Schiaparelli. Am I alone in thinking 40/1 is a crazy, crazy price?
 
Speed Gifted very impressive in the Metroplitan Handicap at Randwick in heavy ground and former winner Efficient came back to form winning the Group One Turnbull Stakes at Flemington
 
No idea what weight he has but was impressed with the late run of Efficient in the Turnbull - also easy to spot at 5am in the morning too ;)
 
Thanks Arkwright - I've just backed Light Vision at 100/1 with the Tote. Won a staying handicap on Saturday for the second year in succession and is reportedly in better form than he was this time last year - hence connections are having a crack at the big races.

In the Naturalism Stakes on 19th September over 10f he was conceding 6lbs to Speed Gifted (who started fav) and beat him 1 1/4 lengths. In the big race itself he'll be getting a 3lb pull - one is 10/1 and the other 100/1.
 
Am not convinced with Speed Gifted. The win was on a bog track at Randwick on Saturday. Would like to see him on a firm surface in the Caulfield Cup before I take the odds on him for the Cup.
 
Watch for a horse named Ista Kareem. He was 4th to Light Vision in Saturdays Listed Bart Cummings over the 2520 metres at Flemington. He might be 9, but he did win this year's Group1 Sydney Cup over the 2miles, and one would have to rate him a chance if he draws well and does have the proven ability over the trip.
 
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