Melbourne Cup 2009

Grand Armee said:
The weather is shocking there at the moment. I know one horse who swims in the rain, Fiumicino. Not sure though he can or will be able to run a strong 2 miles. But then again, the horse LOVES the wet and he was dour earlier this year in winning The BMW over 12f.
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The expert on the box is blaming over watering.
 
A funny quote going around racing circles here, and quite ironic given the circumstances of Morilyan's ownership:

"The owner of Morilyan created a Shocking Crime Scene."
 
They went so slow it was ridiculous.

The Europeans should bring a truck load down next year and make it a proper test (not the sort Ballydoyle tried to do last year) and see what happens.
 
Or how about giving the Cesarewitch a massive injection of prize money so we could have a top class staying handicap back home rather than this obsession with this generally tedious race.
 
What did everyone make of Frankie's comment when he said he wasn't flying out to ride Crime Scene, preferring to go to France for Emerald Commander - 'it's only a handicap'.

Would you expect Crime Scene to be second in UK/Europe's top race? Too simplistic perhaps, as we don't have any top grade handicaps but a point nevertheless.
 
Ardross said:
Or how about giving the Cesarewitch a massive injection of prize money so we could have a top class staying handicap back home rather than this obsession with this generally tedious race.
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Cesarewitch a little too far though, no?

I'd prefer the Cambridgeshire if anything, or a new 1m4 handicap.
 
What did everyone make of Frankie's comment when he said he wasn't flying out to ride Crime Scene, preferring to go to France for Emerald Commander - 'it's only a handicap'.
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So is the Grand National, he's getting old, lazy and content with his lot. No hardship here please.
 
They did go slow, but if the ground was 'dead' as noted above, you can see why no-one wanted to rip the guts out of their horse early on. I really loved the feature on the 'bush horse' ALCOPOP, who ran very creditably in midfield and tried a decent if brief challenge, possibly not helped by a jockey who'd never ridden Flemington before, let alone in the Cup. This is a good-looking, rangy type of horse who's played polo under his trainer and also helped him round up cattle at home!

Nice finish by SHOCKING, never in doubt once clear, and a happy day for his jockey who'd been nutted on the line last year.

I see now what was said about Melbourne matrons hogging the horsewalk rails with their picnic sheeting! You couldn't get near the rails because families had laid out huge squares of plastic sheeting to picnic on - really very strange. You'd think there'd be a designated picnic site so that those who wanted to get as close as they could to the returning heroes weren't stepping over the prawnies and Fosters to do so!
 
krizon said:
They did go slow, but if the ground was 'dead' as noted above, you can see why no-one wanted to rip the guts out of their horse early on.
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I thought their 'Dead' was roughly equivalent to our 'Good' or 'Good To Soft'?
 
To be honest I think alot of the Grand National talk is simply promotion by the BBC etc...Ruby Walsh will look back on his Gold Cup wins on Kauto Star more than anything else (bar perhaps Papillions win but that had as much to do with his father).
 
Sheikh said:
If you where a jockey you wouldn't swerve it though would you.........
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No, great race to ride in I'd imagine.

If you mean Frankie, I don't think he swerved riding Crime Scene, only in the strictest sense. I would agree with what Galileo and Gamla Stan said on this.
 
The point is if Dettori was young and hungry he would have taken the trip to ride one that had a live chance in one of the biggest races in the World. Likewise I couldn't see Ruby or Ap shrugging their shoulders at an opportunity to ride a Grand National winner if it meant a lot of travel. Jet lag doesn't cut it for me. The contention that a handicap should not hold so much prestige is perfectly valid but not the point.
 
Sheikh said:
The point is if Dettori was young and hungry he would have taken the trip to ride one that had a live chance in one of the biggest races in the World. Likewise I couldn't see Ruby or Ap shrugging their shoulders at an opportunity to ride a Grand National winner if it meant a lot of travel. Jet lag doesn't cut it for me. The contention that a handicap should not hold so much prestige is perfectly valid but not the point.
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I'd say Delegator and Mastery are much more important rides on Saturday and travelling across nearly every time zone in 4-5 days would certainly take it's toll on him when he has a near on full book of rides over 2 days at Santa Anita.

McEvoy is a more than competent jockey anyway, he was top 5 in the UK for my money.
 
Sheikh said:
The point is if Dettori was young and hungry he would have taken the trip to ride one that had a live chance in one of the biggest races in the World. Likewise I couldn't see Ruby or Ap shrugging their shoulders at an opportunity to ride a Grand National winner if it meant a lot of travel. Jet lag doesn't cut it for me. The contention that a handicap should not hold so much prestige is perfectly valid but not the point.
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But would you have said Crime Scene was a live chance beforehand?

Jet Lag would have an effect, and considering it's the Breeders Cup on Friday, the smallest things make a difference.

Of course Ruby and AP wouldn't pass it up, but it's almost impossible to compare flat and NH.

I think the fact it's a handicap and the fact Crime Scene was an outsider were the 2 reasons.

My original point was on the different attitude to handicaps in European and Australian racing (Amercia somewhere in between, though closer to Australian racing).
 
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