7/11/2000 edition

Melbourne Cup Edition

Statistics:
The Melbourne Cup was first run in 1861. Archer easily won that race over two miles in a time of 3:52.00s. In 1968 Rain Lover set  the two miles race record time of only 3:19.10s.

In 1972 the race was converted to the metric distance of 3200 metres which is  18.69 metres or 61.30 feet short of  two miles. There is no doubt that some of the metric winners would not have won had the race remained two miles or been changed as many people wanted at the time to 3218.7 metres!
The metric record of  3:16.30s was set by Kingston Rule in 1990.

In 1985 the race reached $1 million dollars in prize money for the first time. What A Nuisance won the $650,000 first prize.

Jim Cummings trained one Cup winner, Comic Court in 1950. In 1965 his son Bart trained  his first Melbourne Cup winner, the mare Light Fingers. Bart Cummings holds the trainers' record having trained an incredible 11 winners. He won the race last year with Rogan Josh. However this year Bart Cummings missed out on getting a runner in the Cup this year.

No woman trainer has officially won the Melbourne Cup. However Catalogue which won the 1938 Cup was trained by Mrs. A. McDonald. Women then could not be registered as trainers. It was her husband who was the registered trainer.  
 
The two most successful Melbourne Cup jockeys are Bobbie Lewis and Harry White with four wins each.
Bobby Lewis won on The Victory 1902, Patrobas 1915, Artilleryman 1919 and Trivalve 1927. He finished second four times and third on Phar Lap in 1929. Had the race been run then under Quality Handicap conditions, like it is now,  which means a compressed weight scale there is no doubt Phar Lap would have won very easily.

Harry White won on the Bart Cummings trained Think Big in 1974 and 1975. Think Big did not win a race in between these two Melbourne Cup wins. Harry White also won on Arwon in 1978 and another  Bart Cummings trained horse Hyperno in 1979. So Harry White also holds a unique record of two Melbourne Cup doubles! 

Horses to win the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double are Poseidon 1906, The Trump 1937, Rivette 1939, Rising Fast 1954, Even Stevens 1962, Galilee 1966, Gurner's Lane 1982, Let's Elope 1991, Doriemus 1995 and Might And Power 1997.

Horses to have won two Melbourne Cups are Archer 1861-1862, Peter Pan 1932 and 1934, Rain Lover 1968-1969 and Think Big 1974-1975.
The longest priced winners are The Pearl 100/1 (1871), Wotan 100/1 (1936), Old Rowley 100/1 (1940) and Rimfire 80/1 (1948). 
   
33 favourites have won the Melbourne Cup. The shortest priced winners were Archer 2/1 (1862), Revenue 7/4 (1908) and Phar Lap 11/8 on (1930). 65 Cup favourites have finished in the first three placings.

The heaviest weight carried to victory was by Carbine in 1890 with 10 stone 5lbs(65.5kg).

Five year olds have won the race 41 times. Four year olds (40), six year olds (24),  three year olds (23), seven year olds (9) and eight year olds (2).The last three year old to win the race was Skipton in 1941.

Over the last 10 years eight Melbourne Cup winners finished either first or second at their previous start!

Historically the best guides to the Melbourne Cup have been the Caulfield Cup and the Mackinnon Stakes.

Jockeys riding in the Cup who have won the Melbourne Cup in the last 10 years: 
1996  Darren Beadman-Saintly
1990  Darren Beadman-Kingston Rule 
1999  John Marshall-Rogan Josh
1998  Chris Munce-Jezabeel
1997  Jim Cassidy-Might And Power
1995  Damien Oliver-Doriemus
1992  Greg Hall-Subzero

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Who will win the Cup?
Every runner's chances assessed.

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