Horse Owners Melbourne Cup
Australians are expected to sink over $300 million into the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday, but what does the horse you have bet on say about you?
Twilight Payment has led for most of the race to win the 2020 Melbourne Cup ahead of Tiger Moth and Prince of Arran. It was a seventh Cup victory for owner Lloyd Williams and second for trainer. Oct 30, 2020 T he Melbourne Cup has become one of the most sought-after international horse races in the world and one now dominated by horses bred in the northern hemisphere. Cashed-up owners spend millions of dollars trying to buy a horse from north of the Equator that just might be good enough to win it.
ESPN horse racing expert* Mike Wise has run the numbers, read the tea leaves and had a chat to a mate that swears blind that he partied with Tom Waterhouse on Hamilton Island once.
Forget the form guide. Below is the true insight into the 2019 Melbourne Cup field.
*Not a real expert.
1. CROSS COUNTER
Number one. You got one horse into the form guide and decided that dedicating too much thought to this was a waste of time. Cross Counter will be popular with people who like fries, margarita pizzas, Coca-Cola and other first-on-the-menu items.
2. MER DE GLACE
Congratulations, you've picked the bookies' favourite. You're probably also a Patriots fan.
3. MASTER OF REALITY
Don't be fooled by the name -- this is the fantasists pick. Why? This is Melbourne Cup number 17 for jockey Frankie Dettori, who is yet to ride a winner.
4. MIRAGE DANCER
Mirage Dancer's third-place finish in the Caulfield Cup had a distinct 'bronze is better than silver' vibe to it. Mediocrity, maybe a place, is this horse's destiny.
5. SOUTHERN FRANCE
Voted by its peers as 'the horse most likely to be scratched,' Southern France is perhaps the most nondescript, anonymous horse out there. Most likely a winner then.
6. HUNTING HORN
Ah yes the mating call of Flemington. Woo girls and frat boys (YIEW!) will be sounding their hunting horns to cheer on this Aidan O'Brien-trained bolter. Stay clear unless you plan on walking home from your Melbourne Cup festivities barefoot, carrying your shoes.
7. LATROBE
The only people backing Latrobe are alums, people from MALbourne, or those keen on taking down horse number 19. More on that later.
8. MUSTAJEER
Mustajeer not wearing mustard feels like a real missed opportunity. Instead, Damien Oliver will be donning the 'lucky' horseshoe. This will bring zero luck to Mustajeer or its fans -- 15th place at best.
9. ROSTROPOVICH
The results are in ... daytime TV fans are investing heavily in Rostropovich, of the Maury Povich stable. DNA tests will be needed later to prove that Rostropovich's dad really is Frankel.
10. TWILIGHT PAYMENT
Named after the reparations owed to society for the Twilight saga movies, Twilight Payment an excellent choice for a winner -- kudos to those who have picked it. A triumph here and the debt owed to us all for Breaking Dawn Pt. 2 will be forgiven.
12. FINCHE
Exactly like his namesake, Australia's ODI cricket captain Aaron Finch, Finche is a boom or bust type horse. Those that have backed this horse can expect a duck or to be kissing the badge at the end of the race. Flip a coin.
12. PRINCE OF ARRAN
Eagle-eyed punters will have noticed that this horse ran in last year's Melbourne Cup under the name 'A Prince of Arran.' Losing a whole A should be a weight off this horse's shoulders but, then again, do horses have shoulders?
13. RAYMOND TUSK
Isn't Raymond Tusk some sort of eccentric billionaire that dabbles in philanthropy and round-the-world air balloon races? He's mad as a hatter, but that won't help him in a running race against actual horses. Our pick: dead last but enjoying every minute of it.
14. DOWNDRAFT
Kitted out in Parra colours, Downdraft clearly peaked in the early 80s -- just like anyone who fancies this horse as a winner.
15. MAGIC WAND
Those in the know say that Magic Wand will start the Melbourne Cup well before fading -- which is, of course, complete nonsense. If there's one certainty that this column can offer, it's that Magic Wand will stay completely opaque throughout the whole race.
16. NEUFBOSC
Always a fan of the underdog, thrill-seekers will have sought out the horse with the longest odds: Neufbosc. Unfortunately, this cheese-eating surrender monkey has no chance of staging an upset.
17. SOUND
Sound's name just lends itself to too many corny headlines. Stay clear unless you really, really like dad jokes.
18. SURPRISE BABY
Described as a 'lightly raced stayer' by most outlets, which is basically real-estate speak for a real fixer-upper. Either way, Surprise Baby is a work in progress -- a 'glad to be part of the day' type.
19. CONSTANTINOPLE
History buffs will be all over Constantinople. SMARTER history buffs will know to stay clear because the fall of Constantinople was because of the enlightenment, aka universities, aka horse No. 7. Simples.
20. IL PARADISO
This horse is likely named after a cocktail that has too much Malibu in it. Most people should stay well clear of backing Il Paradiso, unless super sweet, fake coconuts are your thing.
21. STEEL PRINCE
Savvy punters will know that despite all the 'information' in the 'form guide' this horse actually hails from Newcastle and the jockey is Joey Johns. Guaranteed to be a winner.
22. THE CHOSEN ONE
So you've picked The Chosen One as your chosen one? Could you be any more basic?
23. VOW AND DECLARE
Michael Jordan, David Beckham, LeBron James and ... Vow and Declare? Punters who backed horse 23 will be dancing like Shane Warne with a stump in his hand if this gelding gets up.
24. YOUNGSTAR
Horse Owners Melbourne Cup 2020
WHY ARE THERE SO MANY HORSES IN THIS RACE?!? Youngstar ran sixth last year and clearly has been wheeled out again to make up the numbers. A 'roughie' is the nice way to describe it.
As Melbourne Cup favourite Surprise Baby prepares to resume in Saturday’s Feehan Stakes, owner John Fiteni has laid bare why he made the call to sack Jordan Childs in favour of Craig Williams for big Melbourne spring assignments.
“When you have got a football team, you have got the senior players in the team and you have got the junior players,” Fiteni told Racenet.
“I just wanted a senior player.
“It’s nothing against Jordie at all.”
Childs was all class last month when he learned the ownership group of Brisbane couple Fiteni and Kathy Stewart had replaced him with Williams on the highly-rated Paul Preusker-trained stayer.
“I‘m not the first jockey to be taken off a horse and I won’t be the last jockey to get taken off a horse,” Childs said at the time.
“But it probably hurts that little bit more when you know how good the horse he is going and it‘s Australia’s biggest race (the Melbourne Cup).”
Melbourne Racing
As for Fiteni, his horse could be the rags to riches tale of the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
Surprise Baby is now a big name in Australian horse racing but he was a bargain basement buy when Fiteni saw the horse online and he plucked it from a New Zealand breeder for a meagre $5500 in 2017.
His spring assault is now hitting full throttle, with Williams ramping things up and giving Surprise Baby a track gallop in near zero temperatures at Horsham earlier this week.
Surprise Baby, which hasn’t started since finishing an eye-catching fifth in the 2019 Melbourne Cup, is the $9 Melbourne Cup favourite and the $2.80 favourite to make a winning return in Saturday’s Group 2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at The Valley.
He task was made easier with the Feehan withdrawal of classy WA galloper Regal Power, who is heading home to Perth and is out of the spring with a lung infection.
The Feehan gives the winner a golden ticket into the Cox Plate and connections are keen to target it en route to a Melbourne Cup tilt.
Surprise Baby’s new jockey Craig Williams after riding Vow And Declare to win the 2019 Melbourne Cup.
So will Surprise Baby make a winning return with Williams (above), who won the 2019 Melbourne Cup on Vow And Declare, getting the job done in the saddle?
“We expect him to win first up,” Fiteni insisted.
“After that he will go straight to the Cox Plate and straight to the Melbourne Cup and there is a reason for all that — the handicappers can’t touch us.
“It’s been a plan right from the time he finished the last Melbourne Cup and we haven’t wavered off it.”
A Tab spokesman said Surprise Baby had been rock steady in the last several days in betting on the Feehan, his price rarely wavering from about the $3.10 mark and then he came in further with the scratching of Regal Power.
Melbourne Cup Horses
Some Cox Plate bets of interest on Surprise Baby are $400 at $26 (pre nominations) and $250 each way at $51 (pre nominations).
He is now on the $15 line of betting for the Cox Plate.
Horse Owners Melbourne Cup 2019
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