Dunn finds his Country Championships contender
He sparingly made the trek from his Murwillumbah base to Sydney when the concept originated, but Matthew Dunn has made the Highway races his playground in recent months.
He sparingly made the trek from his Murwillumbah base to Sydney when the concept originated, but Matthew Dunn has made the Highway races his playground in recent months.
Heavy-handed stewards have fined jockeys almost relentlessly since the introduction of the new whip rule late last year. But there was a huge shift in policy when a huge number of riders broke the law in the Melbourne Cup.
Kerrin McEvoy came within a whisker of not even riding in the Melbourne Cup. And there was one light bulb moment where he knew things had to change.
Kerrin McEvoy's second Melbourne Cup win kept Australia's most coveted racing trophy in the family as Michelle Payne's older sister Cathy had to dash to do the afternoon school pick-up minutes after her husband won Australia's great race for a second time.
A collection of high-powered businessmen rode Lloyd Williams' coat-tails to a Melbourne Cup win. And they knew not to bother the most successful owner in the history of Australia's great race.
Bookmakers were left ruing Lloyd Williams' record fifth Melbourne Cup winner with most reporting Almandin, the one-time broken down stayer, ripped millions out of their bags before swiftly installing him favourite for next year's race.
One of the Melbourne Cup's rank outsiders has been the subject of a mammoth bet at the annual Call of the Card as punters swarmed to back two of the favoured runners on Monday.
The flamboyant Frankie Dettori hailed Wicklow Brave as being "on the same path" as last year's runner-up Max Dynamite as the world's most recognisable jockey hopes not to be the Melbourne Cup hard luck story on Tuesday. Fined $20,000 and suspended for a month for causing carnage in the straight during last year's race when beating all bar Prince Of Penzance home, Dettori jetted into Melbourne on Monday morning determined to break his Melbourne Cup duck. "I think [Wicklow Brave and Max Dynamite] are on the same path," Dettori said. "Last year was one of those things. The Melbourne Cup every year has some sort of unlucky story and last year it was me." But it hasn't dented Dettori's confidence on Wicklow Brave, who has to contend with the awkward outside barrier. "It's a massive race and I've never won it and I'm going to carry on trying until I do win it," Dettori said. "I won't say it hurts, but I'd love to win it."
Nick Hall could win a Melbourne Cup and still most will be none the wiser about racing's rubik's cube. Twist it one way and think you've got it figured out, but another puzzle pops up.
Godolphin has their best chance to win a Melbourne Cup after almost two decades of trying. But in a year of sporting droughts being broken by those wearing blue, how many people will really care?
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