MELBOURNE CUP

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 89, Issue 262, 6 November 1945, Page 6

MELBOURNE CUP

BIG FLEMINGTON RACE RECORD CROWD EXPECTED Recd. 9.30 p.m. Melbourne, Nov. 5 As in pre-war days, Australia has gone Melbourne Cup mad. Bookmakers assess that the 30 acceptors have already been backed to win an aggregate of about £2,000,000. The police anticipate that a crowd of 130,000 will attend Flemington tomorrow. There had been an unprecedented call on Melbourne’s accommodation, many visitors taking quarters 20 miles from the city. The crowds using the rail and tram services will be ihe heaviest for years. The Railway Department plans to move 70.000 racegoers, and trams will leave for Flemington at the rate of one a minute for four and a-half hoifrs.

Many annual conferences and meetings are conveniently being held in Melbourne this week. The battleship H.M.S. King George V is in port, and the U.S.S. Birmingham, due to depart, suddenly developed , “defective” engines.

A film of the running of the Cup will be screened to troops in northern areas within 48 hours of the race. A special plane carrying the film will leave Melbourne immediately after the race.

Typhoon, who did not appear in the best of condition on Saturday night after his third in the Cantala Stakes, was much better yesterday and his owner, Mr. Preston, now says he will run in the Melbourne Cup.

Lawrence who has ruled as a hoi favourite for the Cup almost since the issue of the weights in July, has broken down and will not start in the Cup. His o*-fore fetlock gave way after his MacKinnon Stakes race on Saturday. Lawrence’s breakdown is so bad that he may not race again. The forecast for Cup day is mild and chiefly fine. The track is likely to be hard and fast. The field for this year’s Melbourne Cup is not a top class one and there are many horses with chances. This is the opinion of turf writers, who embrace in their selections St. Fairy, Silver Link, Russia, Flight, Leonard, Great Victory and Rainbird. The New Zealanders Typhoon and Immediate are at outsiders’ prices.

Melbourne’s leading jockey, A. Breasley, who was to have ridden Lawrence, will now pilot St. Fairy, and this has resulted in the Caulfield Cup winner being installed as the pre-post favourite for the Melbourne Cup. Sydney’s representatives, Silver Link, Russia and Flight—all proved stayers—arc given outstanding chances. Silver Link, a four-year-old with 7.5, has a big weight advantage. He is considered to have been unlucky in both the Metropolitan and the Caulfield Cup, in which races he was crowded and narrowly missed a place. Russia was second in the Sydney Cup and he and Flight have had weight-for-age successes. Rainbird (second in the Caulfield Cup), Leonard (second in the Moonee Valley Cup) and Great Victory (second in the Hotham Handicap) are also conceded good chances. Most of. the well-backed horses have drawn badly at the barrier. Excep-

lions are Typhoon, who has drawn the rails and St. Fairy in No. 2 position. There are six three-year-olds in the field. Of this year’s field Peter ano Counsel have filled second place in previous Melbourne Cups. St. Fairy will attempt to equal the record of Poseidon, The Trump, and Rivetle, who are the only horses with the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups to their credit in the one year. The Cup held, with post positions, is as follows: —

The Melbourne Cup, first run in 1861, is the most important, race in the Southern Hemisphere and probably the leading handicap flat event in the world, though there are some in the United States carrying a bigger stake. Until a few years ago the race was a sweepstake, the sweepstake being added to the winner's share, but now the stake is £lO,OOO. Thus Bitalli’s Cup, in 1923, was the richest race ever run in Australia, being worth in all £13,288, of which the winner’s share was £10,288. Bitalli was backed to win a fortune, yet he was got ready for the Cup without having a race that spring, and brought off one of the greatest coups in the history of the Cup. Carbine's Cup, in 1890, was worth £13,230 of which the winner’s share was £10,230. Windbag’s Cup in 1926 was worth £13,216, of which the winner got £10.215, and Phar Laps Cup in 1930 was worth £12,429, the wmnei’s share being £9429. The heaviest weight ever carried io success in the Cup was the 10.5 allotted to Carbine in 1890, and the field lhai year was the largest ever. Archer won with 10.1 and Poitrel with 10.0. Carbine finished second in 1889 with 10.0. Phar Lap carried 10.10 in 1931 but finished eighth. New Zealand’s pest year was in 1929. when Nightmarch, Paquito, and Phar Lap, all New Zealand-bred, finished in that order. New Zealand horses have a good record in the Cup, Sasanof winning m 1916, since when Phar Lap, Wotan (1936) and Catalogue <1938) have won for the Dominion.

Melbourne Cup £10,000; 2 miles. Lawrence (20) 9 6 Counsel (8» ....... 9 2 St. Fairy (2) 9 2 Flight (29) 9 1 Russia (28) 8 12 Immediate (15) . 8 7 Peter (181 ....... 8 7 Silver Link (30) - - 8 5 Typhoon (1) 8 4 Oatcake (17) 8 2 War Eagle (3) .. 8 2 Great Victory (22) 7 13 Valcurl (10) . 7 12 Duntroon (6) - 7 11 King Opera (11) ... - 7 n Spearmain (27) .. . 7 11 Punctillia (19) . 7 7 Rainbird (4) ... 7 7 Blue Legend (25) 7 4 Euxine (5) 7 3 Space (7) 7 2 Parenva (12) 7 2 Queen Midas (9) .. 7 2 Grampian (14) 7 1 Logical (23) - - 7 0 Register <24» - — 7 0 Leonard (16) 6 13 Viva (13) 6 13 Cable News '26) 6 11 Liberty Law (21) 6 11