A remarkable action photograph of Phar Lap, the Australian wonder horse, December 22, 1931. AP Photo
There was another Melbourne Cup run yesterday. It was called “The Greatest Melbourne Cup Never Run”, and contained what was considered to be the greatest 24 all-time winners of the past 149 Cups.
The winner was Phar Lap, generally regarded as our greatest ever race horse, so no surprises there. However, when you look at the conditions of the race, then you have to question whether ‘the fix’ was in.
I reckon an extraordinary inquiry should be held into the running of this race!
But first, let’s backtrack a bit.
The concept of the race was created by the Victoria Racing Club (VRC), who is the host club of the great race. They then asked the Handicapper Greg Carpenter to select the 24 runners, and allocate weights as if for a normal Cup.
Carpenter spent hours, days and weeks pouring over the records of the 24 horses selected before deciding the weight each horse should carry. Phar Lap (winner 1930) was allotted top weight of 60kgs, followed by Carbine (1890) with 59 kgs, and Makybe Diva (2003-04-05) and Peter Pan (1932 & 34), each with 58kgs.
Doriemus (1995) and Think Big (1974/75) were allotted the lowest weight with each carrying 52kgs.
This is where I reckon it started to go awry.
This was no ordinary Melbourne Cup field, but “the best of the best.” It was immediately obvious to me that the heavier weighted horses were conceding an advantage to the lighter weighted horses, which ought to be crucial, or should have been crucial.
Anyway, next the VRC had a proper barrier draw for the horses, then handed over to their creative people department to create a live race through digital animation.
At every 200m the brain-stormers had to have the whole field in order at each point, who was in front, or at the rear. Who was on the rails or wide out. They also then had to fill in the gaps in between every 200m.
When watching the race, it’s almost as if you’re watching the real thing, except for the stiff jerkiness of the galloping of the horses. Bruce McAveney, the renowned sports commentator and caller, was then asked put his voice to the race and call it from barrier to post.
To determine the winner, 20 to 24 (no-one seems to know the exact number) eminent racing identities were asked to rank the horses in finishing order from 1 to 24. Handicapper Greg Carpenter was on of these people, and he doesn’t even know who any of the other identities were, or their order of merit.
Each racing identity made his selections in isolation which were then handed to the VRC. The horse with the lowest aggregate total – Phar Lap – because he obviously had most 1st finishers, was the declared winner, and so on.
But guess what? The first four heaviest weighted horses finished in precisely that order – 1. Phar Lap, 2. Carbine, 3. Makybe Diva, 4. Peter Pan.
Now, far be it for me to criticise 20-24 eminent Australian racing identities for being rampantly lazy, but seriously, I don’t think they tried to figure too hard how the race might pan out under handicap positions. They just went with the saddlecloth numbers!
So I reckon the fix was in, and an extraordinary inquiry should be called. Besides, who else could possibly be chosen to win the celebratory phantom Melbourne Cup other than Phar Lap. If only So You Think was given the same preferential treatment in the “real” Melbourne Cup!
If you’re wondering when this race was actually run, Bruce McAvaney called it approximately 1.30pm, one and a half hours before the actual race started.
You can catch the race on YouTube, it’s all good fun.
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