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The Melbourne Cup is still important

Racing in Flemington (Photo by Graham Denholm/Getty Images for the VRC)
Roar Guru
9th November, 2017
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On Tuesday night, Greg Baum wrote a piece for The Age which stopped just short of calling the Melbourne Cup dead, as both a race and an event.

Only 90,000 came, he lamented. For the first time ever, international horses finished in the top three. And, in his most bizarre criticism, he seemed surprised that the horses in the race were owned by some of Australia’s and the world’s elite.

He called it, ‘The race that bypasses a nation’. The problem is, none of these arguments are either new or even that persuasive. The race still captures the imagination of a large part of this country and is entwined with the fabric of Melbourne.

On Derby Day, SEN interviewed Ballarat-based English trainer Matt Cumani. Half-jokingly he said he was appalled that a handicap such as the Melbourne Cup was considered a quality Group 1 race. It is something unheard of in England.

Why would you try to even up a race to make it fairer?

Not to delve too deeply into the Australian psyche, but there is something deeply egalitarian about the Melbourne Cup. Australian racecourses themselves are not the domain of the aristocracy; neither the genuine nor bunyip varieties.

While the birdcage and the corporate marquees do cater for the rich, famous and beautiful, and a VRC membership is still necessary if you want to make it as ‘somebody’ in Victoria, the public areas of Flemington are the domains of the ordinary.

Of course, the horses themselves are owned by the wealthy – it is still a rich man’s sport. Horses are expensive, both to own and keep. Even Lloyd Williams does not own most of his horses outright.

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This is nothing new, and really nothing to be surprised or amazed at. It is simply a fact of the industry.

And does it matter that half the field were international horses? The average person saw 23 horses go around the track; the vast majority would not care about the lineage of the horse or where its stable is.

Australian bred horses will win again, as will international horses. It is an international event and the greatest handicap in the world. The success of the internationals should be seen as a challenge for Australian trainers and breeders, and it does now seem to have reached a point where attempts are being made to ensure that Australia does start to breed quality stayers over the next ten years or so.

If a 24-year-old international trainer can train a three-year-old to win, then local trainers should accept the challenge, and step up their game to meet it.

A crowd of 90,000 to any other racecourse in the world would be magnificent. At Flemington on cup day, it is disappointing. However, the weather did not help. This is officially the coldest start to November in 23 years, and it has really not felt like spring has started yet.

Corey Brown rides Rekindling to victory at the2017 Melbourne Cup.

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

So from a weather standpoint, the atmosphere was always going to be different than in previous years. Sure it’s rained in previous years, and people have still gone to the carnival, but the gloom that has been over Melbourne this November is something that hasn’t been seen for a while.

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With the weather improving this week though, it would not surprise if there is a record crowd on Stakes day.

The Melbourne Cup remains a great sporting event, one of the biggest on the Australian sporting calendar. This year’s race was not a fairytale, but not every year can be.

A down year every so often is good – it makes the rare amazing events more special. Lloyd Williams will probably win again in the future, as will other millionaires, but so will a battler.

The story of future Melbourne Cups is yet to be written, but the sure bet is that it will remain one of the most important events on the Melbourne calendar, both for sports fans and socialites.

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