Today is the most important day in Australian sport

yes ! - which led to Australia changing it's 'official' sports colours from blue&gold to green&gold..

Couldn`t agree more! Any event that sells the entire country out of Champagne and green and gold ribbon has to rate as "The One". Coincidently, it broke the longest stranglehold in world sport at the same time.

Great stuff sheek, valuable insights. Agree with a lot of your opinion too, in fact I was thinking of writing something up myself regarding the loss of wonderful horses to stud at a young age rather than seeing clashes between champions. The most recent I can think of is Wanted, who after getting a number of good placings in Group races finally won the G1 Newmarket and then went to stud! Everyone loves a real 'warhorse' and for the moment, at least the geldings are raced until they fall apart. So You Think must now be worth a fortune as a stallion, however you get the feeling Bart would rather win races than see his champion shuttling around to mares. The 2yo MM & Golden Slipper events are definitely overblown - I'm not sure why they are so highly valued, probably the lottery type situation it creates for winning a fortune with a 2yo rather than needing to forge a Melbourne Cup winner through hardwork and tenacity.

Agree. Added to the fact that the Americas Cup is still the oldest contested trophy in international sport.

Tristan, I've never really pondered the question, but I think it is a bit of both. Seabiscuit for example raced a helluva lot, & was unplaced often, but is perhaps an exception. There are a lot of ordinary horses in racing, especially, or even, in America. There's a sameness to their racing also, which I detest. Mostly 1200s (6 furlongs) through 2000s (mile & quarter), very little over that. A lot of horses win the triple crown (in comparison to our Melbourne spring big 3). Or even 2 out of 3. The only horse I can recall off the top of my head to win the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate & Melbourne Cup in the same year was Rising Fast in 1954. Okay, that's a bit different from the American 3yo classics, but still, the point is, there isn't the depth there that you would expect. Most of the good horses, especially if they're entires, are quickly sent of to stud certainly by the end of their 4yo career. So that helps protect their scoresheets! This is another thing I detest, & I think racing suffers from greatly. The early retirement to stud of champion horses. Racing is denied the opportunity of seeing many great horses compete against each other at ages 5, 6 or even 7. It's to racing's loss, I reckon. Sooner or later, they're going to have to balance breeding paychecks with the overall health of the racing industry by keeping champions racing longer. My great fear is that we're copying the American racing too closely, in almost all respects. I find it absurd some people are trying to push the Golden Slipper as our most valuable race. It's pure Americanism. And yes, the Americans are selective in the races they choose for their champions. That's part of the breeding portfolio all over again, preserving as good a racing record as possible.....

Loved it, thanks sheek. One question in regards to win ratios: how do the American horses manage to have a 100% win record? Here in Aus, we place far less emphasis on the fact and generally the trainers aren't afraid to break a winning streak. Because it's more highly valued in the USA, do trainers search for races where their horses won't be beaten, or are they just extraordinary?

Not really in the Cup - Alcopop would be the closest to the public's heart should it win, a great story behind it, it just needs to win more to become the "people's" Hot Danish is probably the people's horse, and Hay List will become one.

Yeah who knows? I think we will get it but I'd say I am probably with the majority in saying that it would be great if we got it but my life won't change either way.

BigAl, If a sporting achievement is measured by its elusiveness, then the America's Cup is right up there. The American schooner America won a sailing race off Cowes, England in 1854, & the owners of the ship were presented with a cup by Queen Victoria which they of course, named the America's Cup. The America's Cup was held by the Americans from 1854 to 1983, a span of 129 years. While challengers were at irregular intervals, it became the symbol of the most elusive but most desired prize. Great names of industry like Sopwith (aircraft) , Lipton (tea) & Bic (pens) all failed to secure the prize. Until of course, a bunch of crazy but talented & determined Aussies came along in 1983......

Oikee, Of course there's not much in it. Purely from a statistical point of view, the stats are as follows: Carbine (b.1885) - 43 starts, 33 wins, 6 seconds, 3 thirds, one unplaced (4th). Win % ratio - 76.74. Phar Lap (b.1926) - 51 starts, 37 wins, 3 seconds, 2 thirds, 9 unplaced. Win % ratio - 72.55. Carbine was good from the start, while Phar Lap took a while to hit his straps. Carbine was bred in "the purple" as they say, & passed on his excellent genes. Phar Lap overcame ordinary breeding. Phar Lap is apparently a Thai (Sinhalese) word meaning "lightning". Finally compare these two with Tommy Smith's two champions, Tulloch & Kingston Town. Tulloch (b.1954) - 53 starts, 36 wins, 12 seconds, 4 thirds, one unplaced (7th 1960 Melbourne Cup). Win % ratio - 67.92. Kingston Town (b.1976) - 41 starts, 30 seconds, 5 seconds, 2 thirds, 4 unplaced. Win % ratio - 73.17. Tulloch was a much better horse than his win % ratio suggests. He didn't race his entire 4 year old & most of his 5 year old (often a horse's best years) career due to a serious illness that nearly killed him. He was over-raced as a 6 year old basically to make for the lost years, but while still a champion, he had lost a bit of his edge. His poor run in the 1960 Centenary Melbourne Cup (100th MC carrying a massive 64 kgs) with a huge field of 32 runners, was attributed to an usually poor ride by his jockey Neville Sellwood, who had him back too far on the final turn into the straight. Tulloch finished 7th about 3 lengths from the winner. He made up an enormous amount of ground, more than any other horse over the final 400 metres or so, but Sellwood had left his run too late in a big field. Sorry about the history, but I guess someone will enjoy it..........

Luke, Apparently so. I have a neighbour mate called Larry, & we use it against him all the time. He's so straight & genuine, & always preaching, but with a heart of gold. So it's so easy to take the piss out of him. At least he can laugh at himself. So basically because of him, I read up on it, & it is often attributed to Larry Foley. When everything is just so fine with my life, I say I feel like "Larry Riley", as in "happy as Larry" & "life of Riley".....

For sheer delerious excitement and wide spread expressions of joy (including the PM) you couldn't beat the Americas Cup win. At the time I was as over the moon as any/every one - but looking back now it all seems a bit cringeworthy ! I certainly wouldn't get excited about another challenge.

I thought so at the time but now I think the momentum that it provided has well and truly been lost. It was exciting because qualification had been so hard which I think the average Australian no longer thinks is the case. I can't see Australia not qualifying for some time. We will certainly qualify in 2022. By far the most important moment in Australian sport is the formation of the AIS.

I agree Sheek, anyone who has not read Carbine"s acheivements, surgest you do so, simply amazing, no unbeleivable, no, not humanly possible, That makes sense. I showed my wife and even she who thought Red Rums 3 Grand nationals were outstanding, which they are, i have the tape right here, but Carbine, mate, he was beyond beleif as a horse. P.S Red Rum was also runner up in 2 other Grand Nationals. When the fence's were really high. He beat a aussie horse called Chrisp i think if i remember rightly. But no, Carbine, i think i have a book on his feats.

Hard to disagree there BF.

It was before my time, but one of the main reasons I follow the mighty Dragons.

You have my 100% backing there, easily my most important sporting moment in this country.

"”The St George Dragons run of rugby league premierships?” Your kidding right." You don't think it was impressive? You're a tough marker, 11 straight premierships and they had to change the rules to stop them. BTW There is no doubt the Melbourne Cup is the premier horse racing event of the year, apart from that the Sydney racing scene holds it's own just fine.