2015 Melbourne Cup: Winners and losers

Prince of Penzance is considered Australian as it is trained here. If it was trained in NZ then it would be considered a NZ horse

"Yet again, the international horses got close. Yet again, they couldn’t win." Only a mug F4 punter, but have to pick you up on this lose statement. There was only one Australian horse in the race!! Prince of Penzance is a New Zealander and by definition is an "international horse." 2nd [Max Dynamite] went to a French horse. 3rd [Criterion] is a New Zealand Horse. [IMO the best horse in the field] 4th [Trip to Paris] Irish horse 5th Big Orange Uk horse. Etc. Your statement does not make sense. 2014 results? "yet again?" 1st Protectionist Irish/German? 2nd Red Cadeaux UK 3rd Who Shot Thebarman NZ 4th Signoff [Irish /USA] 2013 First six are imports [not all shippers] And was it 2011 or 2012 when the first 8 places were taken by imports? Hopefully this past domination will be endings soon as Australian are importing French and Irish and UK bloodlines, and their offspring will be "Australian". Just felt the point need to be made that it seems to me that Australian Breeders have long neglected Stamina and staying qualities over speed. And that makes sense. Horse racing happens in Australia 365 days a year, with hundreds of races a day, but their only a few 3200 metre races. And even the Melbourne cup is only one of hundreds of races held on the same day. So breeding stayers does not seem to make sense for Australian breeders financially, except for the dream of, or prestige of winning the Melbourne Cup! IMO punters need to if its not NZ or International, or have irish/UK/USA/ French bloodlines, don't back it in the Melbourne Cup. That still left 23 to choose from! Just my opinion.

Preferment was a big loser. Ran a sub 11 sectional leading up to the home turn, was flying!!! Was about to give old maxie d windburn as he sailed past until frankie decided to skittle the field. I disagree with a lot of comments re track bias. It was a bog further out but there was some good going in a 6m channel which preferment was sailing down. hard to say he would have gone last to first to win the cup butbwe will never know!! But preferment and gust of wind definitely hard done by

Big winners: every bookmaker in Australia. Last night they would have flown home in private jets, eating live lobster from the tank, whilst sipping on bottles of Grange and Krug. But big congratulations to the winner, Prince Of Penzance, expertly handled by Michelle Payne. Hats off.

because it was no good. its form compared to the last 25 cup winners said don't touch it with a stick.

i am the same Will , still can not elieve that thing won. the form line was terrible, worse than any other winner in my time. i was nearly done after the efficient form turn around in 2007 but this will do me

Any questions about the state of a two paced track.

In retrospect though POP may have won if he had not got in front so early. In the Melbourne Cup he wasn't left without cover for so long and the track made it harder for others to run him down as at Moonee Valley.

Well said TC123. It's been a great Cup, & yet, Sue decides to focus on something like that! Makes me shudder.

Gust of Wind was one of the 2 horses I backed and it wasn't a good thing beaten. May have cost it third The ironic thing is Dettori's effort may of cost him the race

You might find they had a few things on their minds Sue and didn't mean to show any disrespect.

Yeah hard to disagree Rhino that Gust of Wind was a good thing beaten but like you say, that's racing. It's all you can say. $20,000 is like loose change to Detorri and connections have their hopes shot in less than a few seconds.

Agree. I backed United States but refused to consider this horse when their wasn't much between them in the gold cup #clueless

That's why owners shouldn't race 10yo horses in Melbourne cups but that's another story I guess. Congrats to the connections of the winner though and a great ride by a very underrated jockey who has dealt with plenty of knocks in life. The winner is by a renowned sire of stayers including the talented stayer Xcellent so was massively over the odds. Some of those jockeys should give their riding fees to charity in my opinion.

I thought that some jockeys were facing the main crowd, and others were facing the crowd inside the track?

The real losers over the carnival have been the jockeys that adhere rigidly to instructions, rather than use their own judgement and initiative. Congrats to Michelle Payne, a jockey who can never be accused of that.

Payne might have had a great race, but I am ashamed at the way some jockey's including her turned their backs on our National Anthem while it was being sung. Shame on you all.

You must have a different form guide to me Bob. Prince of Penzance had had seven starts over further than 2050 metres prior to today, not 2, and nine horses had won at 3200 metres or further. Why punters complain when they get it wrong is a better question though, although there were a few genuine hard luck stories amongst the beaten brigade (including Rhino's pick Gust Of Wind).

First question is spot on.

Form guides are ridiculous at the best of times, that are outrageously useless in a 24 horse handicap.