Australian punters have a lot at stake when it comes time for the Melbourne Cup, the country’s biggest annual thoroughbred horse racing event. Held on the first Tuesday of every November, horse owners and trainers make it to the final field of 24 entrants for a million-dollar stake, reportedly a staggering $6 million prize in 2010. The Racetrack de Flemington is ready ablaze for the best thoroughbreds that keep punters on their toes with all eyes glued to the track, over a distance of 3200 metres.
Millions have the day off with the day being a public holiday. Many of these like to place a bet or two on the race billed as ‘The Race That Stops a Nation’.
Time seems to have stood still for three years in a row, from 2003 to 2005, with Makybe Diva, from the Emily Krstina Pty Ltd stable, and owned by South Australian fisherman Tony `anti, galloping past the winning post on all three occasions. . It may be that it was his five employees from whom he took the first two letters of each name, that they were his good luck charm. However, no credit can be taken away from the British bred and Australian trained Thoroughbred, who despite being foaled in the UK, beat tougher competition on all three occasions despite being among horses six months older.
Credit also goes to her jockey Glen Boss, who rode her to victory on all three occasions. Glen Boss seems to have the answer as to whether there will be another Makybe Diva. He says, “A hundred years from now, when I’m dead and gone, there might not be a horse yet that can do that, it’s pretty big.”
So, there you have it from the jockey’s mouth, which is about as good as ‘horse’s mouth’. Trainer Lee Freedman agrees that the country hasn’t seen a better horse in 30 or 40 years.
Makybe Diva’s lineage continues with her first colt, a colt named Rockstardom after English Derby winner Galileo. The Colt sold for $1.5 million when it was a year old. Makybe Diva also has a Kentucky Derby-winning filly by Fusaichi Pegasus. Her third was an Encosta De Lago colt, and she is now in a ‘love match’ with Lonhro, a noted racehorse and stallion with more than $7 million in prize money. Therefore, there is no doubt that the year-old Lonhro-Makybe Diva is sure to be a hot property.
So the game is on, bookies and punters sure have their eyes on the youngsters of Makybe. The burden falls on trainer Danny O’Brien and Rockstardom to continue their excellent run and provide the answer to the ‘billion dollar’ question.
Melbourne cup fever spreads across Australia with various events organized across the country. Canberra celebrates with fashion shows, runway-side marquees, parties and, of course, plenty of gambling.
Hotels and restaurants put up giant screens and are usually full on the day of the cup. Within minutes it was all over with the winning jockey raising his whip in triumph. Makybe Diva, Glen Boss and Lee Freedman got used to it. However, jockeys should not get too carried away before passing the winning stall.
French jockey Gerald Mosse, who brought America home at the 2010 Melbourne Cup, couldn’t contain his excitement and was fined $388 for blowing a kiss into the crowd before crossing the finish line.
Let’s retire to the barn with a toast to coach Bart Cummings, 12-time Melbourne Cup winner, deserving of the nickname ‘King of the Cup’, and also to Phar Lap, Cup winner during the Great Depression, and a symbol of evergreen of The territory of Australia. No one will forget his winning spree on each of the four days of the 1930 Flemington Spring Carnival, which included the Melbourne Cup.