Melbourne Cup

[23 YIPPEE!!!]

Who do we like for the cup and anyone going to a venue to watch the cup

[ronrat]

Sir Dragonet and watching on TV in Thailand with a cold Chang.

[Lazza]

Either Tiger Moth or Surprise Baby- cannot separate them.

[PyreneesPie]

Well, that's the last Melbourne Cup I 'll watch after fifty plus years of listening/watching/ attending.
Yet another horse breaks down and is euthanized, but Racing Victoria just don't seem to get the message, or perhaps they don't want to. This despite it happening nearly every year in recent history and it being plainly obvious that there's something amiss in the way the race is conducted. The Caulfield Cup doesn't suffer equine casualties like this, even though it 's run on a far tighter track.
The race has too many runners and the distance is too far on what is usually a hard track. A few tweaks to tradition could result in a much safer race for the horses (and jockeys).
However, like all major sport these days, it's about the mighty dollar. Sigh.

[ronrat]

The horse just faltered. He had been over distances before and was a Derby winner. One of those things that could easily have happened on the training track. Nothing to do with with the distance of the cup. In Europe they race over longer distances. I have seen horses break legs over 600 metre barrier trials.

It is an unfortunate part of a sport that breeds horses to be fine athletes at the expense of stoutness.