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DICK POWELL'S Saturday at Flemington It's been an interesting day. Left LAX around 9:30 p.m. (PDT) on Thursday and made it to Sydney on Saturday morning at 6 a.m. local time. From there, made my connecting flight to Melbourne which arrived at 10 a.m. Don't know what happened to Friday. The main reason that I was able to go back to the Melbourne Cup this year was I found a business class flight on V Australia for $4,800. It's a lot of money, but way cheaper than Qantas and Air New Zealand. Part of the Virgin Group, V Australia flies from LAX to Sydney each day with brand new Boeing 777-300ERs. With new planes to work with, they were modern as any I have flown with gigantic leg room (6'6"), a bar that that you can sit at during the flight and incredible customer service. The business cabin was full for the flight, and it looks Richard Branson is going to be a force in the Trans-Pacific market. Once I arrived at the Westin Melbourne on Collins Street, it was time for a much-needed shower and change into a suit and tie. Made it out to Flemington by 12:30 p.m. on the train and walked right into the back of the track. They haven't announced today's attendance but it seemed more crowded that last year which I think drew 117,000. Sunny skies, temperature in the 80s and a breeze to make it comfortable, it was a perfect day for the Victoria Derby and three other Group 1 stakes. With all the travel and not having the past performances that can be found on brisnet.com under the international pps' section, I wasn't going to bet much money today. Bought my racing program right in the hotel and made a few small bets to get started. In the Derby, I like MONACO CONSUL at odds of 3.9 with the bookie. He just looked like the type horse that would appreciate the added distance of ground (2,500 meters or about 1 9/16 miles) and his sire is red-hot down here with Cox Plate winner SO YOU THINK. His last race was a good win at Randwick in the Champion Stakes at 2,000 meters and he figured to be able to handle the added distance. Breaking from the rail, Corey Brown had him in perfect position for the first mile and then began to look for room to switch outside nearing the top of the lane. At one point, he was in fourth on the outside with clear sailing but he looked like he was going to hang. When Extra Zero brushed him, it seemed to invigorate Monaco Consul, who kicked on to an impressive win. For all those who wish we had fixed-odds wagering, I bet Monaco Consul at $3.9 and at post time he drifted up to $4.6. For my $100 win bet, I received $390. Their payoffs include the stake (what you bet) so even though you don't get 3.9 times $2 plus $2, it makes it a lot easier to compute payoffs. In the Mackinnon S. earlier on the card, Cup favorite and defending champ VIEWED rallied nicely for third and got the perfect prep race for Bart Cummings. On Saturday evening, they will conduct the barrier draw for post positions and there are already a few defections from the field. We'll see how it shapes up. One thing I heard on TV today was that the rider of ALCOPOP has never ridden at Flemington; a major negative for me. From tonight until Tuesday afternoon, it will be all Melbourne Cup all the time on TV, radio and newspapers. I'll have plenty of time to handicap the day's races and come up with some betting strategies.
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