Melbourne Cup Blog - Entry 2

DICK POWELL'S

MELBOURNE CUP BLOG

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.