Racing Melbourne Cup 2023 ( no after the fact posts)

Melbourne Cup winner??

  • 2.ALENQUER(9) - Damien Oliver

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 8.RIGHT YOU ARE(15) - John Allen

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 13.OKITA SOUSHI(20) - Dylan Gibbons (a)

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 14.SHERAZ(22) - Beau Mertens

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 16.MAGICAL LAGOON(7) - Mark Du Plessis

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 19.VIRTUOUS CIRCLE(6) - Craig Newitt

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 22.INTERPRETATION(17) - Teo Nugent

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • 23.KALAPOUR(14) - Zac Lloyd (a)

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Total voters
    99
  • Poll closed .

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Post Caulfield Cup rankings

1A. GOLD TRIP - Really good run in the Caulfield Cup beating everything bar the winner heading this way comfortably. Expect Flemington to suit him a lot better and presume he meets WAF slightly better at the weights now heading there. Has the class and is already proven running out a strong 2 miles in the Melbourne Cup. All going to be weather dependent as to whether he is the top seed or not. If the track has give in it then it really improves his chances and puts the slows on his main rivals.

1B. WITHOUT A FIGHT - Brilliant winner of the Caulfield Cup. Had a couple lengths on Gold Trip and 5 lengths + on everything else heading this way so very hard to see anything else bar GT being able to turn the tables at Flemington. Technically he is unproven at the trip but with 2800m form in England the expectation is that shouldn't be a problem out here. His wheels don't spin on a wet surface though so if we have a soft track then its almost rule a line territory. Firm track though and he is the one to beat.

3. SOULCOMBE - Complete barrier rogue. Walked out 8 lengths behind them in the Caulfield Cup and ran really well considering. Made up good ground in that race through the 800-600 and was on the back of WAF and GT but then got crowded for a bit of room in the straight before plugging home reasonably. I think 2 miles at Flemington will suit him perfectly and that was a decent Cup trial all things considered but he is just consistently shit at the barriers and is just getting worse so no reason to think he wont miss the kick poorly at Flemington again and have to pass the whole field.

4. VAUBAN - Valiant King didn't exactly frank the form at Caulfield but he finished around these sort of horses and Vauban did beat him pretty comfortably by a couple lengths so would expect him to be in this sort of area still.

5. BREAKUP - Average at best Caulfield Cup run and he just didnt seem fast enough or good enough to sustain speed over 2400m. I expect the bigger Flemington track and the 2 miles to both be better suited for him but not by enough to be able to make up the difference on those already rated ahead of him.

Doesn't seem any point in going beyond this for winning chances for me. It was a strong Caulfield Cup and that is THE form race for Flemington with the other lead ups looking pretty lackluster. For the sake of looking deeper ill just round out the list with the best roughies for the back end of exotics.

ASHRUN - Currently $120 was one of the better runs out of the Bart Cummings. Off the scene for pretty much 2 years his first up run this prep was really good sitting 3WNC and getting beat 3.75L over 1700m. Backed that up in the Bart Cummings running on really well from last clocking the best last 800, 600 and 400 whilst giving away 5kg to the first two.

DAQUIANSWEET JUNIOR - Currently $101. As previously stated in this thread he is basically on the same prep as last year where he ran a credible 6th in the Cup and gets in nice and light in the weights. His 3200m form in this country is good and generally runs above market expectations when getting out to a trip so can see him running past some more tired horses at the end.

SPANISH MISSION - Currently $65. As said above he had been pegged as an out and out 2 miler since he got here and he has had 6 runs since that Spring for 5 goes at 2000m or less and one go at 2400m on a wet track which he doesn't go on. He is older, locally trained and had injuries so obviously not near his best but he has a lot more class potential than anything else in the dregs and his last start Turnbull 8th has a lot of merit crossing the line with most of these types.

VIRTUOUS CIRCLE - Currently $55. Had no luck in the Bart Cummings when running into traffic everywhere. Think he finishes considerably closer with luck and meets most of that field better of fat the weights should they meet again at Flemington.

MORE FELONS - Currently $300. For the plays tall believers. Yet to be seen but on his European form he isn't really any worse off than a lot of others also making up the numbers and he is a considerably better price than most of them. He will stay the 2 miles no problems and gets in light at the weights. For comparison he took on Absurde in the Ebor in their last race start before coming here and he was 14/1 vs 7/1 in that race carrying basically a kilo more and now meets him 3.5kg better off for a 3 length defeat in that race so I think id rather spec MF at 15x the price.


Trouble with a lot of the roughies though is they are on the day F4 add ons and if they run well before the Cup the odds will likely be gone and if they run like shit you probably dont want to be with them...
 
If you were Hegen, what do you give Vauban, iluvparis? I’d take 55, but gee whiz if he got any anything less the melts from locals will be delicious. Whatever your opinion of Mullins, if it’s deliberate he seems pretty good at this whole weights thing.

I’d say 56-56.5. As I said earlier the only chance he gets sub 55 is if the handicapper is a complete moron
 
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Carps previously said that he wouldn’t adhere rigidly to Euro ratings, especially when they’re based on a small sample size. It’ll be interesting to see what Hegan does. It’s going to be difficult to achieve all weight relativities reflecting the ratings while also meeting the following objectives:

  • Gold Trip’s a group 1 winner and group 1 placed, so Vauban (the winner of a modest Irish group 3) needs to get substantial weight off him
  • the handicappers seem reluctant to push topweight horses (in this case Gold Trip) far above the minimum topweight at declaration of weights (58kgs).
  • there’s a stated objective to mark up the NH 3yos (to give them more weight) given their strong recent record
  • Ebor winners seem to be quite heavily handicapped but this year’s winner, Absurde, was belted by Vauban by 7.5l.

In last year’s Cup Without A Fight was allocated 55.5kgs and his rating was 113. He was a group 3 winner at the time. The handicapper mumbled something about there being no natural topweight and so he’d essentially elevated all horses by a kilo. So perhaps Without A Fight would otherwise have got 54.5kgs. Vauban’s rating is 114.

My guess is that Gold Trip gets 58.5kgs, Vauban gets 55kgs and Absurde gets 53.5kgs. Valiant King and Tower of London are to race again before travelling I think, so their weights will depend on those performances.

It’ll be amusing watching local commentators, that usually bemoan Euros with high ratings but limited group race exposure getting into the race ahead of Australian group race horses, now arguing that Vauban should carry more weight.

We know from the Spanish mission experience that what you have actually won is irrelevant. It’s about your rating. As your say WAF got 55.5 as a 113 rater so Vauban should be looking at 56+

Absurde was also weighted 10 pounds inferior to Vauban prior to the Ebor so unless he goes up 6 pounds for the win based on ratings he has to get more than 2 kgs from Vauban
 
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Melbourne Cup equal favourite Vauban will provide a few sleepless nights for Racing Victoria’s chief handicapper David Hegan in the coming weeks.
Vauban will be one of more than 100 names on the Melbourne Cup entry list, which will be released on Tuesday.

The release of entries will mark the start of the final phase of the RV handicapping team’s task to produce a set of Melbourne Cup weights.

This year’s weights will be the first on which Hegan signs off after taking over from long-time chief handicapper Greg Carpenter, who left last year to take up a job in Hong Kong.

Hegan said the Willie Mullins-trained Vauban would be extremely difficult to assess despite rocketing to the top of Melbourne Cup betting with a 7-½ length win at the Royal Ascot carnival in June.

Vauban later followed that win with a Group 3 success in the Group 3 Ballyroan Stakes in Ireland last month, which pushed the stayer past the first Melbourne Cup balloting clause.

Hegan said weighing up the quality of those victories against other formlines was a tough task, especially considering Vauban’s untapped potential.

“He strolled in at Ascot by 7-½ lengths but at that stage, he hadn’t passed the Melbourne Cup ballot because it wasn’t at Group or Listed level,” Hegan said.

“So, we were a little bit wary until we saw them in Group and Listed level but he mostly repeated that win.”

Hegan noted Vauban would receive significantly less weight than last year’s Melbourne Cup winner Gold Trip but said he could only largely assess the improving six-year-old on his previous form.

At the end of the day, I can’t weight Vauban on what I think he might do,” Hegan said.

“If I go and weight him on what I think he might do, that’s not handicapping, that’s punting with a crystal ball.

“I’ve got the figures historically but if something else with good form around him runs well in the next week and a half, then we might revisit that.

“But how high can you take a Group 3 winner that has just won a handicap?”

Adding to Hegan’s headache is the fact Vauban is one of the best hurdlers in the world, notching three Group 1 wins over jumps, including a win at the famous Cheltenham Festival in England last year.

Hegan cannot consider those wins when allocating Vauban’s Melbourne Cup handicap but said carrying big weights to win top hurdle races overseas showed weight might make no difference to the six-year-old.

“He’s a Grade 1 hurdle winner carrying 72, 73 or 74kg at two miles so my worry is that he can absorb just about any weight we’re going to give him,” Hegan said.

“He could embarrass us.”
 
Any news on Buster from the stable rank and file ? Today’s the day he gets to show us if he’s on track for a tilt at the Cup - looks the leader which is never a bad thing at Money Valley. Pile in at the $41 today?

Edit - SCRATCHED as was typing :(
Unfortunate for Buster.
Taken him a while too settle in.When he first landed they put him at Pakenham and he absolutely hated it,stressed him out,lost weight at that synthetic shithole.
He's moved on to greener pastures and been parked up with Acromantula.
Seeing he's scratched,you'd be mad not to pile in on Stafford's Lad at $91.
 
Unfortunate for Buster.
Taken him a while too settle in.When he first landed they put him at Pakenham and he absolutely hated it,stressed him out,lost weight at that synthetic shithole.
He's moved on to greener pastures and been parked up with Acromantula.
Seeing he's scratched,you'd be mad not to pile in on Stafford's Lad at $91.

I’ve marked Staffords Lad at $201 🙄
 

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Something would have to go wrong to come all this way and not run in a $8m race
That’s what I thought. Just wondering why he has blown out to 55/1 on Betfair? Do you guys reckon he is a chance? I guess there is concern he won’t get 2 miles? Seems good value at the current price.
 
That’s what I thought. Just wondering why he has blown out to 55/1 on Betfair? Do you guys reckon he is a chance? I guess there is concern he won’t get 2 miles? Seems good value at the current price.

Doubt he gets 2 miles and think lots of his form is fraudulent.
 
Doubt he gets 2 miles and think lots of his form is fraudulent.
Fair enough. I like him a lot more at Caulfield but I’ve had a little speccy at 55/1.

Who do you have on top now Paris? We need your power rankings update for last week. Everything looks dreadful, having a hard time finding any value
 
Fair enough. I like him a lot more at Caulfield but I’ve had a little speccy at 55/1.

Who do you have on top now Paris? We need your power rankings update for last week. Everything looks dreadful, having a hard time finding any value

Without A Fight
 

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Racing Melbourne Cup 2023 ( no after the fact posts)

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