The Melbourne Cup 2007 Update !

[DUFFYS]

Well Folks things are really hotting up here in Australia,
The English Gee Gee Purple Moon is all the rage for the cup,
and is a warm secound favourite to take out this 3200 mtr ( 2 mile )
classic Handicap ,on tuesday 6th November 2007,His Run in the Caulfield cup was super, i also liked the run of Blue Monday ,he is great value eachway.
The Mood here is that Purple Moon can Win.
I will list the current Market for you shortly.
kind regards
Bernard

[DUFFYS]

Purple Moon may appear at Moonee Valley22/10/2007 6:58 PMBy Mike Hedge

English stayer Purple Moon could put the finishing touches to his Melbourne Cup preparation at Moonee Valley on Saturday.
Connections made the surprise announcement on Monday, quickly adding that it would merely be to give the gelding some "paddock schooling".
"It might just get him used to the big crowd and give him some experience," said Sara Cumani, the wife of the Purple Moon's trainer Luca Cumani.
Purple Moon had his only lead up run in Saturday's Caulfield Cup, finishing sixth to Master O'Reilly - although his training team barely regarded the effort as a race.
"He was hardly blowing," Sara Cumani said.
"It was as though he hadn't even run."
Fortunately for their horse, he didn't desperately need the hit-out to be ready for the Melbourne Cup for which he is now $7.50 second favourite.
Cumani said the horse would probably do only one piece of work between now and Cup day with most of his exercise confined to trotting and cantering.
"He really needs to do very little," she said.
While they are happy with the condition of their horse, the Cumanis are still bemused by the Caulfield Cup.
Purple Moon drew barrier 15, but had been expected to settle in midfield.
Instead he was near the back and three wide.
He then met trouble in the straight which Cumani believes cost him at least a placing.
"He was the last one to come off the bridle in the run," she said.
"Then everywhere he went in the straight he got blocked."
On the positive side, Purple Moon remained unaffected by the barrier stall dramas which robbed the Caulfield Cup of its favourite and second favourite.
Cumani said Purple Moon had a reputation for being a hothead when previously trained by Sir Michael Stoute.
But apart from sweating heavily before the race at Caulfield, he was on his best behaviour.
"He got a bit excited when the jockey got on, but he hadn't raced since August," she said.
The only major decision to be made around Purple Moon in the two weeks before the Cup revolves around who will ride him.
Saturday's jockey Kerrin McEvoy appears to be out of calculation as does Jamie Spencer, the reigning English champion rider.
Spencer, who won the Ebor Handicap on the horse this season, is locked in battle for the year's jockey's title and is likely to place more importance on wining it than coming to Melbourne.
Spencer is also doubtful because of the English system of penalising riders who contravene the rules.
He needs only one more misdemeanour to force him out for a mandatory two weeks, making his availability doubtful.
One possibility could be Frankie Dettori who often rides for the Cumani stable when not required by Godolphin.
A number of Australian riders have also put in a bid for the ride.

Source: AAP

[DUFFYS]

Master O'Reilly gets another Cup penalty22/10/2007 6:58 PMBy Robert Windmill

Racing Victoria's chief handicapper Greg Carpenter has given the best indication yet that Master O'Reilly can win the Melbourne Cup after penalising him 1.5kg for winning the Caulfield Cup.
Carpenter issued the penalty just seven days after giving the five-year-old a 1.5kg Melbourne Cup penalty for winning the Winning Edge Presentations Stakes (2400m) on October 13 and Master O'Reilly will now carry 53kg.
He carried 50.5kg in the Caulfield Cup but Carpenter said Master O'Reilly had an excellent chance of winning the Melbourne Cup as well.
"Master O'Reilly's emergence as a stayer of the highest quality in the last ten days has been quite spectacular," Carpenter said.
"While a penalty of three kilos is historically at the higher end of the scale, in his current rich vein of form Master O'Reilly remains well placed to become the twelfth horse to complete the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double in the same year."
The extra weight penalty came as no surprise to trainer Danny O'Brien.
"I think it's reasonable," O'Brien said.
"He's going to carry three kilos more which is probably on the high side of what Cup winners get, but he won the third fastest Caulfield Cup of all time by more two lengths. It was a very strong win."
O'Brien said Douro Valley still had "a nice weight" (51kg) in the Cup, escaping a penalty by running second to his stablemate in the Caulfield Cup.
He said there was still improvement in Master O'Reilly while Douro Valley was at his top for the Caulfield Cup.
"We have made no secret of the fact that we have been setting him (Master O'Reilly) for the Melbourne Cup all along," O'Brien said.
"It has always been the race he has been peaking for and I think he will improve.
"He is looking good but he's still got a little bit of his winter coat to come out and he will look better in the Melbourne Cup.
"The two miles and Flemington are certainly advantages for him."
O'Brien said Douro Valley was in peak form.
"The Caulfield Cup was really his grand final on Saturday but he is in great form and there is no reason why he can't hold it for another couple of weeks."
Significantly 41 horses have won the Melbourne Cup after carrying a weight penalty, the last being Media Puzzle, who carried 1.5kg extra in 2002 for his win in the Geelong Cup.
Ethereal carried a two kilo penalty after winning the 2001 Caulfield Cup and is the last horse to land the Cups double.
Doriemus was the last horse to win the Melbourne Cup with a three kilo penalty in 1995. Others have been Galilee (1966) and Gurner's Lane (1982).
Might And Power won the 1997 Melbourne Cup after being penalised a record 3.5kg for winning the Caulfield Cup.
Master O'Reilly is the only horse to win Winning Edge Presentations Stakes (Herbert Power Handicap)-Caulfield Cup double since Beer Street in 1970 and will be the first horse ever to claim the treble in the same season if he can add the Melbourne Cup to those wins.

Source: AAP

[DUFFYS]

Purple moon is $7.50 On Current Markets.

[DUFFYS]

Cummings Jnr aiming for first Cup runner25/10/2007 6:51 PMBy Mandy Cottell

Winning Melbourne Cups is something of a tradition in the Cummings family, but one usually associated with elder statesman Bart.
This year his trainer son Anthony is looking to muscle in on a piece of the action and start his first Melbourne Cup runner.
Luck permitting, his Cup assault might even swell to two.
Anthony Cummings has both Zavite, runner-up to The Fuzz in Wednesday's Geelong Cup, and Saturday's Moonee Valley Cup hopeful Red Lord heading towards Australia's most famous race.
The only problem is Zavite is 37th in the order of entry and Red Lord 41st.
While Cummings is prepared to take his chances that Zavite can squeeze into the final field, Red Lord can bump his way up the list with victory in Saturday's 2500m race.
"He needs to win, he's a couple of spots behind Zavite," Cummings said.
"Certainly his work this week has been first rate. Michael Rodd rode him at Moonee Valley yesterday and he was quite impressed.
"He worked again this morning and while he wasn't out to break any records he was at the top of his game.
"His form is around the right sort of horses."
Those horses include Master O'Reilly and Duoro Valley, who ran the quinella in last Saturday's Caulfield Cup.
Red Lord was runner-up to Master O'Reilly at Flemington three starts ago before finishing fourth behind Duoro Valley, Maldivian and Dolphin Jo in the Naturalism Stakes at Caulfield last month.
At his only subsequent start he was unplaced when beaten almost 20 lengths by Dolphin Jo in The Bart Cummings, a performance that mystified his trainer.
"There was no real explanation for it," Cummings said.
"He was disappointing that day but a lot of horses were."
Red Lord is yet to win beyond 1600m but he proved his staying credentials with a third to Lazer Sharp in the South Australian Derby (2500m) in May.
Prior to that he was fourth to the same horse in the VRC St Leger (2500m), his only start at Moonee Valley.
"He only saw the outside fence that day," Cummings said.
"He drew wide and I thought he was pretty unlucky not to beat Lazer Sharp in one, if not both, of those races."
Red Lord is one of nine Moonee Valley Cup hopefuls still in the Melbourne Cup mix but of those only Gallic and Lazer Sharp are guaranteed starts at Flemington.
The rest - Sarrera (26th), Dolphin Jo (28th), Drac's Back (30th), Viz Vitae (32nd), Sentire (38th) and Pacino (54th), who is yet to pass the qualifying conditions - probably need to win to increase their chances of a berth in the 24-horse Cup field.
No Moonee Valley Cup winner has gone on to take out the Melbourne Cup since Kingston Rule in 1990.
But omen punters be warned, his trainer was Bart Cummings.

Source: AAP

[DUFFYS]

The Fuzz cops 1kg Melbourne Cup penalty25/10/2007 6:51 PMBy Robert Windmill

Geelong Cup winner The Fuzz has been penalised a kilogram for the Melbourne Cup.
The five-year-old will now carry 51kg and jumps from 53rd to 31st in order of elimination into the Cup on November 6.
Racing Victoria chief handicapper Greg Carpenter said The Fuzz deserved his penalty after carrying 55kg in the Group Three Geelong Cup on Wednesday and scoring by three-quarters of a length over Zavite, covering the 2400m in 2:27.06.
"The Fuzz was very strong in winning the Geelong Cup in what was a genuinely-run race, the fourth fastest since the race was extended to 2400 metres in 1965," Carpenter said.
The Fuzz, who is at $26 for the Cup with TAB Sportsbet, is likely to climb the elimination order and be closer to a start in the 24-horse capacity field after third declarations for the Melbourne Cup close next Tuesday.
Last year Mandela finished ninth in the Melbourne Cup after being penalised a kilogram for winning the Geelong Cup.
In 2004 Pacific Dancer was also penalised a kilogram for his Geelong Cup win but could only finish 21st in the Melbourne Cup.
Aside from those failures the Geelong Cup has been a useful guide to the Melbourne Cup since 2001 when Karasi won at Geelong and finished fourth in the Melbourne Cup.
In 2002 Media Puzzle, who was penalised 1.5kg, became the first horse to win the Geelong-Melbourne Cup double in the same season.
In 2003 She's Archie finished second in both Cups while 2003 Geelong Cup winner Zazzman finished third in the 2004 Melbourne Cup.
In 2005 On A Jeune escaped a penalty for winning the Geelong Cup and finished second when Makybe Diva posted her historic third Melbourne Cup win.

Source: AAP

[nykmedia]

Best here just now for Purple Moon is 9/2 but it's nice to see Scorpion over there

[DUFFYS]

Scorpion has settled in well he is about the 12/1 price range.

[DUFFYS]

Tragedy overshadows O'Brien Cup bid28/10/2007 7:04 PMBy Mike Hedge

Aidan O'Brien, the world's most successful trainer, heads to Australia this week with tragedy weighing heavily on his Melbourne Cup hopes.
O'Brien arrives on Tuesday to supervise the preparation of his Cup hopes Scorpion and Mahler.
But it is bound to be with a certain trepidation that the champion Irish trainer embarks on his latest international mission following the death in America on Sunday of his very good galloper George Washington.
George Washington ran in the US$5 million Breeders' Cup Classic (2000m) on a quagmire dirt track at Monmouth Park in New Jersey.
Always unhappy in the atrocious going, George Washington was out of contention when he snapped an ankle 100m from the finish.
His injuries were so severe that O'Brien asked almost immediately that he be put down.
It had been a miserable day for O'Brien and the Coolmore team at Monmouth Park.
Their star runner, Dylan Thomas, the highest-rated horse in training in the world, struggled in the heavy going in the Breeders' Cup Turf and finished fifth as the 4-5 favourite to English Channel.
Of his other Breeders' Cup prospects Excellent Art Finished a luckless second in the Turf Mile, Achill Island was second in the Juvenile Turf and All My Loving ran fifth in the Filly And Mare Turf.
Only an hour before the tragedy unfolded on the other side of the world, Scorpion and Mahler had a light workout at Sandown where they have been awaiting the arrival of their trainer for the past week.
The pair has been kept ticking over since landing in Melbourne and on Sunday morning completed two shot canters.
"They're just fine, we'll be stepping things up in the next few days," travelling foreman Andrew Murphy said.
Scorpion and Mahler are among the first half dozen in Cup betting.
Heavy support for Mahler following his safe arrival in Melbourne has him at $11 with Scorpion, the Cup topweight, at $13.
English stayer Purple Moon, had Sunday morning off, as did Tungsten Strike, the fourth member of the international Cup contingent.
With the return to form of Damien Oliver who landed three outright winners and a dead-heater at Moonee Valley on Saturday, the stocks of his Cup ride Purple Moon have become even more solid.
The best price available about the Luca Cumani-trained galloper is $7.50, with some fielders having tightened him in to $6.50.
Tungsten Strike, who on Saturday completed his strongest work since arriving two weeks ago, is at $31.
Cumani is also due in Melbourne on Tuesday as is Mark Perrett, who will finalise the preparation of Tungsten Strike in place of his wife Amanda who is due to give birth on Cup day.

[DUFFYS]

Miss Finland Cup decision set for Monday28/10/2007 7:04 PMBy Caryl Williamson

A decision on whether star mare Miss Finland continues on to the Melbourne Cup is likely to be made on Monday morning.
Managing owner John Messara said he was perplexed by her recent form including her fourth in Saturday's Cox Plate for which she was favourite.
"She raced way below her best and showed no ping at all," Messara said.
"Her last 800 metres wasn't impressive compared to other horses she has beaten before and I just can't reconcile it with the Miss Finland of old.
"(Trainer) David Hayes is still keen to run her in the Mackinnon Stakes and the Melbourne Cup and we will sit down tomorrow morning and decide whether to go on.
"I'm perplexed. If you go back to the Memsie Stakes she beat those horses like she was cutting through butter but she seems to have lost her sprint from race to race.
"Even though people say it's tempo related, she needs to finish her races off better than she is doing."
Third declarations for the Cup will be taken tomorrow with the final field to be decided on Saturday evening.
Miss Finland was the outstanding horse of her generation as a two and three-year-old becoming the first filly to win the Golden Slipper and back up the following season to claim the Victorian Oaks.
At the beginning of her four-year-old campaign she showed her customary dazzling sprint to beat Haradasun in the Group Two Memsie (1400m).
But her three subsequent starts have produced seconds in the Group One Underwood (1800m) and Yalumba (2000m) before her fourth in the Cox Plate (2040m).
The race was won by El Segundo who finished fourth in the Memsie and made amends for his close second in last year's Cox Plate.
Miss Finland has eased to $11 with TAB Sportsbet for the Melbourne Cup (3200m) on Tuesday week after being at $7 little more than a week ago.
Caulfield Cup winner Master O'Reilly remains favourite at $5 ahead of English horse Purple Moon at $7.50.
El Segundo's stablemate Blutigeroo is currently at $41 with Cox Plate winning jockey Luke Nolen set to appeal a suspension to try to get aboard the stayer who rose through the ranks in the autumn to take out the Group One BMW (2400m).
Damien Oliver rode him in the BMW but has committed to Purple Moon in the Melbourne Cup.
Nolen was outed for his ride on El Segundo after pleading guilty to shifting in as he went past runner-up Wonderful World in the straight.
Nolen's suspension is due to expire at midnight on November 6 - Melbourne Cup day.
He said he was likely to appeal the severity of the penalty in the hope that he can secure the Melbourne Cup ride on Blutigeroo.
"At this time of year, you have to appeal," Nolen said.
Nolen had also been in line for the ride on the talented sprinter Swick in the Salinger Stakes next Saturday at Flemington.
The possibility of missing the Melbourne Cup comes after his Derby mount Pillar Of Hercules was left out of the race after becoming the focus of an ownership inquiry involving Melbourne underworld figure Horty Mokbel.
Pillar Of Hercules had become one of the Derby favourites after winning at Caulfield last week, but he is unable to be entered for races until stewards establish whether one of his registered owners has any genuine involvement in the horse.
Sydney Cup winner Gallic has firmed to $13 for the Cup following his victory in Saturday's Group Two Moonee Valley Cup.

Source: AAP