By Ethan Christian
Often referred to as the world’s greatest greyhound race, the Melbourne Cup returns to Sandown Park this year for the 69th running of its current format on Saturday, November 30.
With heats conducted the Saturday prior, it is the biggest period on Sandown’s calendar and always attracts a large crowd on course.
Heats night is famed as one of the best nights in racing, typically having eight heats of the Melbourne Cup and four heats of the Bold Trease.
The Melbourne Cup itself is a race steeped in history, with its origins dating back as far as 1933, but has been held at Sandown in its current format since 1956, with Rocketeer the initial winner for trainer E. Patterson off an 8-yard handicap.
The winner’s cheque back then was worth £500, and the race was staged on grass, a far cry from this year’s contest on sand over 515m and carrying a first prize of $500,000.
Given the popularity and quality of the race, it has always attracted the best in the land to Melbourne for their shot at greyhound immortality.
It has never been won by the same greyhound twice. It feels wrong to highlight some winners and not others, as a more illustrious honour roll you will not find, however Roanokee (1997), Go Wild Teddy (2000), Hallucinate (2004), Black Magic Opal (2013) and Dyna Double One (2015) are all popular as previous winners of the race.
Geoff Mitchell took home the most recent edition with Aussie Rocks scoring at big odds.
The 2015 edition stands out as one of the greatest renewals, where it loomed as a match-race between giants Dyna Double One and Fernando Bale and panned out that way, Dyna Double One running home strongly to score by half a length, some six lengths ahead of the third-placed Black Illusion.
Team Thompson as a collective, stands with the most wins in the race’s history with Jason (three) and Seona (one) combining for four, but Jason will be hoping to go clear at the top of the individual list and has a strong team at hand to do so.
At the time of writing, Thompson trains three of the top four favoured runners in all-in betting – Explicit, Excavation and Flying Zulu, with the former having held favouritism for some time now.
Explicit’s year has included victory in the Group 1 Temlee, Group 2 Ballarat and Shepparton Cups, as well as being a beaten favourite in both the Brisbane Cup and Million Dollar Chase.
He has been a model of consistency throughout the year and will undoubtedly make his presence felt during the series.
The non-Thompson-trained greyhound favoured in the betting is Mackenna, who is prepared by Paul Abela, but has also spent plenty of time in NSW with Michelle Sultana, where she claimed this year’s Group 1 Golden Easter Egg.
Abela will be shooting for his maiden Melbourne Cup, and despite Mackenna having not been seen at the races since August, she will come into the series as a competitor her rivals would prefer to avoid.
Other local hopes include Team Sharp’s Morton, and Team Whelan’s Lakeview Emily, while it would be of no surprise to see interstate raiders such as Bezecchi and Zipping Megatron venture down to snatch the crown from the locals.
From a breeding perspective, you will likely find previous Melbourne Cup winners littered amongst the pedigrees of the final field that leave the boxes on the last Saturday in November, but the most intriguing link to a former champion arguably belongs to Smooth Plane.
Go back far enough and you’ll eventually find the first winner of the modern Melbourne Cup, Rocketeer, buried away in his pedigree.
Smooth Plane may not be the most well credentialled coming into the series, but prepared by the powerhouse Dailly kennel will be certain to give a good account of himself.
He is arguably the most underrated chaser in Australia, contesting multiple Group 1 finals and having been victorious at Group 3 level with the Provincial Plate on Melbourne Cup night last year.
Melbourne Cup night will also see several other feature races staged, including the Group 1 Bold Trease over the 715m trip and the Group 3 John Dillion Memorial over the 595m distance.
The Bold Trease, named after the ‘Warrnambool Wonder’ who won four Sandown Cups in a row, also has a decorated honour roll – Miata (2012), Fanta Bale (2017) and Tornado Tears (2019), all champion stayers who have claimed victory in this race.
Palawa King took home the Group 1 last year and will be out to claim the $125,000 to the winner purse, but will face stern competition in the form of Exploded, Ella’s Babe, Aunt Virginia and Valpolicella, who are all likely to feature in the series.
The John Dillon Memorial, once a staying race, but having been staged over the middle distance since 2012, will likely serve as a race for those stronger types unsuccessful in the Melbourne Cup heats.
Worth $75,000 to the winner, this race has no heats and is therefore pulled together based on nominations.
This makes it difficult to pinpoint who will appear in the field, but you can guarantee one thing, should Hector Fawley be fit and not appear in the Melbourne Cup, all eyes will be on him for this race.
Other Group level racing on the night includes the Listed Cup Night Sprinters and Listed Cup Night Stayers, essentially acting as consolations for the Melbourne Cup and Bold Trease respectively.
Also staged will be VicBred Maiden Final worth $15,000 to the winner. The 2023 series of this race was won by the Matthew Lanigan-trained I’m A Mustang, but also uncovered talented chasers Mepunga Reward and House Of Turbo.
Regardless of who makes their respective finals, you can be sure that the 2024 Melbourne Cup series is not to be missed, as the greyhound racing community crowns their new champion on November 30.
