{"id":295620,"date":"2023-11-06T07:54:04","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T07:54:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/?p=295620"},"modified":"2023-11-06T07:54:04","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T07:54:04","slug":"how-to-read-the-melbourne-cup-form-and-the-five-best-bets-for-cup-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportslifetale.com\/horse-racing\/how-to-read-the-melbourne-cup-form-and-the-five-best-bets-for-cup-day\/","title":{"rendered":"How to read the Melbourne Cup form, and the five best bets for Cup Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

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<\/b>Finding the Melbourne Cup winner either requires a studious analysis of the form \u2013 or just plain luck.<\/p>\n

The form students will tell you it is a science, delving into identifying the horse with the right form, right weight, right barrier, in-form jockey, top trainer and where it will be placed on the \u201cspeed map\u201d.<\/p>\n

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Vauban is the Melbourne Cup favourite.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Getty Images<\/cite><\/p>\n

Or you can simply pick your favourite colour, best name and lucky number.<\/p>\n

You would be amazed the number of people who backed 2015 winner Prince Of Penzance at 100-1 simply because Michelle Payne was the only female rider in the race.<\/p>\n

The form gurus and bookies gave it no hope, yet it won.<\/p>\n

Backing a woman to win this Cup day isn\u2019t as simple a choice \u2013 England\u2019s queen of racing Holly Doyle will ride Future History, Rachael King (Military Mission) is down from Sydney and Victoria\u2019s own Jamie Kah will ride More Felons.<\/p>\n

Irish stayer Vauban is all the rage as the $4.20 TAB favourite. But why?<\/p>\n

At first glance you will notice three group 1 hurdle wins. That may not seem so significant if you judge by our jumpers, but in the UK the best jumpers are group 3 or group 2 minimum standard on the flat.<\/p>\n

Vauban won a restricted race at Royal Ascot by 7.5 lengths to announce himself as a Cup contender and followed that with an easy group 3 win in Ireland.<\/p>\n

He has a winning weight of 55 kilograms and his canny Irish trainer Willie Mullins has had Melbourne Cup placegetters Max Dynamite (second in 2015, third in 2017), while the world\u2019s best jockey Ryan Moore will be on board.<\/p>\n

The fact Vauban is a lightly raced six-year-old and is seemingly untapped adds to the hype. The one minus is that six of his seven wins have come on soft tracks.<\/p>\n

Topweight and defending champion Gold Trip will be out to join the select group of five horses to win multiple Cups \u2013 Archer (1861, \u201962), Peter Pan 1932-34), Rain Lover (1968, \u201969), Think Big (1974, \u201975) and Makybe Diva (2003-05).<\/p>\n

History is against him, though. The last Cup winner to carry 58.5kg was Think Big in 1975. But weights are compressed these days with the race more a quality handicap favouring horses higher up in the weights.<\/p>\n

Caulfield Cup winner Without A Fight is out to become the 12th horse to complete the Caulfield-Melbourne Cup double.<\/p>\n

Without A Fight fits the mould of the typical present day Cup runner, and winner, a European stayer bought to race here by local owners for local trainers having deduced that our home-bred stayers as a rule are inferior.<\/p>\n

Vow And Declare, the 2019 Cup winner, and Right You Are are the sole Australian-bred stayers in the race.<\/p>\n

If you like statistics barrier five (Military Mission) with eight wins has been the most successful, barriers 15 (Right You Are) and 18 (Breakup) are the least with just one win each. No.4 (Breakup) is the most successful saddlecloth number with 12 wins.<\/p>\n