Spring racing / Steve Mcghee / 19 October 2009 / Leave a comment Bet Now

Betting strategy notes for G3 Geelong Cup (2406m) raced on Wednesday October 21, as this is now a respected guide to the Melbourne Cup held just under a fortnight later.

It is also one of the last chances left for stayers to force their way into Melbourne Cup consideration by getting a rehandicap through winning the midweek country cup.

The G3 $200,000 Geelong Cup (2406m) is proving to be a decent late guide for the Melbourne Cup and there are several really desperate on Wednesday to impress the handicapper enough to get weight and therefore an invite to the two-mile dance on the first Tuesday in November.

The distance of the Cup that is raced on a roomy 2000m turf flat track at Geelong, with an ample home straight of 400m, does seem to be a perfect lead in to running half a mile further on an even roomier Flemington thirteen days later.

Bettors are advised to keep this race and result firmly entrenched in their spring carnival wagering minds, as it can pay dividends not just in the Melbourne Cup a fortnight later but in other staying events this spring.

This century has seen a winner, three placegetters and a fourth in the Melbourne Cup come from either winning or placing in the Geelong Cup and some of the odds have been substantial.

In fact the form of this race is also worth considering for staying events over the Melbourne Cup week and beyond (G3 Saab Quality over 2500m on the first day (now called the The Lexus) or the lavazza a modo mio over 2800m on Cup day or the G3 Queen Elizabeth over 2500m on the last day for example) and even a week later on to Sandown, so dismiss Geelong Cup form at your betting peril for the rest of spring.

Media Puzzle won the Geelong Cup in 2002 and then was too good in the Melbourne Cup just under a fortnight later for rider Damien Oliver, who handled family adversity that week like the professional he is and only looked upwards once over the line in brotherly tribute.

Bauer won the Geelong Cup last year for Oliver and missed winning the Melbourne Cup by a nostril for new rider Corey Brown, with Viewed for trainer Bart Cummings and a proactive Blake Shinn ride at the 400m, hanging on by the smallest margin.

Viewed of course under 57kg outclassed the G1 Caulfield Cup (2400m) field this year and should be looking at a healthy rehandicap for the Melbourne Cup.

Winning by a gap means kilos in the real racing world, so we should be looking at a new topweight for the Melbourne Cup, in a year that has seen several missed by many kilos and then the proven commodities requiring extra 'puddin' to keep it real.

Long priced runners up in the Melbourne Cup that had won or been placed in the Geelong Cup less than two weeks earlier were On A Jeune and She's Archie.

On A Jeune won the 2005 Geelong Cup and then ran second to the marvel mare Makybe Diva at gigantic odds, while She's Archie finished second in the 2003 Geelong Cup and filled the same position, also behind Makybe Diva, in what was her first of three Melbourne Cups in a row.

The fact both On A Jeune and She's Archie were trained in South Australia did not go unnoticed at the time and that state should be well represented this year in the Melbourne Cup, with Alcopop already a popular punting tonic.

Surely the first alcopop producer that approaches the Flemington hierarchy now is onto a winner, if they do a deal for half-priced drinks or a 'two-for-one' of their product on course until the Cup is run (it is late in the day so they will get full promotional value).

If ever a chance to get an alcopop brand name onto not just a vast national but international stage was there to be grabbed then Melbourne Cup Day 2009 is it.

You will never get a bigger audience to launch a product or promote one than this and it could become 'tipsy Tuesday' knowing how much is already drunken each year on this special racing day that stops two nations (Australia and New Zealand).

Imagine a promotional happy hour or happy half-day (that is all some will remember) by an alcopop producer that is craving instant name recognition?

They can mix alcohol with anything in a can these days or combine it into a bottle with bright fizzy pop colouring, so do you think Speed Gifted or Vigor are catchy names for a drink that gets you going?

Zazzman won the 2003 Geelong Cup and would come back in 2004 and place third at leviathan odds in the Melbourne Cup.

Moatize finished second to Bauer last year in the Geelong Cup and then won his next start, the G3 Saab Quality (2500m) now called The Lexus at Flemington, then three days later finished an honest sixth beaten five lengths in the Melbourne Cup behind Viewed.

Karasi, the ultimate example of longevity and versatility in a racehorse, won the Geelong Cup in 2001 and finished fourth just under a fortnight later in the Melbourne Cup behind Ethereal.

He has since become an internationally recognized jumper, with the will to win never leaving the frame of this not overly large horse that obviously contained a mammoth heart.

Sav Rocca may be an Australian Rules goal-kicking and playing institution for firstly the Collingwood Magpies then the North Melbourne Kangaroos in Melbourne but since 2007 he has become the punter for the NFL Philadelphia Eagles in the USA, after having tried out for the Buffalo Bills in 2006.

Savrocca the horse however won the 2000 Geelong Cup and the Queen Elizabeth (2500m) straight after, to show his grey power kick that year.

The Queen Elizabeth is run on Emirates Day, the last of four days on Melbourne Cup week and is a handicap event, so bettors should factor in Geelong Cup form here as well.

Zazzman won the Queen Elizabeth, after winning the Geelong Cup, so it is a race to bear in mind for stayers that may miss out on a Melbourne Cup start or be considered a notch below the big guns at the time.

Goldolphin have won the Queen Elizabeth twice this century with Hatha Anna (2001) and Fantastic Love (2004), which were both almost travelling mates for their more high profile Melbourne Cup runners but there is usually a suitable race somewhere over the carnival for all sorts.

Makybe Diva won this race in 2002, when then trainer David Hall wanted to test the young staying mare at the carnival, and we all know now that she would set the unbreakable record of three consecutive Melbourne Cups from 2003-2005.

Hall trained her to win the first Melbourne Cup and Lee Freedman the second and third.

Riders this century to salute in the Geelong Cup are a select few, with the Craig Williams having won the race three times (Savrocca in 2000, Mandela in 2006 and The Fuzz in 2007), while Kerrin McEvoy (Zazzman in 2003 and On A Jeune in 2005) and Damien Oliver (Media Puzzle in 2002 and Bauer in 2008) have two each.

That just leaves the only other riders to have won it being Glen Boss (Karasi in 2001) and Brad Rawiller (Pacific Dancer in 2006).

No trainer this century has yet prepared two Geelong Cup winners.

Look again at the Geelong Cup form, certain runners and result, as there may well be a winner in waiting this Melbourne spring carnival or the next.