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The Sporting Day: The 2007 Caulfield Cup

When it comes to spring racing, it is the Melbourne Cup which sets us alight, the annual peak of racing zeal and the race that stops a nation. For the purists and those who give themselves to the racing game whether it is a golden autumn day at Rosehill or a murky and mangy winter afternoon at Sandown, it is the Cox Plate that they hold dear, the race they call the Grand Final and the Weight-for-Age Championship of Australia. And, of course, there is the Caulfield Cup, the third jewel in the Australian racing crown and a certainty to always be regarded in Australia’s three most prestigious races forever and a day, a race that Australian turf goers feel a deep affection for.

Staged at The Heath, also known as Caulfield Racecourse, the Caulfield Cup is a gruelling handicap run over 2400 tough and arduous metres, the triangular nature of the racecourse making the trek all the more daunting and the task of the jockey all the more difficult. While it is the key lead-up to the Melbourne Cup the race stands tall on its own for its toughness and timeliness and reward and record. Australians love a handicap and the Caulfield Cup is one of the grandest handicaps anywhere in the world.

Many defining moments in the grand and imposing history of the Australian turf were Caulfield Cup moments, the race an indelible part of the racing game in these parts. The bank of Caulfield Cup memories is as rich and as full as those of any other individual race. Elvstroem and Makybe Diva, two champions of the world, wide apart and out of sync, bobbing it out in 2004. The beloved Mummify holding all at bay in 2003. The rapturous and adoring applause for the mighty Northerly, who carried 58 kilograms in a bold front running effort that will be remembered as one of the great race victories. The victory of Might and Power in 1997, perhaps the most scintillating performance ever witnessed at The Heath. Shane Dye taking Veandercross to the outside fence, only to get nutted by Mannerism ducking up on the inside. Big Philou and the big protest that was upheld in ’69. Tobin Bronze getting beaten as an odds-on pop. Rising Fast goes back-to-back. The seventeen horse fall of 1885.

This year another champion will be written into the annals, another chapter added to the story.

The favourite for the Cup this year is the Mark Kavanagh prepared Maldivian. After a brilliant win in the Yalumba where he touched up the highly rated Miss Finland, he is the selection of nearly all and sundry. Bookmakers are offering 6/4- as short a quote that has been offered in nearly four decades- and punters are keen to take it. From the one alley and with the lightest weight he is likely to see in a long while, it is expected that Michael Rodd will push Maldivian forward and hope the rest can run him down.

The rest will be headed by Eskimo Queen, Maybe Better, Master O’Reilly and Scenic Shot. Eskimo Queen, the brilliant Queensland Oaks winner. Maybe Better, the Melbourne Cup hopeful of the Mayfield-Smith stable. Master O’Reilly, the promising Danny O’Brien stayer. And Scenic Shot, the West Australian warrior who nearly pinched the Turnbull at massive odds.

The Caulfield Cup will be run this Saturday. The Sporting Day will be boxing up Maldivian, Eskimo Queen, Douro Valley, Maybe Better and Mandela in a trifecta and enjoying one of the true spectacles of Australian racing.