All greyhound trainers, owners and breeders dream of winning a TAB Melbourne Cup. For most of us punters though, we dream of backing the Melbourne Cup winner.
And it is a great feeling you can jump on early and ride the winner home at big odds. So with just 268 days until the 2021 edition of the world’s greatest greyhound race and with the release of the TAB pre-nominations market, we’re going to do just that.
It takes a special dog to win the TAB Melbourne Cup. It has to be fast and tough and able to thrive under the brightest lights on the sport’s biggest stage.
And history shows that Cup winning greyhounds fit a certain profile. For instance, in the last 10 years:
– Nine winners were male
– Nine winners were trained in Victoria
– Nine were between 29 and 35 months of age
– Eight had made their debut the year before they won the Cup, and seven had already won a race by the start of that year
Applied to the current racing populations it narrows the field down to just… 258 dogs! It’s hard to make a dollar backing that many greyhounds in one race, let’s narrow down the list further.
We know experience matters in the big finals, especially for a race like the Melbourne Cup. In fact, five of the last six TAB Melbourne Cup finalists had already contested a group race final prior to the Australian Cup final.
Of the 258 dogs on our list, we’re now down to 10:
DO IT (Jeff Britton), $51
MR. FIX IT (Angela Langton), $51
FERDINAND BOY (David Geall), $34
JEPARA (Angela Langton), $51
BLACKPOOL FLASH (Renee Kenyon), $51
EARN THE ANSWERS (Lyn Smith), $21
ASTON RUPEE (Glenn Rounds), $14
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
LAKEVIEW WALTER (Monique Whelan), $17
MR. AMERICA (Jason Thompson), $17
That’s an impressive list of some of the sport’s best youngsters, and it’d be no surprise to see some – or all – of them among the leading contenders come November. There’s a lot of group races on the calendar and plenty of option in the the lead up to the Cup. But did you know that the last four TAB Melbourne Cup winners had contested Western Districts Derby series in the year of their Cup triumph?
Five of our list of candidates lined up in the Western District Derby heats.
FERDINAND BOY (David Geall), $34
BLACKPOOL FLASH (Renee Kenyon), $51
ASTON RUPEE (Glenn Rounds), $14
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
MR. AMERICA (Jason Thomson), $17
All of the above are fast dogs, a non-negotiable trait among TAB Melbourne Cup winners, and it’s a trait that’s on show from the start of their careers. In fact, the last three Cup winners broke their maiden by winning in the fastest time of the night.
And only one of the above won its maiden in BON – by 13 lengths no less on the day before the 2020 Cup. Therefore, based on the deeds of Cup winners past, it’s a big congratulations to 2021 TAB Melbourne Cup winner
MASKED AVENGER (Joe Borg), $51
OK, it may be a little bit early to get the trophy engraved. Especially since he has yet to race over 500m and his trainer Joe Borg says his littermates are just as good (or maybe better).
And for every inspirational quote you can find about history being a great teacher, there’s one telling you the future is yet to be written.
But don’t say we didn’t tell you so!
The 2021 TAB Melbourne Cup will be run on Friday 26 November.
Click here for the latest TAB Melbourne Cup market from TAB
*Odds quoted correct as at 1pm on Monday 8 March 2021
