Melbourne Cup 2023 LIVE updates: Field, horses, time, sweep, tips, odds, guide
Stewards have been advised that the Ciaron Maher trained Future History will be ridden more forward in the Melbourne Cup.
Hollie Doyle is riding the six-year-old gelding who drifted back from a wide draw in the Moonee Valley Cup before running third after leading all the way to win the Bart Cummings and win automatic entry to the Cup.
This was predicted in our Cup predictions story earlier in the week.
Among the flocks of brightly dresses punters arriving at Flemington Racecourse are Henry and Amanda Manzelmann, from Queensland.
They’ve taken the Melbourne Cup Cruise from Sydney to Melbourne.
It’s their third time at the Cup, and it’ll also be the hottest.
As for what inspired Henry’s rainbow suit.
“No reason, something a bit different. Brighter,” he says.
Amanda nods with enthusiasm.
They both concede the jacket will be stripped off before long.
Michael Kent jnr has been asked all week who his best chance for a win at Flemington was.
For anyone who wanted to listen, he was telling them Warmonger, who justified the spruik to win the 1800-metre race for three-year-olds.
Kent jnr and co-trainer Mick Price have had great success with OTI Racing and New Zealand-bred horses in the past, their best of course, I’m Thunderstruck, who ran second in last year’s Cox Plate.
“We love OTI, we’ve got a big team for them. Obviously Thunderstruck was massive, and any winner on Cup day is worth times 10, isn’t it,” Kent jnr said.
As for Warmonger, whether he could be a Guineas horse or a Derby horse in the autumn, Kent jnr said time would tell.
“We had a horse on the up and the big track and the rise in trip would suit, and it did,” he said.
“He’s a typical Kiwi horse who’s only going to get better with time and maturity. I’m not sure what his best trip is yet. Is he a Derby horse? I’m not sure. We’ll enjoy today first.”
Price and Kent jnr will saddle up import Lastotchka in today’s Melbourne Cup, while OTI Racing will be represented by the Phillip Stokes-trained Daqiansweet Junior.
Right royal-adjacent guests of the Victoria Racing Club, Lady Amelia Spencer and her twin sister Lady Eliza Spencer followed the rules of the late Queen Elizabeth II by wearing colours that made sure they wouldn’t be missed by the Cup Day crowds.
The daughters of Princess Diana’s brother Charles, Earl of Spencer, and model Victoria Lockwood, both wore fire-danger-warning red dresses from local label Cappellazzo.
The only problem, which one is which? It’s made harder when they keep finishing each other’s sentences.
“I think we both love dressing up for different occasions,” Amelia, in the short red dress, began.
“But being able to dress up for something as iconic as this is a unique experience, and we thought why not be bright and bold and really express our inner personality,” Eliza finished.
Another way to pick the cousins of Prince William and Prince Harry apart was by Amelia’s Stephanie Browne headpiece and Eliza’s Ezara J metal veil.
One of many things the 31-year-olds have in common is impeccable manners, thanking their security detail profusely as they entered the Lexus marquee.
“Breeding,” one observer noted.
It may have been about the Spencers or the next race.
For many today, the sport of drinking will take priority over horse racing.
Empty bottles of G.H. Mumm have already been spotted on the lawn, and snaking lines to the bars are forming rapidly.
Away from the grandstands, attendees are drinking under umbrellas, taking photos on the grass, and assessing their next steps.
“Wanna go trackside, boys?” one man asks his fellow group of twenty-something-year-olds.
One has to use the loo first, and he’s quickly admonished by the group for “breaking the seal” too early, the colloquialism used to describe the first time one urinates while drinking alcohol.
The other two want to get a couple more drinks before they head in.
They oblige, beelining to the bar.
It was the race where the first two home turned back the clock, with the winner Forgot You first home for the first time since he won the Vase on Cox Plate Day in 2021.
His owners were jubilant as he rediscovered the form, with anyone forgetting his talent getting a sharp reminder.
Meanwhile, 2019 VRC Derby winner Warning turned back the clock when he flashed home into second place.
Warning, a noted stayer, looked in trouble at the top of the straight, but picked up the bit at the 200-metre mark and passed third placed Sibaaq, who took off like Vo Rogue before being run down.
Warning has run second in a Brisbane Cup and 12th in the 2020 Melbourne Cup.
The hot weather is certain to have an impact on the Cup, with several horses struggling to run a strong 1800 metres in race two.
A unique post on the socials from Racing Victoria’s stewards.
Usually, they’re keeping a close eye on any interference or traffic issues on the racetrack.
But they’ve just sent an update to punters warning about congestion on the roads outside the racecourse.
“Please be advised of traffic disruptions on Epsom Rd & surrounding areas of racecourse, allow extra time when on [sic] route,” RV Stewards posted to X a few minutes ago.
Curve model Georgina Burke has embraced the importance of the statement hat on Cup Day, shading beneath a custom Nerida Winter headpiece with a hanging garden of fabric flowers.
“This really is art,” says the Ralph Lauren regular, who chose a regal purple custom Carla Zampatti dress for the occasion.
Her tips after Derby Day?
“They’re right about comfortable shoes,” says Burke.
“I had a bit of walking to do at Fashions on the Field.”
“The great news is that there were so many girls taking part of all sizes. Now, that’s encouraging.”
Tony McEvoy proved he has not lost his golden touch with two-year-olds training the quinella in the opening race on Cup Day.
The more experienced Dublin Down ran down the first starter Blue Stratum in the Group 3 Maribyrnong Plate, with Hong Kong-based hoop Zac Purton making a good start to Cup Day as he heads towards riding Absurde in the Melbourne Cup.
Blue Stratum is one to watch in the future as he is by champion sprinter Blue Point who won three group 1s at Royal Ascot.
But it was Dublin Down’s day at an already hot Flemington with Odinson running third.
The first four home in the opening race were numbers 2-4-7-5.
