Phar Lap heads field of Melbourne Cup greats

The Age

TOPWEIGHT: New Zealand-bred Phar Lap with Jim Pike aboard, wins the 1930 Melbourne Cup. Phar Lap has been named topweight in the field of greatest Cup wins.

The Melbourne Cup might be the "race that stops a nation" but as the closing date for entries in the 150th Cup approaches next Tuesday, Australia has been given three months to come up with the winner of ''The Greatest Cup Never Run''.

Racing Victoria Limited chief handicapper Greg Carpenter was given the task of selecting the best 24 horses from the 143 to have won the race, and spent months before deciding on the final field and then weighting them.

With the announcement of the field being made in the shadows of the great Phar Lap at Melbourne Museum yesterday it was no surprise that the ''Red Terror'' was allotted topweight of 60 kilograms ahead of Carbine on 59kg and triple winner Makybe Diva on 58kg.

Few would argue about the claims of those towards the top of the weights but, as in any race, there will be divergent views as to those who just snuck into the field or just missed out and Carpenter said it was ''a challenging and agonising task in many respects''.

''All the winners have a great story and were good horses in their own right,'' Carpenter said. ''It's not about decrying the form of wins of those who missed it but it was about picking, in my judgment those, who most warranted selection.''

While the top half of the field pick themselves, there will be much debate about those that make up the remainder of the field. Sneaking into the field at No.24 is Think Big, who, while he won two Melbourne Cups, didn't win a lot else.

However, the aim of the exercise is to decide on the best 24 winners ever and it is difficult to argue that a horse capable of winning the race twice should not be included.

Think Big defeated a great mare in Leilani in his first win and in his second victory, carrying 58.5kg, conceded the placegetters 8.5kg and 12.5kg. Carpenter said that when he started selecting the field he thought Even Stevens would be an inclusion, but carefully assessing each winner he decided that the 1962 Caulfield-Melbourne cups winner had to miss out. Others who came close but also missed the cut were Let's Elope, Briseis, Spearfelt and Windbag.

For all we know, if equine influenza had not hit Australia Delta Blues might have returned and added his name to the list of multiple winners.

Like the many debates that originated as AFL teams named their team of the centuries, it was more about who could or should have been included rather than excluded.

Carpenter says the selection and horses weights are a reflection of each horse's overall career performance and are not necessarily tied to their efforts in the Melbourne Cup.

While Carpenter decided on the field, the barrier draw was conducted by RVL chief steward Terry Bailey and how they finish will be determined by a panel of 22 experts, including Des Gleeson, Dale Monteith, Rod Johnson and Andrew Lemon. Their finishing order will be used to produce a virtual Melbourne Cup that will be telecast on Melbourne Cup day.

So who will take out this Greatest Cup Never Run? It's a handicap and as we haven't been provided with a Derby day of Cup trials the form is a little tricky. Phar Lap carries 2kg less than he did in winning the 1930 Cup, so looks attractively weighted, while Makybe Diva has to lump the same impost as she did when winning her third Cup. In the end the best way to go might be to follow the lead of innumerable punters every Cup day and ''stick with Bart''.

The master trainer has four runners and one of his favourites, Saintly, carries 2kg less than in his 1996 win. Cummings's other runners include Galilee, Light Fingers and Think Big. He also strapped his father Jim's 1950 winner, Comic Court, which also made the field.

FIELD FOR THE GREATEST MELBOURNE CUP NEVER RUN

1: Phar Lap
2: Carbine
3: Makybe Diva
4: Peter Pan
5: Galilee
6: Poseidon
7: Rising Fast
8: Rain Lover
9: Comic Court
10: Grand Flaneur
11: Might and Power
12: Archer
13: vintage Crop
14: Delta
15: Malua
16: Nightmarch
17: Poitrel
18: Saintly
19: The Barb
20: Dalray
21: Hall Mark
22: Light Fingers
23: Doriemus
24: Think Big

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