Melbourne Cup Day 2014

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Today is the 154th running of the Emirates Melbourne Cup and my first day off since the Queen's Birthday holiday in June.  While the weather is warm it is a bit overcast and windy.  There were twenty-four horses in the draw this year, but two withdrew before the race began- Sea Moon and Cavalryman.  The favorites going in were Japanese horse Admire Rakti, Fawkner, German horse Protectionist, Lucia Valentina and Derby Day winner Signoff.

My Ambivalent sprinted out at a cracking pace but was eventually caught by the pack.  As the horses reached the straight Protectionist broke free and won the Cup by three lengths, with Red Cadeaux finishing in second place for the third time, and Who Shot TheBarman finishing third.  Tragically the race favorite, Admire Rakti, finished last and then collapsed in the stalls and died.  Another horse, Araldo, got spooked by the crowd heading back to the mounting yard and kicked into a fence, breaking his pastern bone.  Vets operated to try and save him but he had to be euthanised.  It's a very sad reminder of the toll of horse racing- last year French horse Verema was put down on the field after snapping her cannon bone during the Cup race.