IT feels like only yesterday that I came to my first Melbourne Cup and that was five years ago in 2006. It has now become such a regular fixture of my year that I couldn't imagine not coming.
In fact it has become the highlight of my year.
Like a lot of Europeans, I had not realised quite what a huge event the Melbourne Cup was until I came the first time and, as you can tell, I have become a bit addicted, as has my whole family.
After two close seconds in the race with Purple Moon and Bauer, we have become more and more determined to win, and with a four-strong team this year, we are giving ourselves the best chance possible.
The evergreen Bauer is defying age and injury and is out to win a second Geelong Cup on Wednesday to secure a place in the Melbourne Cup.
Manighar and Drunken Sailor are going the Caulfield Cup route and Chilean newcomer Sahara Sun goes for the Bendigo Cup on Wednesday week after showing us in the Caulfield Stakes that he needs the 2400m and a galloping track.
With a record four internationals confirmed to run in Saturday's Caulfield Cup and 14 internationals entered in the Melbourne Cup, it seems we are not alone in our quest for the richest handicap prize in the world.
Of the main hopefuls for the Melbourne Cup, most are either international horses or locally trained imports such as Lucas Cranach, Midas Touch and December Draw.
The first two were top-class performers in Europe, but December Draw has been a revelation since he joined Mark Kavanagh's stable at Flemington.
Mark told me for a Herald Sun video interview I did with him yesterday that the horse was bought to win a Wagga Cup, not a Melbourne or Caulfield Cup.
Bauer is a case in point of how an international horse can come to Australia with moderate form and really improve. He went so close to winning a Melbourne Cup.
You look at Bauer and some of the others Aidan O'Brien has brought across and the results have been surprising, but your Cups are handicaps and some horses adjust better down here than others.
I had to laugh during yesterday's interview with Mark at his response when I asked what he thought had been the key to December Draw's improvement.
"A really nice carrot and some reindeer juice," he said.
He can afford to laugh because Mark has turned December Draw into a perfectly legitimate Caulfield Cup favourite.
- From: Herald Sun
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