Melbourne Cup: If Bart wins, NZ wins

Bart Cummings is out to win his 13th Melbourne Cup today. Photo / Getty Images

If the fairytale script proves right and Bart Cummings wins an amazing 13th Melbourne Cup today, it will also be a triumph for the New Zealand breeding industry.

Cummings's two runners, the warm favourite So You Think and Precedence, were both bred in New Zealand. So You Think is by High Chaparral, who stood at Cambridge Stud for three seasons, while Precedence is by Cambridge Stud's champion stallion, Zabeel, who sired three of tomorrow's Cup starters.

Cambridge Stud principal Sir Patrick Hogan has a third share in Precedence, but thinks So You Think's performances in a short career stamp him as the one to beat.

"I can't see anything beating the good horse and second will be better than third," he told NZPA when comparing So You Think's chances with those of Precedence.

So You Think's second triumph in the Cox Plate nine days ago and his trouncing of his Mackinnon Stakes opponents have added extra spice to the 150th Melbourne Cup.

He was a $3.40 favourite at Melbourne's famous Call of the Card session with bookmakers yesterday. Some pundits have compared him to the mighty New Zealander Phar Lap, though Cummings has not gone that far.

The 82-year-old master trainer, who has sourced many of his Melbourne Cup winners from New Zealand, was released from hospital on Sunday after a bout of pneumonia and plans to be on course at Flemington today.

The big question is whether So You Think can be as dominant at 3200m as he is at 2000m.

Harris Tweed and Monaco Consul loom as New Zealand's best chances in the Cup - while Monaco Consul is based in Melbourne he is trained by New Zealander Mike Moroney and owned by Kiwis Gerard Peterson and Owen Glenn.

Like So You Think and Precedence, Harris Tweed has an octogenarian on his side, with 87-year-old Tauranga owner Phil Bayly today celebrating his 58th wedding anniversary with wife Mildred. Father and son combination Murray and Bjorn Baker train Harris Tweed.

Red Ruler, trained at Matamata by John Sargent, is the other New Zealand-trained runner, but he has been out of form.

Caulfield Cup winner Descarado was bred and educated in New Zealand, while Maluckyday, Zavite and Master O'Reilly are New Zealand-breds and Shoot Out was conceived here but foaled in Australia.

New Zealand punters splurged out $7.91m on the TAB last year.

Once-a-year punters who remember Kiwi's stirring win in the 1983 Cup might consider the lead jockey Luke Nolen has taken from Kiwi's jockey Jim Cassidy.

Cassidy rode Maluckyday to win the Lexus on Saturday and immediately said the young Zabeel horse was the best stayer he had ridden since Kiwi.

But Cassidy was already committed to Once Were Wild in the Cup, so Nolen got the ride.

"The endorsement that Jimmy has on him is glowing - the best stayer he's ridden since Kiwi - so my ears do prick up when I hear that," Nolen told Melbourne's Herald-Sun.

- NZPA