Melbourne Cup madness tipped

Who Shot The Barman is one horse whose form is well known, but other runners may be a mystery to punters.

Two regular Hawke's Bay cup-day event organisers, the Taradale RSA manager Ben Allen and Clive Hotel manager Craig Welsh, expect interest to be as big as ever as punters, many in their sole gambling indulgence of the year, splurge at least $10 million across the country, in bets with the TAB and in office, pub and club sweepstakes.

Mr Allen expects 160-200 people to be booked in for the afternoon at the RSA.

Mr Welsh said the Clive Hotel was "wall-to-wall" for much of the afternoon of last year's Cup, despite the race not starting till 5pm, and he did not expect anything less this year.

The difficulties for punters was highlighted by new Hawke's Bay Racing and sometimes TV racing comments man Andrew "Butch" Castles, who counted 11 in the field that have come from the northern hemisphere for the race, and another six that had raced mainly in the north.

"That's 17 out of 24 who've had little or no racing in Australia or New Zealand," he said.
He did not follow Japanese racing, but knowledgeable friends had told him trainer Yoshitada Munakata had a horse as good as any previous Japanese runners in the race.

Thus he watched Fame Game closely in the Caulfield Cup a fortnight ago, noticed its late run for sixth after being "held up", and says: "It was huge. It's hard to go for anything else."

Hawke's Bay's most successful trainer, John Bary, said: "The problem is we do get all these European horses, and people don't know the form."

Like Mangatahi farmer Graham De Gruchy who bred 2000 cup winner Brew, he preferred to go with the local knowledge, picking Preferment.

In Australia, it was reported Fame Game would be the shortest-priced favourite in five years, but in New Zealand it battled for punter favouritism with New Zealand hope Who Shot Thebarman, third last year, and Irish hope Trip to Paris.

Betting on the New Zealand and Victorian TABs is "commingled," meaning the betting pools are combined.

Picks:
John "J J" Jenkins, Hawke's Bay racing journalist: To win - 10 Trip to Paris. Also - 3 Fame Game, 11 Who Shot Thebarman, 15 Preferment.

Andrew (Butch) Castles, general manager Hawke's Bay Racing: To win - 3 Fame Game. Also - 15 Preferment, 20 Bondi Beach, 10 Trip to Paris.

Graham De Gruchy, breeder 2002 winner Brew: To win - 15 Preferment. Also - 10 Trip to Paris, 11 Who Shot Thebarman, 23 Excess Knowledge.

John Bary, Hastings racehorse trainer: To win - 15 Preferment. Also - 10 Trip to Paris, 11 Who Shot Thebarman, 3 Fame Game.

Ben Allen, Taradale RSA manager and cup-day event organiser: To win - 11 Who Shot The barman. Also: 2 Criterion, 10 Trip to Paris, 3 Fame Game.

Craig Welsh, Clive Hotel manager and cup-day event organiser: To win - 13 The Offer. Also - 11 Who Shot Thebarman, 2 Criterion, 22 United States.

Doug Laing, occasional but usually awful punter: To win - 10 Trip to Paris. Also - 11 Who Shot Thebarman, 3 Fame Game, 9 Red Cadeaux. A dearth of everyday knowledge about the 24 runners in today's Melbourne Cup seems unlikely to dampen the spirit as New Zealand and Australia reunite after the drama of the Rugby World Cup for the race that stops two nations.