Grab a copy of tomorrow's New Zealand Herald for your Melbourne Cup sweepstake chart
KEY POINTS:
Lisa Cropp vividly remembers where she was standing in 2001 as she watched Ethereal make Sheila Laxon the first woman to train a Melbourne Cup winner.
That was the place the high achiever wanted to be. But on the horse's back, not in the grandstand.
Cropp gave herself that chance when she outrode one of the world's finest jockeys, Craig Williams, to win the A$250,000 ($302,000) SAAB Quality at Flemington on New Zealand stayer Sculptor.
The Cambridge jockey rode as if her life depended on it. In fact it was her only opportunity to get a ride in the A$5 million Melbourne Cup - Sculptor had to win the SAAB to force his way into tomorrow's big race; second wasn't good enough.
Methamphetamine charges may still be hovering against her, but that was forgotten as Cropp motivated Sculptor and women in Australian racing, who claim their sex does not get the fair shake women get in NZ.
Victoria has 239 male jockeys and just 54 female riders.
The current intake in New Zealand is evenly split. For the first time two women will ride in a Melbourne Cup: South Australia's high-profile Clare Lindop has been engaged for Dolphin Jo.
Lindop became the first Australian women jockey to ride in the Cup, in 2003. "I'm very happy, but I'm a jockey first. I'm not flying the flag for women."
Fellow jockey Michelle Payne sees it differently. "It's wonderful Clare and Lisa have got [Cup] rides. I get taken off rides all the time because I'm a woman."
Lisa Cropp, often a controversial figure, was twice in trouble with stewards on Saturday.
She was reprimanded for removing her skullcap in the birdcage after dismounting and for grabbing and twisting Sculptor's ear when the horse became unsettled and tried to climb out of the barrier stalls.
Trainer Peter McKenzie had requested a starter's assistant to stand with Sculptor in the barriers, but when that didn't happen Cropp had to do her best to settle the horse, unaware that jockeys are not permitted to grab horses' ears at the start in Australia.
Cropp, 36, has won jockeys premierships and every accolade possible in horse racing, but nothing will get her heart pumping like walking into the Flemington barrier stalls at 5pm tomorrow.
Princess Coup is the best fancied of the New Zealand runners in the Cup.
Bookmakers slashed her price from $21 to $11 after her terrific second in Saturday's A$750,000 Mackinnon Stakes, a race she probably would have won if rider Kerrin McEvoy had ridden a bit more patiently.
McEvoy is replaced by New Zealand jockey Noel Harris tomorrow.
Sculptor is rated a $31 chance, Eskimo Queen is at $21 and Railings is the despised $300 outside of the field.
