Racing: Heroine almost missed Cup

Lee Freedman put on his Melbourne Cup cap at the press conference and wanted to talk about pressure.

Not the normal type of pressure a trainer has getting the favourite to a Melbourne Cup.

Well, yes that, but the pressure of the people.

Makybe Diva has been a national Australian treasure since she won her second Melbourne Cup a year ago.

And the public have reminded him of the fact.

That pressure became so great for Freedman and especially for owner Tony Santic that Santic nearly pulled Makybe Diva out of the Cup a week ago.

"On one hand we've been told by the public that she was a public horse and there was this almost demand to let her try for her third Melbourne Cup.

"At the same time you get e-mails asking you what the hell you're doing chasing the dollars.

"The ones cheering you on are the ones knocking you."

Santic was quietly stunned by Makybe Diva's 2003 and 2004 Cup victories, but you could almost see the stress wash off him moments after yesterday's great win.

He leapt into the press conference room with the Melbourne Cup held high with: "Wotcha reckon about that boys."

Yet five minutes earlier he revealed that on Monday last week the public and media speculation on whether Makybe Diva would run in the Melbourne Cup was so intense he could barely tolerate it.

"The thrill of winning the Cox Plate was go great they had to hold me up at Moonee Valley. Two days later I was so upset I nearly pulled her out of the Cup."

Freedman had his own read on that.

"I was starting to get the feeling the mare was improving physically after a hard Cox Plate, but there was this other public thing to worry about.

"There was no down side for the mare, but there was a huge down side for us.

"If she was beaten we'd have been seen as these greedy bastards chasing the dollars."

Day by day Freedman got more confident that Makybe Diva could transcend the record books.

"The Cox Plate bottomed her, but two days later she was starting to be back to her best. That's her great talent, apart from amazing ability, she has this remarkable recuperative power.

"Glen came down to my property and rode her. He said I can't see anything that would make you stop. I've found his opinion very valuable because he sees her only occasionally and can therefor judge the difference in her."

The logical statistics told Australia's professional punters that Makybe Diva could not possibly win the Melbourne Cup carrying 58kg.

The more they offered that line, the more Freedman became confident she could.

He got to the point of being almost offended that no one seemed to want to tip her.

"I didn't just think she could win the race, I knew she would.

"The two horses that finished behind her in the Cox Plate, Lad Of The Manor and Lotteria came out and then won group one races.

"Once the Cox form was franked I knew nothing in this field would beat her," Freedman said.

The win was an emotional moment for Irishman Jim Connelly, who had sold Makybe Diva's dam Tugela to Tony Santic in England when she was carrying Makybe Diva.

Connelly hadn't seem Santic or Makybe Diva until he walked onto Flemington yesterday.

Emotional too for 28-year-old strapper Christine Mitchell.

In tears, Mitchell said: "If you ever want to describe a horse as a professional racehorse, call her the professional racehorse.

"She does everything so magnificently to help you, until she gets out onto the track on raceday, then she just buzzes."

Just like the crowd who cheered her home.