Racing: Melbourne Cups on show in Cambridge

This year's Melbourne Cup will have distinguished company when it stops at Cambridge Stud on its whistle-stop tour of New Zealand today.

Eight previous cups won by New Zealand horses will be present at Cambridge Stud when the 2006 trophy, brought to New Zealand by Victorian racing officials for a week-long tour, stops by at 10.30am.

The cups present today are from Rising Fast (1954), Hi Jinx (1960), Van Der Hum (1976), Silver Knight (1971), Empire Rose (1988), Jezabeel (1998), Brew (2000) and Ethereal (2001).

Illness meant organiser Barry Lee was unable to get the cups from Even Stevens (1972) and Kiwi (1983) along as well.

Since 1947, when Hiraji became the first Waikato-bred to win the cup, 31 winners have been New Zealand-bred. Twenty-one of those have come from Waikato and 13 of those from the Cambridge area.

People representing at least 25 cup winners will attend the function, Lee said.

After a luncheon at the stud, a civic reception will be held in Cambridge with a plaque to be unveiled marking the 13 cup winners from Cambridge.

This year's 18-carat gold Melbourne Cup tour began in Auckland and takes in Cambridge (today), Christchurch (tomorrow) and Dunedin (Friday) before returning to Australia.

The A$5 million ($5.78 million) race is at Flemington on November 7.

- NZPA