KEY POINTS:
Bart Cummings came to the opening day of his 64th Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington yesterday hoping for some luck and some history.
The luck came when Moatize won the Saab Quality and made sure the 80-year-old trainer would have two runners when trying to win a 12th Cup on Tuesday.
The history arrived at much the same time _ even if it wasn't the piece he'd hoped for.
Cummings announced he would do something he had never done before _ put a woman jockey on one of his Cup runners.
"She rides alright, she'll do a good job," Cummings said of Clare Lindop who will ride Moatize in the Cup.
Yesterday she became the first woman to ride a Victoria Derby winner when she guided Rebel Raider to a shock victory over the odds-on favourite Whobegotyou.
The 29-year-old Lindop is one of the top riders in Adelaide where she won the jockeys' championship two seasons back. She is the first Australian woman to ride a Group One winner and she became the first woman to ride in the Melbourne Cup when she partnered Debben for trainer Leon Macdonald in 1994.
To become the first woman to ride a Cup winner for Cummings would assure Lindop of a special place in Australian racing.
At the moment though, she is satisfied with merely being in the race on a horse trained by the man who knows more about winning the race than anyone on earth.
"It's unbelievable," she said.
"Bart Cummings wants me to ride one of his horses in the Melbourne Cup. I can't think of a greater honour."
Except, perhaps, winning it.
With all the money for Whobegotyou, Rebel Raider started at $101 and although Macdonald believed he had a horse who could run a strong 2500m he was dismayed when he came up with barrier 15.
"I always had faith in him but when he drew gate 15 I doubted if he could do it because no horse ever has," Macdonald said.
"This is the biggest thrill of my career, to do this with Clare and the whole team, it's just the happiest day of my life."
Morphettville trainer Macdonald has won many Group One races including the AJC Australian Derby with Gold Guru whose owner Harry Perks is a shareholder in Rebel Raider.
Geelong Classic winner The Tiger led as he did at his previous start and the field was strung out with Whobegotyou near the tail of the field.
As they bunched up on the turn Michael Rodd took Whobegotyou wide as his custom but Rebel Raider went with him.
Just as Whobegotyou gathered in the field and was being hailed the winner, Rebel Raider accelerated past him to win by a widening 2 lengths with Pre Eminence making up ground for third another 2 lengths away.
Rebel Raider won the Group Three Sires' Produce Stakes (1600m) in Adelaide in April and came into the race off a fifth over 1800m at Cheltenham and third to The Tiger at Geelong.
He is a son of Reset, an unbeaten son of supersire of stayers Zabeel, but Macdonald would not be drawn into discussing the future.
"I think he can make a true stayer but we're not worried about anything else today," he said. "We will just enjoy this. I'm still shaking."
Lindop was also shaking.
"It's awesome," she said. "We never doubted this horse had the ability to stay.
"He's not the easiest horse in the world to prepare but everyone in the stable from the strappers up got behind him to produce what he did today. I didn't think that he had a huge sprint but the best part was that he was going to run the trip right out. I was really impressed with the way he finished off today."
Whobegotyou's trainer Mark Kavanagh said he was proud of his horse who has had a marvellous preparation including wins in the Caulfield Guineas and AAMI Vase. "The better horse on the day won."
