Best Australian Racing Stories (35 page)

Comic Court, the 1950 Melbourne Cup winner who was trained by Jim Cummings and strapped by a young Bart Cummings. (Courtesy of ARM)

The heyday of racing—Randwick racecourse in the 1950s when it was quite normal for enormous crowds to attend. (Courtesy of AJC)

Part of the Randwick racecourse betting ring in the 1950s, before the advent of legal off-course betting. (Courtesy of AJC)

Light Fingers, on the outside, defeats stable mate Ziema by a nose in the 1965 Melbourne Cup. (Courtesy of Newspix)

Galilee, ridden by John Miller, wins the 1966 Melbourne Cup—the second in a row for trainer Bart Cummings. (Courtesy of Newspix)

Think Big with Bart Cummings after his first Melbourne Cup victory in 1974. The strapper is a youthful Guy Walter. (Courtesy of Newspix)

Reckless and Tommy Woodcock share a stable bedroom before the 1977 Melbourne Cup. (Courtesy of Bruce Postle/Fairfax Photos)

Two great ladies of the turf. Trainer Sheila Laxon and the champion mare Ethereal, two weeks before the mare's 2001 Melbourne Cup victory. (Courtesy of Colin Murty/ Newspix)

Vintage Crop wins the Melbourne Cup in 1993, the first horse to do so who was owned, trained and bred overseas. (Courtesy of Steve Hart Photographics)

Glen Boss celebrates Makybe Diva's first Melbourne Cup victory on 4 November 2003.

(Courtesy of Darren McNamara/Newspix)

A moment in history—Makybe Diva wins her third Melbourne Cup on 1 November 2005. (Courtesy of Kelly Barnes/Newspix)

Damien Oliver looks heavenward after winning the 2002 Melbourne Cup on Media Puzzle. (Courtesy of Richard Cisar-Wright/Newspix)

Bart Cummings shows Viewed the Melbourne Cup, Bart's 12th, after the horse's victory in the big race on 4 November 2008. (Courtesy of David Geraghty/Newspix)

That Percy Podgrass gave us for the Cup?

. . . Of course he's sure to win.

As the ‘battle' proceeds to its inevitable conclusion—victory for the wife—we share the catch-22 frustration of the husband who knows that the only way he will get to the Cup is by being ‘conned' out of his stake money:

‘Of course, I wouldn't have my wife look shabby.

Take what you need. We'll make a smaller bet . . .