MELBOURNE CUP - IT’S DUNADEN BY A WHISKER

By Graham Potter | Tuesday, November 1, 2011

What is the difference between $3.6 million and $900 000?

Answer: A nostril. That is the margin that the judge found in favour of French raider Dunaden over the long-priced Red Cadeaux in a pulsating finish to the 2011 Melbourne Cup and that was the difference in prize-money between first and second place.

The winner was coming off victory in the Geelong Cup just as fellow French campaigner and 2010 Melbourne Cup winner Americain had done a year ago, once again illuminating that route into the Melbourne Cup as being as good a pointer to the Cup outcome as any race in the buildup to the big day.

It was that close that few amongst the jam-packed terraces could call the result with the naked eye as Dunaden and Red Cadeaux seemingly went through the line locked together. In the end the result gave cause for unbounded joy for one and devastating disappointment for the other because, in essence, it wasn’t all about the money. It was about winning!

After surviving the give and take of battle and the pitfalls that can come about when a field of twenty-three thoroughbreds continuously jostle for position over a two mile trip Dunaden and Red Cadeaux came to the fore when it mattered most to join issue inside the final 50m in a stride for stride battle for Cup glory.

That’s when a nostril made a difference … and the closest finish in the one-hundred-and-fifty-one running’s of the Melbourne Cup went into the record books.

For jockey Christophe Lemaire, who was only confirmed as the rider of Dunaden less than twenty-four hours before the big race, it was a momentous first ride at Flemington. That this inch perfect effort came from a first-time foreigner in a sense set the ghost to rest that local jockeys are a better option when seeking a big race success in Australia.

Gerald Mosse had shown that to be folly last year. Lemaire, Mosse’s compatriot, drove that point home once again. That is not to say the best of the international riders are better than the best Australian jockeys. That is certainly not the case at all. The lesson of the last two years simply is that overseas riders are not the liability that some have suggested they are over past years. They are serious competition and can ride a finish.

Had Michael Rodd prevailed aboard Red Cadeaux another fable might have folded … that being that an international runner is unlikely to win if it has not run in Australia prior to tackling its major mission.

Like Dunaden, Red Cadeauz had also won his lead-up start into the Cup, but that was thousands of miles across the other side of the world where he triumphed in the Irish St Leger on September 10.

On a technicality … there’s that nostril again … that ‘unlikely’ point of reference might still hold true, but Red Cadeaux got oh so close to setting that record straight he must at least have shaken the foundation of that theory.

There would have been another major debate if Red Cadeaux had got the decision after the stewards fined Michael Rodd for being in breach of the whip rule. Rodd was handed his penalty for using the whip seven times, two in consecutive strides, in a forehand manner prior to the 100m mark.

Another photo was needed to decide third and fourth place. This time the prize-money difference was perhaps a more bearable $200 000 ($450 000 for third, $250 000 for fourth). The net result here for punters was that the trifecta dividend was boosted by the fact that the race favourite Americain just failed to take third place away from Lucas Cranach.

The former, who had held up the start, ranged into contention at the right time but failed to match the ultimate finishing effort of the winner and the runner-up while Americain charged home wide out on the track after being well back early in the running. It was a huge run by the defending champion, but, for all the merit in it, this time his effort was only worth fourth place.

Corey Brown, the rider of Lucas Cranach, was the only jockey to pick up a suspension from his ride in the Cup. Brown was outed for fourteen meetings after being found guilty of a careless riding charge related to an incident when the runners left the home straight for the first time.

Talking of suspensions, many spared a thought for jockey Craig Williams as the winning number went into the frame. Williams had ridden Dunaden in the Geelong Cup and had been booked to partner the horse again in the Melbourne Cup.

After his big race successes earlier in the carnival, the ride on Dunaden would have given Williams the opportunity to become the first rider to win the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup in one season … but Williams picked up an untimely suspension and, despite fighting his ban, he eventually was forced to stand down from the Melbourne Cup, opening the way for Christophe Lemaire to take up the reins.

Williams didn’t ride in the race and he didn’t watch it live. He went to the movies instead, but his phone soon started vibrating as messages of the big race result started to pour in.

While there can be no doubt that Willaims paid a heavy price for his indiscretion and most people sympathized with his plight, the truth is nobody will ever know if Williams would have won on Dunaden.

No two rides are alike. Different jockeys make different decisions and what might have happened becomes unprovable theory. What is undeniable is the fact that the Williams issue added to the drama of the Cup … as something always does every year in the big race build-up.

Again, as always, Cup day provided another memorable chapter in the rich tapestry that is the Australian horse-racing culture. It had a French taste to it to be sure but, if anything, that only added to the stature of the event of which all Australians are suitably proud.