Along with the official 24 horses making up the Melbourne Cup 2015 field this Spring, the full list of jockeys to take a sit on a runner in the ‘race that stops a nation’ next Tuesday at Flemington Racecourse has also been confirmed.
Bendigo Cup winner The Offer will have triple Melbourne Cup winning hoop Damien Oliver in the saddle in Race 7 at Flemington on Tuesday. Photo: Steve Hart.
Due to run as Flemington Race 7 on Tuesday November 3 at 3:00pm (AEST), this year’s $6.2 million Group 1 Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) field was released after the racing action of Victoria Derby Day.
2015 Melbourne Cup Jockeys
On the Favourite: Zac Purton aboard Fame Game
Most Successful: Damien Oliver (3 wins, 3 seconds) aboard The Offer
The 24 Melbourne Cup jockeys are also now known including the Hong Kong-based Aussie expat Zac Purton who rides the early race favourite Fame Game.
One of 11 internationals raiding the world’s richest handicap down under, Fame Game leads Melbourne Cup betting at around $4 through Ladbrokes.com.au and Purton has his third ride in the two mile classic on the last start Caulfield Cup sixth placegetter.
The most successful Melbourne Cup jockey in recent history is Damien Oliver who from 25 rides in the great race boasts three victories and three second place finishes.
Oliver’s previous Melbourne Cup winning rides were aboard Doremus (1995), Media Puzzle (2002) and most recently the Gai Waterhouse-trained Fiorente (2013).
He is back in 2015 aboard another livewire Waterhouse hope, former Sydney Cup winner The Offer who is set to carry 54kg on the back of his Group 3 Bendigo Cup (2400m) win with 59kg on October 28.
Other previous Melbourne Cup winning jockeys with a mount in 2015 include Gerald Mosse (Americain, 2010) and Kerrin McEvoy (Brew, 2000) who partner Ed Dunlop’s triple Melbourne Cup runner-up Red Cadeaux and Waterhouse’s second runner this season Excess Knowledge respectively.
Red Cadeaux is a 10-year-old when racing in Australia and contests his fifth straight Emirates Melbourne Cup next week carrying 55kg after his third second 12 months ago behind Germany’s Protectionist.
Excess Knowledge meanwhile gets into the field on just 51kg, an exact weight four Melbourne Cup champions have carried to victory since 1990 with: Let’s Elope (1991), Jezabeel (1998), Makybe Diva (2003) for her first of a record three Loving Trophies and most recently Shocking (2009).
The in-form Monsun six-year-old has been in flying form this prep with a Herbert Power Stakes second two back, a race that produced last year’s winner Protectionist (4th), and his Group 3 Lexus Stakes (2500m) victory on Derby Day that earned him an 11th hour Melbourne Cup start.
Also with a Melbourne Cup win on the record and a chance to add another this season are Jim Cassidy on Chris Waller’s Sydney Cup winner this autumn Grand Marshall, Ryan Moore riding the 58kg top weight Snow Sky, Blake Shinn on another of Waller’s proven two milers Who Shot Thebarman and Brett Prebble on one of the two Aidan O’Brien-trained Irish raiders Bondi Beach having just his sixth race start.
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