MELBOURNE: Legendary mare Makybe Diva's career on the racecourse is over with her third Melbourne Cup win at Flemington this week. Diva's Australian owner Tony Santic announced after the win that this is her last race, saying it will be unfair to ask any more of her.
The crowd at Flemington went into a tizzy as 300 metres from home Makybe Diva ran up to the leaders and sprinted clear. She crossed the finish line, 1¼ lengths clear of her nearest rival, outsider On A Jeune. Jockey Glen Boss, who led her in her last two Melbourne Cup wins, was her mount and he was all in tears. She won $A3 million as proceeds.
Makybe Diva, now christened "The Mare" in Australia, has a record of 15 wins from 36 starts. Apart from the three Melbourne Cups, she has won a Cox Plate, an Australian Cup, a Sydney Cup and Sydney's BMW. Her career earnings stood at $A14,426,685, an Australian record. She had overtaken the total of New Zealand mare Sunline when she had won the Cox Plate at Moonee Valley at her previous start 10 days ago.
Race enthusiasts compared her with New Zealand-bred racing legend Phar Lap, who in four years in the late 1920s and early 1930s, had won 36 of his 50 starts, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup. But, his records are short of Makybe Diva, as he had won only one Melbourne Cup.
Among those who gained by Makybe Diva's win yesterday was an unknown Australian punter who put A$1 million and took home A$4 million. In yet another record bet, a $5 multi-bet made a month ago on the mare to win Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup, paid $11,716 yesterday. The biggest totaliser bet placed on the horse was a $7500 gamble that ended up paying $38,250.
Jockey Glen Boss described the champion mare as "a runaway train that could not be stopped". "I felt like I could have let go of the reins and she would have still done it," said Boss, for whom the win is an emotional conquest. "It felt like it was meant to happen. It was a weird moment in Australian sport and history. She is without doubt Phar Lap the second." The Melbourne Cup is Boss's 51st Group I win.
Boss had an accident, a broken neck from a fall in Macau in 2002. After delicate surgery and having his head in a brace for four months, he had bounced back.
Boss praised trainer Lee Freedman, who prepared Makybe Diva to win the past two Cups. "He presented me with a mare that was full of courage and full of strength that wanted to get out there and tango. I've just sat on her back and steered her in the right direction. She's done all the work. She's a magnificent racing machine."
The day will never be forgotten by the all those who thronged the racecourse to witness an animal achieving the sort of immortality few humans ever manage. It was almost a repeat of 1930, when Phar Lap won the Cup on the way to dominating the spring carnival like no other horse has ever done.
Posted
on : Wed, 02 Nov 2005 06:45 GMT | General News
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