2016 Melbourne Cup Win against the odds for Oceanographer

A win in the Group 1 $6m Emirates Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday for the Godolphin owned Oceanographer is well against the odds, history tells us.

Oceanographer, above, gained a spot in the Melbourne Cup with a win in the Lexus Stakes at Flemington. Photo by  Ultimate Racing Photos.

Oceanographer, above, gained a spot in the Melbourne Cup with a win in the Lexus Stakes at Flemington. Photo by Ultimate Racing Photos.

The English stayer gained a spot in the Melbourne Cup with a win in the Group 3 $300,000 Lexus Stakes (2500m) at Flemington today and will carry 52kg including a 1kg penalty for today’s win.

But the Winner of the Lexus Stakes has only gone on to win the Melbourne Cup twice since 2000 with Brew wining the double that year while the Mark Kavanagh trained Shocking won both in 2009.

Hong Kong based light weight jockey Chad Schofield will take the mount on the Charlie Appleby trained Oceanographer who will wear the Godolphin royal blue colours with a red cap.

The powerful Godolphin organisation will have five runners in Melbourne Cup under the care of three different trainers with Appleby also saddling up Geelong Cup winner Qewy (yellow cap), Saeed Bin Suroor putting the final touches on Beautiful Romance (white cap) and Secret Number (black cap) and John O’Shea leading in Hartnell (blue cap) from their Australian stable.

Appleby had no hesitation in announcing that Oceanographer would take his place in the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday after Kerrin McEvoy produced a well timed run to nail the front runner Tom Melbourne a few strides from the finish post.

“Kerrin has given him a fantastic ride,” Appleby said.

“He went out there and basically told us what he was going to do and I said we aren’t going to tell him what to do because he is on fire.

“I thought that the track would suit him more so than Geelong – at Geelong he just lost his balance coming around the turn.

“We can go and have another day on Tuesday.

“He has taken it all very well and he is thriving out here.

“We will get him back, we will freshen him up as much as we can and we look forward to Tuesday.”

Oceanographer has firmed in dramatically in Melbourne Cup betting at Ladbrokes.com.au and after $21 was offer this morning is now the $7.50 second favourite behind the John O’Shea trained Hartnell ($5) while Caulfield Cup winner Jameka is on the third line of betting at $8.

About The Author

Mark Mazzaglia

Mark is a passionate journalist with a life-time involvement in the racing industry. He spent many years as an analyst and form expert at the Courier Mail and also has hands-on experience working with some of Queensland’s top trainers.