I picked the winner!!!

Yup - for the first time in years of betting on the Melbourne Cup, I finally picked the winner today - "Delta Blues". I know next to nothing about horse racing, but like many Aussies, Cup Day is the one day every year that I put a few dollars down to back a horse or two. Ken and I have brought his Mum to our place for Cup Day every year for the last ten or so years; she would be sitting home on her own watching the races on t.v. and so would we, so we decided long ago to make it a tradition for us. I collect her from her house in the morning and we stop at the TAB on the way back here, to put our bets on. There are ten races at Flemington on Cup Day - the Melbourne Cup is the seventh one. But we put a bet on a horse in every race, and usually more than one horse in the Cup. We usually break even or make a small profit, and today I came out $10 ahead, thanks to Delta Blues!

It was great to see Delta Blues and Pop Rock - both from Japan, come first and second in the Cup. Pop Rock was ridden by an Aussie (Damian Oliver), but Delta Blues was ridden by a Japanese jockey, who had only arrived here the day before. He was absolutely overwhelmed when he won, actually crying with the excitement! Damian Oliver made a really lovely gesture as they rode over the finishing line - he extended his hand to the Japanese jockey to congratulate him. This is very rarely seen in horse-racing - more often in motorcycle racing, as Ken commented! It is interesting how people see things, isn't it...Ken's mum remarked that only 60 years ago we were at war with Japan. Now their horses have won our biggest race!
Read more about about it here