Racing History Is Made At The 151st Melbourne Cup
06 November 2011
The first photo finish ever in the Melbourne Cup
Trained by Ed Dunlop and reared at Heatherwold Stud, Red Cadeaux was involved in the closest finish in 150 years
Trained by Ed Dunlop, Red Cadeaux was just pipped at the post by a whisker to come an extremely close second in Australia’s most celebrated race. In one of the most exciting finishes in the history of the Melbourne Cup, Red Cadeaux hit the front in the final furlong but lost by a hair’s breadth to the Geelong Cup winner, Dunaden.
It was a very close call and nobody would have been surprised if the A$6 million event had ended up as a dead-heat but after lengthy deliberation, Dunaden was named the winner. They were long and anxious minutes as the judge examined an enhanced photo of the closest finish in the history of the race.
There were mixed emotions for Ed Dunlop after his 50-1 shot ran such an amazing race only to suffer an agonising defeat on the line. He said: " I was watching the race with Luca Cumani, who had also been second before and he thought we had won but I was not so sure and would galdly have settled for a dead-heat. The longer the phot-finish went on, the more hopeful I got but it was not to be. We got chinned on the line."
"This has been a great experience – of course it’s frustrating to get beaten on the nod but I’ve never had a runner here before and if he’s okay we’ll be back next year. I had heard so much about the Melbourne Cup being ‘the race that stops a nation’ and it is certainly something very unique. It was our first attempt and we have hit the crossbar – maybe next year we will find the back of the net!”
Reflecting on the race, Ed said of the brave runner, “I could not have asked more of Red Cadeaux and had there been a little bit more juice in the ground I think he would have won”.
Congratulations to Ed Dunlop, Red Cadeaux and all of his connections; we look forward to seeing them there again next year.
Here is a rerun of the race - Red Cadeaux comes up fast on the outside in the final furlong but is just denied victory in the last 50 yards.
