Sport is made for betting

Wow, I thought I'd see hell freeze over first but Betfair have successfully negotiated with Sky Racing to bring live Australian Racing to customers in the UK & Ireland, in addition to Melbourne Cup Day (where the broadcast rights are held by another network). Streaming Deal Just a day after announcing a deal with the VRC to stream Flemington meetings to Betfair customers on its wagering website, Betfair's chief executive Andrew Twaits yesterday revealed the betting giant had also agreed a deal with Sky Racing to cover the spring carnival. Twaits said the deal would enable up to 1.4 million Betfair customers in Ireland and Britain to see the best of the Melbourne spring carnival racing. It allows Betfair to have live streaming of today's Caulfield Cup meeting, the Cox Plate meeting next Saturday, three days of the Melbourne Cup carnival at Flemington and the Sandown Classic from Betfair Park on November 14. If you're interested in trading on it, the fastest audio fee...

The Betfair Australia spruikers tell you which horses to avoid!

I as at Moonee Valley this day (1992), listen to the crowd roar when Bryan Martin first calls 'and here comes Let's Elope!' She had won the Caulfield/Melbourne Cup double the year before. Better Loosen Up had won the Japan Cup of 1990, and there were several other G1 winners in there as well. The roof nearly came off the grandstand. I did my nuts on the race (backed Naturalism), but what a feeling it was to see the old champ Super Impose (dual winner of the Epsom and Doncaster Hcps) get up on the line. The crowd is so close at Moonee Valley, the atmosphere is electric.

Unfortunately the Cox Plate is too close to the Arc de Triomphe and the Breeders' Cup for it ever to become a world-renowned contest. People around the world might only have heard of the Melbourne Cup, but that's just the people's race - a two mile handicap that any horse could win, a flat version of the Grand National. But both of those races are now quality handicaps with the better horses winning because the weight scales are more compressed. But the Cox Plate is the best race in the Southern Hemisphere. Here is some of the history of the great race.