Macca

6.30pm tonight (SBS Viceland) 'Country Music' 2nd episide (Ken Burns) ... part 1 is available on SBS On Demand Often heard that rock n roll (and later on all the off-shoots of rock) was borne out of Country Music roots. Stand corrected of course The first episode was good so definitely worth a look

Well there you go ... never knew, HT Looks good too And I don't dislike or hate the union jack ... it's just time to move on and recognise other, more important aspects to our history (and that goes back approximately 40,000 years) By the way, 'Event Horizon' - good movie!

I'd remove the Union Jack but replace that portion of the flag with the indigenous flag Forever recognising the original inhabitants of our great country

Traditionally we take a break from giving out best bets after Stakes day. I'll still be here from time to time having a few bets ... more so making the odd reference to the feature events that pop up For instance the Ballarat Cup & Cranbourne Cup next weekend and the Ascot G1's from Perth etc over summer As for the Spring, I started really well and finished really well ... inbetween not so good. But I'm in front and that's what matters! Gorg, DZ and others ... thanks for the contributions!

I did ok ... got a 2/3 place parlay up at Rosehill All got into the finish so 4 collects ... got an early winner at double winnings Nature Strip & Zaaki won as expected And Zoushack got up for you Gorg ... good pick!

Bumping with the 3rd placegetter didn't help Just audio here but I thought it was home!

All 3 winning will return a healthy dividend of $150 (without a boost) But I'll be playing around with a couple/few at the place (in multi's) Good luck punters!

Best Bet Saturday (Flemington) R1 No.7 Silent Sovereign 8.50/2.25 For the 'Place' in a multi best, but can win!

Gorgoroth @Dappa Dan @DeeSpencer @JV7 @Dee Zephyr @Go the Biff @titan_uranus @Clintosaurus @DemonDave @layzie 2 points on offer this week. Good luck! Leaderboard - Tipping Comp 6 - Go the Biff, Clintosaurus, JV7 5 - Dee Zephyr 4 - Gorgoroth 3 - DemonDave, titan_uranus, DeeSpencer, layzie, Macca

Well, there is a bit of truth to the naming of the trophy as the league is out there on its own as easily the biggest in the world Plus, all the best players in the world play in the MLB Of course, the yanks don't mind a bit of self congratulations but again, it would be hard to see any team outside of the USA beating the World Series winners I'm well used to it so that sort of bragging doesn't bother me at all Also, it would be hard to argue that any team outside of Australia would stand a chance against the Melbourne Demons So, in effect, we are the World Champions (unless the NZ Nobodies somehow beat us!)

Yes you're right but the replica leaves me a little bit cold even though I know the original can't be moved It might be a case where the original urn is so fragile that it can't be moved at all ... but a replica within a nice looking trophy (gold?) would fit the bill The oddest looking trophy is possibly the Baseball World Series one. Not the sort of thing that can be tossed around!

That's not a bad idea but I'm assuming you (and others) know the historical story behind the Ashes The original urn is now too fragile to be travelled from Lords so a replica is given out these days But the original urn encased in a grandiose trophy (to act as protection as well) certainly has merit As for the Melbourne Cup, it could be marginally bigger but like the urn, it's an iconic trophy with a rich, rich history. I'm assuming that both trophies are the same size as when first presented (19th century) The NRL trophy is a bit oversized and the Stanley Cup (Ice Hockey) is rather large as well! The soccer world cup is only 36 centimetres tall (but is made up of 75% 18 carot gold and worth $160k)

They would be bred for food instead ... not widespread but it would happen in certain countries The horse would end up like the pig, goat, sheep, chickens, beef cattle etc etc Horse lovers should be barracking for horse racing. In reality, the horse is quite a pampered animal, all things considered

You'd have to wonder what would become of the horse if we didn't have horse racing Can't really be kept as pets can they? Out the backyard? I don't think so No, the horse would quickly become a slaughter animal ... used to feed humans and dogs. Running wild? Would they be protected? As it stands, when considering how many millions of dogs and cats are 'put down' each year, the horse does ok.

And now for the Oaks! I see Jye McNeil is off 'Willowy' ($4.80) and is now on 'Elusive Express' ($4.20) Damien Oliver to ride Willowy whilst J-Mac is riding 'Daisies' ($5.50) All others double-figures apart from Biscayne Bay ($8) with Hugh Bowman on board

Very true with regards to the strength of the field ... a throw-back to days gone-by before the flood of overseas entrants And with the (now) stringent testing for overseas horses, we could expect more of the same But I found the race to be a lot easier to decipher with regards to form. The top 4 in the weights stood out as the best runners whilst the rest (apart from Floating Artist) were making up the numbers (as it turned out) 5th place was 10 lengths off the winner! Not forgetting that Chris Waller & J-Mac have won their first Melbourne Cup

Doubt they'd run VE in the McKinnon Stakes DZ but if they did, it would probably win! The Kingston Town Classic at Ascot? haha She might end up with quite a CV though ... the 6yo Mare will have another 3 x Autumn's & 2 x Spring's before it becomes a 9 year old. Incentivise is only a 5yo so we'll see that horse for at least a few more years as well And Zaaki is a 7yo with a bit left in the tank. Both Incentivise & Zaaki are geldings so they'll be racing on you'd imagine Facing the breeze along the river side told in the end for Incentivise. Along with the 2 miles & 57kgs. In the Caulfield Cup it had cover. Brave effort nonetheless But Verry Elleegant is the Champion!

Huge acquisition Rams at Lambeau late November ... that'll be a game to look forward to!

Been a lean time of late Gorg but more than made up for it with that collect! Too good a horse to ignore especially when it drifted to 22-1 (and I very nearly ignored it) The classiest horse with by far the best previous form ended up winning the race ... won't be getting tired of watching that replay in a hurry! Red & Blue colours with a jockey named James McDonald on board. Who knew? Hopefully my little bit of luck rubs off here!!

Verry Elleegant went into a F4 last minute ... salutes and a reasonable percentage of a F4 as a result. Happy Days!! Couldn't believe how far it drifted in the betting, all things considered (especially with J-Mac on board) A great win by the mighty mare ... 10 x G1's now

9 road winners this week! And the way the Chiefs are going, the Giants might make it 10

Noticed that 'Water Bomber' has firmed into 5.50 from 8.50 (Maribyrnong Plate R1 No.10) On debut and trained by Mick Price ... might end up starting favourite Reckon 'Exelman' (R3) and 'Pandemic' (JMac R10) could both run well

Bengali, Rams, Bucs

Enjoy! Already picked out my bets for the day but the Cup seems more straightforward with a number of horses that could be ruled out from getting into the finish But who knows? A lightweight bolter might get up! I'll definitely be including Great House & Floating Artist in my exotic bets

On to the Cup we go! Wide exotic for me in the race but 'Incentivise' is going to be hard to beat Melbourne Cup Field, Form, Odds & Appraisal (Just Horse Racing)