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Alan Aitken

Nikolic overcomes stewards' grilling and now goes for glory
The professional race watchers may have aided once-a-year punters looking for that elusive 2007 Melbourne Cup winner today, after stewards at Flemington shone a floodlight on the run of Zipping on Saturday.
Zipping, ridden by Danny Nikolic, flashed into third from last on the home turn in the Mackinnon Stakes over 2,000m, in a tradition as old as the Cup itself but which has been out of favour for much of the last decade.
Arguments will always rage on whether such a run is a non-trier having a warm-up for the Cup, or whether a horse trained for 3,200m on the Tuesday simply finds the 2,000m distance too short three days earlier.
Each race is completely different in style - the Mackinnon Stakes is a terms event where horses carry weights according to how old they are and not what they have achieved, while the Cup is a handicap where the same horses might race each other with huge weight differences according to their records.
On Saturday, the stewards spent much of their available time putting Nikolic and other connections of Zipping under hot lights and heavy questioning to discover why Zipping gave away such a big start. It all ended fairly tamely, but it was a free pointer to one of the great Cup chances today.
Will it be a replay of 1985, when What A Nuisance, carrying the same colours as Zipping for owner Lloyd Williams, produced a big finishing burst in the Mackinnon to come from second-last for fifth before winning the main event?
There is a long history of finding the Cup winner from such a beaten run and the Mackinnon for many years was the preparation race to look at, but since the internationalisation of the Cup in the 1990s different preparation methods for the winners have emerged.
Master trainer Bart Cummings, who caused the 60-1 upset with Sirmione on Saturday, has won more Melbourne Cups than any trainer in its 146-year history and almost always gave his runners a 'pipe opener' in the Mackinnon.
Gold And Black won the Mackinnon as a 40-1 underdog, then won the Cup as favourite for Cummings and his 1999 Cup winner Rogan Josh was thought out of his depth at 16-1 when he won the Mackinnon before becoming the most recent horse to do the double. But Cummings also won Cups with horses well beaten and running on in the Mackinnon, like Hyperno (1979), who found the Cup more suitable.
Outstanding mares Let's Elope (1991) and Laurie Laxon's Empire Rose (1988) emerged as worthy Cup favourites with blistering wins on the weekend prior, but more winners have been beaten in the Mackinnon only to rise to stardom in the Cup.
In 1982, Gurner's Lane, like Zipping, was the subject of an inquiry when second in the Mackinnon before taking the Cup and five years later Kensei produced a big finish back in the Mackinnon ruck before his Cup win.
In 1989, no-one considered the Lee Freedman-trained Tawrrific a Cup chance until he finished ninth in the Mackinnon Stakes, making up many lengths from a long last on the home turn. There were still doubters and Tawrrific was 30-1 on the Tuesday as well but over the extra distance he won it for Shane Dye.
Freedman's Subzero (1992) had no such doubters after his beaten run behind Veandercross in the Mackinnon and he was second favourite when he turned the tables on him on the Tuesday.
Alas, there were eight Cup horses who raced in the Mackinnon on Saturday - Tawqeet, Railings, Scenic Shot, Maybe Better, Douro Valley, Zipping, Princess Coup and Sirmione - but at least you know which run the stewards thought was good.
'Cups King' Bart Cummings has won the race that stops a nation this many times: 11
Former Hong Kong trainer David Hayes has a record number of runners today: 5
Aussie bookies expect to carry bets totalling this amount in millions: 300



Zipping into the limelight