Aston Rupee All The Rage Ahead Of Melbourne Cup

ASTON Rupee's grip on TAB Melbourne Cup favouritism has strengthened with the Glenn Rounds-trained superstar firming into $2.30 for Friday night's $500,000-to-the-winner Group 1 final.

The $3.70 favourite in TAB's All-In market heading into last Friday night's heats, Aston Rupee went up $2.50 favourite in the Final Field market but has tightened further after commanding 33 percent of the money bet since the heats were completed.

FIELDS AND FORM SANDOWN PARK FRIDAY NIGHT

The next most popular is Lakeview Walter, which is responsible for 17 percent of trade, and has been solid at $10.

Lala Kiwi ($10 in to $9) and $13 pair Kinson Bale and Jax Bale, which both opened $15, are the others to have tightened with Koblenz $3 out to $3.10 after attracting less money than the other seven greyhounds assured of a start.

"Aston Rupee has been the favourite for many weeks now, he was twice as popular as any other runner in betting leading up to the series starting and that's been maintained since the field was finalised last Friday night," TAB's Brad Bishop said.

Mepunga Ruby has been the most popular runner in the Group 1 Bold Trease Final, firming from $2.25 in to $2.15 after attracting 35 percent of money but first reserve Stanley Road has been the other shortener, in to $3.60 from $4.40.

MELBOURNE CUP FINAL

 $2.30    Aston Rupee      (opened $2.50)
$3.10      Koblenz              (opened $3.00)
$8.00    Aussie Secret
$9.00    Lala Kiwi             (opened $10)
$10        Lakeview Walter
Typhoon Sammy
$13        Kinson Bale        (opened $15)
Jax Bale               (opened $15)
$19        Jepara                 (opened $15)
$81        Tiberia Bale        (opened $71)

BOLD TREASE FINAL

 $2.15    Mepunga Ruby  (opened $2.25)
$3.60    Stanley Road     (opened $4.40)
$5.00    Gypsy Wyong    (opened $4.60)
$7.00    Line Of Quality  (opened $6.50)
$7.50    Untapped
Kenny The Brute
$11        Knicks Bale         (opened $8.50)
$23        Drako Bale         (opened $51)
$51        Run Like Jess      (opened $34)
$81        Nikephorus        (opened $71)

Melbourne Cup By The Numbers

$1,418,928 – Total prize money won by the Melbourne Cup finalists

$1,144,185 – Total prize money to be won across the 12 races

$762,500 – Total prize money for the Melbourne Cup final

$500,000 – The winner's purse for the 2021 Melbourne Cup

$16,645 – Inflation adjusted first prize for the 1956 Melbourne Cup (£500) 

1956 – First year the Melbourne Cup was run

1276 – Age in days of Rapid Journey, the oldest Cup winner of record (or 3 years, 5 months, 27 days)

957 – Average age of the last 10 Cup winners, in days (or 2 years, 7 months, 15 days)

142 – Total number of races win by the Melbourne Cup finalists

43 – Combined winning strike rate for the field over 515m at Sandown 

42 – Number of previous Cup finalists this year's trainers have prepared (Thompson 19, Dailly 15, Round 4, Geall 2, Langton 2)

39kg – Weight of the largest Cup winner (El Grand Senor, 2010)

29.327 – Average winner's time since the current surface was installed in 2010

28.909 – Melbourne Cup race record

25 – Number of years since a white dog won Cup

24.9kg – Weight of the smallest Cup winner (Got A Moment, 2012)

18.675 – Average second split run by the last 10 Melbourne Cup winner

17 – Cup winners have worn the red vest, though just two of the last 15 

$14 – Aston Rupee's price when markets opened in March. He has remained favourite ever since

11 – Including Daniel Hibberd, the number of different callers to have called the Cup since 1977

10 – Number of Cup winners who have also won the Victorian Greyhound Of The Year

9 – Margin in lengths Fox Hunt won the 1991 Cup – a record margin

6 – Cup winners in the Victorian Hall of Fame

$5.70 – Average starting price of the last 10 Cup winners

5.03 – Average first split time run by the last 10 Melbourne Cup winner

4 – The number of consecutive Cup winners that have come through the Western Districts Derby 

3 – The number of bitches that have won the Cup in the last 30 years

2 – Favourites that have won the last 10 Cups

0.09 – Margin in lengths between Whiskey Riot and Western Envoy, the closest margin in Cup history