Well friends, it is the start of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and instead of drunk birds drinking overpriced grog, dozens of track staff wearing face masks will flock to Flemington, and given I do enjoy bringing up these historical anniversaries, this year’s Carnival will mark 90 years since Phar Lap completed a feat that will never be equalled ever again:

Winning on all 4 days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

It all started when Big Red survived the fabled assassination attempt on the morning of Derby Day (Saturday, November 1) thanks to Tommy Woodcock, mere hours before he won the Melbourne Stakes (Now the MacKinnon) as the last hit-out before the Melbourne Cup.

On the Tuesday (November 4), after spending the night tucked away in St Albans, Phar Lap obviously won The Cup in a canter as the shortest-priced winner in history (11-8 on), carrying some 63kg (9 st 12 lbs).

2 days later on Oaks Day (November 6), Harry Telford didn’t give his four-legged legend a rest, and entered him into WFA Linlithgow Stakes (Which is now a Group 2 Spring on Derby Day) at 1-7 odds on – Jim Pike won for shits and giggles by 4 lengths.

And, because Telford hadn’t run him enough, Big Red was entered in the C.B Fisher Plate at 2400m on the final Saturday – With Pike aboard, he brought up the epic ‘Grand Slam’ by some 3 lengths, and some bookmakers didn’t even offer odds.

It was Phar Lap’s 21st and final run in the year 1930 – He won 19 of them, with his defeat to Amounis by a short head in the Warwick Stakes in August robbing him of what would’ve been 24 consecutive wins.

It is Halloween coming up, so here’s a TALE OF TERROR…

Based on a true story.

Late on a warm Spring evening, a putrid boy from Perth dabbled with the powers of voodoo by placing a financial wager on an NFL game on a Monday morning between the unbeaten brash Yinzers from the Steel city of Pittsburgh, and the unbeaten disease riddled Titans from Nashville, Tennessee, wagering with a questionable bookmaker that both teams would combine to score over 51 points.

In an exciting game between unbeaten teams, the merciless Yinzers smelted the mighty Titans in the 1st Half to lead by a daunting 24-7, and 27-7 after half time.

But, the Titans came back at the wayward Yinzers, and scored 17 unanswered points to bring the score to 27-24, as the dreaded total hit exactly 51 points.

After the rotund gentleman playing at quarterback for the Yinzers threw an interception with only 2:40 to play, the Titans had the chance to drive the pigskin 50 yards and give their kicker, known only as ‘The Ghost’ , a chance to tie the scores.

As luck would have it, the Titans progressed 52 YARDS, and set up this friendly Ghost for a 45-yard field goal to tie the scores.

The putrid boy had witnessed this Ghost successfully make a 51-yard attempt not even 30 minutes earlier.

It was written in the stars.

Alas, this was no Friendly Ghost, and he missed the kick wide right, bringing horror to millions across the land, as the game finished on a dreaded ‘flush’.

The putrid boy was left wondering why he’d bothered, staring at the screen as he got a refund because it finished on exactly 51 points, and eventually went back to sleep.

The end.

Brandon Smith will single-handedly save Victoria’s hospitality industry

I think that Snapchat, combined with the mythical donut on Monday, was enough for Dan Andrews to declare the good folk of Victoria could get back on the beers.

A well done to Tayla Harris on receiving Victoria’s edition of the Young Australian Of The Year award

Sure it’s a great achievement in a year like this, but did she get to present the Premiership Cup like Ash Barty and Maureen Hafey did?

The 2020 NRLW Brisbane Broncos – The first rugba leeg women’s team in history to win more games in a season than their male counterparts

The NRLW Broncos – 4 wins from 4 games

The NRL Broncos – 3 wins from 20 games

I’d suggest they ask Ali Brigginshaw if she’s interested in playing with the boys next year, but I imagine Ali doesn’t want to take a step down like that.

Much like 90% of Australian wrestling fans, I pray Tony Modra’s finishing move in the WWE is a knee into the back of his opponent

As he shouts out:

GODRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Scott McLaughlin describing crashing out of his Indycar debut as one of the best days of his life

Just behind his wedding.

By that logic, that must mean the last race of the 2017 Supercars Championship would be right up there as well…

Rick Kelly quietly retiring after a 19-year career in the ATCC

I hope this means Lex Kelly is hopping into Car No.15 next year.

It’s been so long, but looking back, it is somewhat amazing to think that Rick was a 2-time Bathurst 1000 winner and a V8 Supercars champion before he was 24.

In fact, he’s still the youngest 2-time winner in the race’s history.

Anyway, here’s a random Rick moment to celebrate a great career – The enormous tank-slapper at Sandown in 2008, an example of great car control.

Remy Gardner’s newfound consistency in Moto2

These are his last 3 races, all in the last 3 weeks:

Finished 2nd in France, matching his career-best result

5th in the first race at Aragon

4th in the second ‘Teruel’ race at Aragon.

It’s the second time in his career that he’s finished 3 consecutive races inside the Top 5/Top 10, but the first time he’s done it in the one season, given his previous streak was the last race in 2018, plus Qatar and Argentina last season.

Gardner has now racked up 5 Top 5 finishes in 2020, more than his previous 5 seasons combined, and he’s now up to 6th in the Moto2 World Championship, a fantastic effort on a 2019 Kalex against the fleet of extremely talented and well-backed Italians and Spaniards.

And he did miss 2 races because he was injured at Misano I, with the irony being it was on the morning of the race…. when he was due to start from an inherited pole position.

Still, if you think that’s good, I would point out that new Championship leader Sam Lowes won all 3 races, the first British rider to pull that off in the intermediate class since a deadset legend in Phil Read did it in 1971 during the old 250cc days.

Now that I’ve sung Remy’s praises, I’ve most likely jinxed him, and he’s going to suffer a massive highside and injure himself again.

Conor McKenna is going alright back in Ireland

A look at Max Duffy at Kentucky, because I haven’t done this since he won the Ray Guy Award

I really should’ve done this about 2 weeks ago, because Max was named as the SEC’s Special Teams player of the week after the Wildcats defeated Mississippi State 24-2 in Week 3, their first win of the season.

The week after that, the Wildcats went to Knoxville and defeated Tennessee 34-7, their first win over the Volunteers in Knoxville since 1984.

Unfortunately, that 2-game run was snapped this past Saturday, when the Wildcats lost 20-10 to Missouri, who they’d won their last 5 games against dating back to 2015.

It wouldn’t have happened if they’d had John Duffy of Perth, WA in attendance…