As a bookmaker he realized the importance of ‘doing your homework.’ “Time spent in recognisance is seldom wasted” was another of his favourite saying.

In this annual Melbourne Cup e-book I try to make life easy for you. I do the Melbourne Cup reconnaissance and research for you.  I’d like you to continue to go and have fun on this fantastic day. Just as Aussies, both here and around the world, have been doing since 1861. However, I plan to give you the best possible chance of selecting the winner of the 2009 Melbourne Cup.

I invite you to check out the Melbourne Cup information at my new Blog at http://www.MelbourneCupMax.Blogspot.com. If you are searching for information on any of your selections, all you need do is type in the name of your horse and immediately you will be given  all references to the horse. It's a good research tool. 

“But what’s Max’s Melbourne Cup form like?” you ask.

Well, I am the author of Fact, Fiction and Fables of the Melbourne Cup; More Fact Fiction and Fables of the Melbourne Cup and the e-book - A Mug’s Guide to the Melbourne Cup. I am not a big gambler. I am certainly not a professional punter. But I am a self confessed Melbourne Cup fanatic. It’s the one event in the year that I really tune in to. As mentioned above, because of my research I can name the 1st 2nd and 3rd placed horses in every Melbourne Cup for the last 100 years. As well I can tell you a story about the year you choose or at least about that era of Melbourne Cup history.

But, rather than me tell you about my Melbourne Cup form, I invite you to read the following testimonials.

Click here to see what the media has to say...

http://www.pickthecupwinner.com.au/interview.html 

After the 2007 Cup I received this note:

"Congratulations Max.  You are fantastic! When the 2008 Melbourne Cup was over, once again I was holding a winning ticket in my hand...thanks to you!"

 

"It is difficult to believe that in spite of having half your preferred horses

scratched in the seven hours leading up to the Cup you still put me on a winner. Admittedly I got paid for second place but everyone thought your selection Purple Moon had it won...until the last few strides."

 

"I don't understand how you do it, but I know the price of your e-book is

a small price to pay to insure cheering for a winning horse and getting

to cash in your winning ticket every year."  

 

"Thanks Max, I cannot wait to see how you do it again in 2008.

 All the best, Mike."

Michael Schoettler                  Sales Sense Pty Ltd
Speaker & Educator               PO Box 78, Kogarah

And this picture below was the finish of the 2007 Melbourne Cup with Purple Moon on the rails and the grey Efficient on the outside.

 

“Max your Melbourne Cup tipping record is incredible. Up to and including 2007 you have picked 12 out of the last 20 winners including six out of the last nine. WOW! ”
Gordon Rhodes the General Manager of South Tweed Sports

“WELL DONE (AGAIN) MAX !!” I astounded at your ability to continually pick the winner of the Melbourne Cup. You're Amazing!”
Ron Tacchi - Speakers Network International

“Well done Max! You've picked the winner (Makybe Diva)again. I'm happy as I backed Jardine'e Lookout each way.”
Rupert McCall (Of "Green and Gold Malaria" fame) and 4BC Brisbane
Check out Rupert's great web site at www.rupertmccall.com.au

“Max - I have been listening to you on 2DAY FM for the past two years and in 2002 I actually won on the trifecta with the 6 horses that you nominated. You I was so elated that I had a little splurge for myself and daughter as well as pay some bills.”
Julia Soulos

“Thank you Max for your tip. I am not serious punter but by you statistics you have selected the winner for this year again, as you did last year on Brew. Keep up on you statistics record and hear from you again next year around. I am a Papua New Guinean living in Lae.”

“Max - I just want to say that for the first time I have won money on the Melbourne cup because of you. Thank you so much. I only wish that I had put more money on Ethereal. I heard you on 2DAYFM last year but didn't take your tip. But this year I made sure that I picked your tip. So hopefully, you can pick the winner in next years Melbourne Cup. Again, thank you. I'm so thrilled.”
Therese Montoya

“Hi Max, I just wanted to tell you that I heard you on 2Day FM this morning so went down to the TAB and put $5.00 on Ethereal to win...and guess what, I won. YIPPEEEE I have never won anything in my life. I have looked at your stats and to be honest I must agree with your Dad, I can't make any sense at all out of what you have said, but one thing I do know is that I will definitely be listening to your selections this time next year.”
Ellen Carpenter

Order your copy of How To Pick The Winner Of The 2012 Melbourne Cup - just $9.95 for immediate download. But before you place your order I invite you to click here to read: Understanding my Melbourne Cup system

“Max -At the moment I rate you up there with one of the most amazing people ever...and I only won $50.00, I have just heard some guy call the radio and he has won $1000.00 and he was just as excited as I am. You truly are AMAZING. Thanks for making my day.”
Nicole Maguire

“Dear Max - Thanks for your tip with saying it should be Etheral who wins the Melbourne Cup. I never seem to win and I read your info on the Melbourne Cup and decided to put $100 on Etheral and ended up winning $920, so thanks once again for your tip, I'll be listening for it every Melbourne Cup.”
Simone Scott

“Max - You are a bloody ledgend!!! GO YOU GOOD THING - ETHEREAL is the King Of the Melbourne Cup 2001. How did you do it - AGAIN? Well next year on Tuesday NOV 5th I’ll be tuning in 2DAYFM to hear your prediction (mind you the pressure will be on). Anyhow I have every faith in you! Maythehorsebewithu, Kind Regards”
Lara

“Max - I followed your suggestion and picking for the Melbourne Cup from your segment on 2DAY FM and as you've won over the past 5 years, I decided to back it also ....I just wanted to thank you very much for the great tip as I am now a bit richer...I also won the sweep at work and am very proud that I took your advice. Thanks again.”
Louise

Bill Peach, Sun-Herald newspaper, Sydney

Bill Peach, writing in Sydney's Sun-Herald newspaper, in 1995, had this to say:

"I must concede that a moo cow, even moderately booted, would travel faster than the donkeys I usually select in the Cup. You may take this as a warning that the advice I am about to give you is exceptionally unreliable. It is based on my own interpretation of Fact, Fiction And Fables Of The Melbourne Cup, an informative tome by Max Hitchins."

"From it I have learned much, including the fact that racing experts have calculated the winners of an Ultimate Melbourne Cup. From a field of the 24 best winners since 1861, they predict the result would be in this order: 1 Phar Lap, 2 Rising Fast, 3 Carbine, 4 Peter Pan, 5 Dalray, 6 Vintage Crop."

"Hitchins also includes a system to select this year's winner.... It will not be the favourite, but it will have won either the Mackinnon Stakes or the Crown Quality (the old Dalgety, formerly the Hotham). This, of course, is mere mathematics, a statistical averaging of previous Cup winners. I scorn such scientific approaches, preferring to rely on dreams, omens and portents. Noting that Hitchins' book is sponsored by Billy the Pig's Hotel at Bondi Junction, I have searched the starting list for horses with porcine characteristics, but can find none."

"Instead I've gone to another Hitchins system ... The Cup winner of 1895 was Auraria. The name suggests "gold" to me, so I have selected Doriemus as the 1995 winner."

Did this work for Bill? It sure did! Doriemus won by 4 lengths and started at 10/1.

"Dear Mr Hitchins, Up here in this remote area one day I happened to see you on T.V. interviewed by Bert Newton. Remorse pricked me that I never acknowledged the complimentary copy autographed for me, of your book "Fact, Fiction and Fables", delivered to me by my niece Therese Cunningham from Leura.”

“Thank you for the delight it gave me to read it. I'm not a punter(!!) but a lover of thoroughbreds - never been to a Cup but there's hope. I'm not yet 70!”

“We need some more writers like you, to cheer and lift people up - the world is a better place because of the likes of you. Thank you. Keep going - especially with the story telling of our great national day - the Melbourne Cup. With warmth and sincerity.”
Sister Marie Langtry

Caroline Overington, The Age newspaper, Melbourne

On the morning of the 1995 Melbourne Cup Caroline Overington, in Melbourne's The Age newspaper, wrote:

"Lose your money on Vintage Crop last year? No surprise to the publican Max Hitchins. The horse was eight years old, and only two eight-year-olds have won the Melbourne Cup. For Hitchins, whose favourite trick is reciting (backwards) all previous cup winners, that statistic alone was enough to cancel out Vintage Crop in 1994."

"Hitchins was right. In celebration, he produced an entire book - 150 pages - devoted to these kinds of statistics. The book - Fact, Fiction and Fables of the Melbourne Cup - is designed to help people pick the Melbourne Cup winner. Apply it to this year's field, and an interesting picture emerges... So rule out Bullwinkle (barrier four), Count Chivas (seven), Coachwood (11), Storm (19) and Dupain (five). Which leaves Doriemus, a five-year-old who drew barrier 23 (before Desert Chill's withdrawal). We'll see."

Fact: Doriemus won by 4 lengths at 10/1. :) :) :)

Click here to check out other media sources:

http://www.pickthecupwinner.com.au/interview.html

Understanding My Melbourne Cup System

I have two goals for this 2009 Emirates Melbourne Cup e-book. My first goal, if you are a ‘once a year’ Melbourne Cup punter, is to help you make an intelligent choice when you select the horse or horses you intend to put your hard earned money on in the 2009 Emirates Melbourne Cup.

Each year, at Melbourne Cup time, we are presented with a field of twenty four Cup horses to pick from. That’s difficult. (I guess you already know that.) Believe it or not there are a number of ‘donkeys’ in the field who have absolutely no hope of winning. “Why are they in the field you ask.” Easy. Prize money is given to the first 10 horses. In 2009 even the horse that runs 10th will still receive $110,000. That’s a lot of chaff!

I told you at the beginning I am not a professional gambler. But I did say I am a Melbourne Cup fanatic. It is the only race I am really interested in each year. And I mean really interested. Anytime and anywhere in the world the Melbourne Cup is mentioned I receive details of that ‘mention’ on my computer the next day. Using the research I do each year, I attempt to 'reduce the choice' of the possible winners from twenty four horses down to six or seven horses.

“Do I bet on the Cup?” Yes. My Cup betting 'modus operandi' each year is to have a few dollars, each way, on the six or seven horses I have selected. “Do I win a lot?” No. Using the above format I can't get into too much trouble or lose much money. But I usually back the Cup winner and that’s the whole purpose of the exercise. As mentioned earlier my record stands at twelve out of the last twenty winners and six out of the last nine. And only two years in the last twenty have I missed having the winner in my selected six horses. (Vintage Crop in 1993 and Efficient in 2007).

My second goal is to give the ‘serious’ punter information and comments about the lead up races. The winner of the 2009 Melbourne Cup will more than likely have run a ‘good race’ in one or more of these lead up events.

It is definitely not my goal to help you become wealthy or to entice you to bet beyond your means on the Melbourne Cup. I'm reminded of a WC Fields quote that says "Horse sense is the thing a horse has which keeps it from betting on people." And my Dad (a bookmaker) used to say “A fool and their money are soon parted!” Even though I have had great success with my Melbourne Cup selections remember there is no such thing as a certainty in racing.

“When do you get the six horses?” you ask.

Because of many ‘variable factors’ I leave my final choice of horses until around 8am on the morning of the Cup. (Tuesday 6th November). I post this information on the password protected Members Only page on our web site.  (You get you access to this page when you receive your copy of my ebook, soon after the running of the Caulfield Cup on the 17th of October.)

Not the least of these ‘variable factors’ is rain. Trainers and owners usually hope for a dry track. However, if it rains on Melbourne Cup Day, I have to throw all the previous research and reconnaissance out the door and begin to look for horses who can handle wet tracks. (And there are not many of these). Also, last minute things can happen to the horses. eg. In 2003 the early favourite for the Cup – Mummify – was scratched. On Cup morning trainer Lee Freedman found Mummify was running a temperature and decided against running Mummify in the Cup. And, as you read above, in 2007 three horses were scratched in the seven hours leading up to the Cup on the morning of the Cup.

In the e-book you will receive instructions on how to access this information on our Members Only section.

My 2006 Memo from Max read:

I believe the winner of the Melbourne Cup for 2006 will come from these horses: Delta Blues, Pop Rock, Yeats, Tawqeet, Geordieland, Zipping.

I recommend you have a small each way bet on each. You may not win much…but at least you’ll be able to say you ‘backed the winner of the Melbourne Cup’ (and that’s the purpose of my annual e-book.).

And the winner was: 1st Delta Blues 2nd Pop Rock 3rd Maybe Better

(Note: If you took my advice and had say $10 each way on each the six horses your payout from the TAB for Delta Blues and Pop Rock would have totaled $240.00. Now I happen to think if you could double your money every time you had a bet on the horses then it’s a pretty good result!)

My 2005 Memo from Max read:

WOW! It's Melbourne Cup Day 2005. It's just after 8am in Melbourne and it seems absolutely certain that both Makybe Diva and Vinnie Roe will be running in the Cup. It is a little overcast at the moment but the forecast is 'no rain' until much, much later...if at all.

The temperature is expected to be 30 degrees. All that means, to me, this will be the biggest crowd ever at Flemington for the Melbourne Cup. And I'm going to be there. When you watch the race on TV look for me - I'll be there waving at YOU!

As mentioned in my e-book 'How to Pick the Winner of the 2005 Melbourne Cup' my modus operandi at Melbourne Cup time is to break the field down from 24 horses, to six or so horses with 'serious' chances. I then have a small each-way bet on these horses. This way, I usually always back the winner and that is what I set to achieve. I usually don't make much money...but I always win.

Then I attempt to break that choice down to three horses and then down to one. I have been successful in 11 out of the last 18 times and 5 out of the last 7 times in selecting the winner. But I regard myself as a lucky mug! So, if you are going to follow my selections please don't get carried away. And don 't bet more than you can easily afford to lose.

I believe one of these six horse will win the 2005 Melbourne Cup. Railings, Eye Popper, Leica Falcon, Makybe Diva, Xcellent or Demerger. If I have to bring it down to three, I'd probably suggest Railings, Leica Falcon and Makybe Diva.

And, as I'm sure you know, Makybe Diva is currently everybody's favourite horse. She's particularly my favourite as I've successful tipped her to win the last two years. However, up until Saturday last, I believed the statistics were too heavily weighted against her for her to win the 2005 Cup. I thought Railings was going to be my #1 pick.

But on Saturday two horses Makybe Diva easily beat in the Cox Plate, in turn, easily beat some really good horses. So, I've changed #1 selection. I now believe Makybe Diva can become the greatest horse since Phar Lap and win the 2005 Melbourne Cup. And I believe it will become one of those 'moments in time' we will look back on and say "I can tell you exactly where I was when that happened!" And, I am 'over the moon'...as I will be at Flemington to see history made!