1979 Melbourne Cup

The 1979 Melbourne Cup was a handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 5 November 1979 over 3200m, at Flemington Racecourse.

The race was won by the New Zealand bred gelding Hyperno, trained by Bart Cummings and ridden by Harry White. The runner up was Salamander trained by T J Hughes, and third place went to Red Nose trained by T Green. The winning margin was a short half head with a further one and three quarter lengths to third place.

During the race Hyperno collided with the champion racehorse Dulcify who tragically had to be put down following the race.

Background
Hyperno was bred in New Zealand by Fairdale Stud, sired by Rangong (GB) and his dam was Mikarla (NZ) by Persian Garden II (GB). Hyperno had placed third in the 1977 Melbourne Cup when trained by Geoff Murphy and ridden by Brian Andrews. In 1977 he won the Newcastle Gold Cup and in 1978 The BMW Stakes and C F Orr Stakes. He also won the VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes in 1979 and 1980, Blamey Stakes in 1980 and 1981 as well as the Australian Cup and Rawson Stakes in 1981.

The 1979 Cup gave Bart Cummings his seventh Melbourne Cup win. Bart went on to record twelve Melbourne Cup training victories.

Harry White's winning ride was his fourth Melbourne Cup victory, the others being on Think Big in 1974 and 1975 and Arwon for George Hanlon in 1978.

Field
The following are the placegetters in the 1979 Melbourne Cup.