The 1977 Melbourne Cup was a handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 1 November 1977 over 3200m, at

Flemington Racecourse Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200-metre horse race. The racecou ...

Background

The race was won by the New Zealand bred gelding

Gold and Black Gold and Black (1972−1999) was a New Zealand-bred racehorse which was ridden by John Duggan to win the 1977 Melbourne Cup for the "Cups King" Bart Cummings. Bart Cummings bought the horse for $4,000 in New Zealand for his Adelaide clients, J ...

, trained by

Bart Cummings James Bartholomew Cummings (14 November 1927 – 30 August 2015), also known by his initials J. B. Cummings, was one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He was known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as he w ...

and ridden by John Duggan. The runner up was Reckless trained by

Tommy Woodcock Aaron Treve Woodcock Jr. (8 October 190527 April 1985) professionally Tommy Woodcock, was the Australian racehorse trainer and handler of the thoroughbred racehorse Phar Lap. Early life Tommy Woodcock was born in 1905 at Uralgurra in Bellbrook ...

, and third place went to

Hyperno Hyperno (1973–2002) was a Thoroughbred racehorse foaled in New Zealand. He was a wayward but brilliant galloper that won the Melbourne Cup and other group and listed races. He was sired by Rangong (GB) out of Mikarla (NZ) by Persian Garden I ...

trained by Geoff Murphy. The winning margin was a length with a further two and a half lengths to third place. Bart bought the horse in New Zealand for $4,000 for Jack and Mary Harris from Adelaide and brought in Hugh and Gloria Gage from Sydney as partners. Gold and Black was sired by In The Purple (France) and his dam was Gem (by Talismano). Gold and Black had won the 1976

Mackinnon Stakes The VRC Champions Stakes, registered as the ''LKS Mackinnon Stakes'', is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run under Weight for Age conditions over a distance of 2000 metres at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia on ...

and placed second to

Van der Hum Van der Hum (31 July 1971 – 27 July 2001) was a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse, who won the 1976 Melbourne Cup when ridden by Bob Skelton. He was sired by the versatile stayer and sire of the winners of over $2m, Hermes (GB), his dam T ...

in the 1976 Melbourne Cup. In 1977 he was second to Reckless in the

Sydney Cup The Sydney Cup is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred handicap horse race, for horses three years old and older, run over 3200 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia in the autumn during the ATC Championships series and it is ...

and second in the

behind Sir Silver Lad. This win gave

his sixth

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

win. Bart went on to record twelve Melbourne Cup training victories. It was third time lucky for jockey John Duggan who had been runner up in the 1975 and 1976 Cups on Holiday Waggon and Gold and Black respectively.

Field

The following are the placegetters in the 1977

.Cummings, J.B. (2009). ''Bart: My life''. Pan Macmillan, Australia.

References

{{MelbourneCup

1977 Events January * January 8 – Three bombs explode in Moscow within 37 minutes, killing seven. The bombings are attributed to an Armenian separatist group. * January 10 – Mount Nyiragongo erupts in eastern Zaire (now the Democratic R ...

1970s in Melbourne