Squiz Today – Wednesday, 7 November

THREE MINUTE SQUIZ

“I'm not exactly skating with anywhere near the grace and style that I have dreamt of since I was eight years old!”

Brooke Corte is the co-host of Your Money Live on the Your Money channel (formerly Sky News Business). She's a Squizer, a mum to two toddlers and is a business/finance news whiz. And while the skating student might not be as smooth on the ice as she might like, Brooke glides through hosting three hours of live TV every day without raising a sweat. Terrifying… Please welcome Brooke to the Three Minute Squiz.

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MELBOURNE CUP CELEBRATIONS… AND REFLECTIONS

THE SQUIZ
Torrential rain and flash flooding didn’t keep the crowds away from yesterday’s Melbourne Cup. And when it was time for the big race to come around, the winner was Cross Counter. But one sad event almost overshadowed proceedings - Irish galloper The Cliffsofmoher had to be euthanised after sustaining an injury in the first part of the race.

LET’S START ON A HAPPY NOTE…
• Cross Counter became the first English trained gee-gee to win the Melbourne Cup. In fact, it was Britain 1-2-3 with Poms Marmelo and A Prince of Arran taking the top spots. Cross Counter is also the first winner from the Godolphin stables owned by the ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum who has been trying for Cup glory for 20 years.

• Winning jockey Kerrin McEvoy has already spent his prizemoney – he promised wife Cathy (who is the sister of acclaimed jockey Michelle Payne) a new house. It was McEvoy’s third Cup win. Who knows, maybe this punter will chip in?

• And the beautiful people were there. As well as those who, at the end of the day, were a little less beautiful than when they had stepped out their front door.

AND THE SAD PART?
The Cliffsofmoher, (who raced as Cliffs Of Moher in Britain) trained in Ireland by Aidan O’Brien, was put down on the track after sustaining a fractured right shoulder in the first 600m of the race. Horses are unable to recover from injuries like that and sadly euthanasia is the only option. Jockey Ryan Moore was uninjured. "This was an unfortunate incident that happens infrequently, with Victoria having one of the best safety records in world racing," said Racing Victoria. But the RSPCA said it highlighted the risks of racing for horses. And animal rights organisation PETA said a horse died from racing-related injuries every three days. The five-year-old was the sixth horse to die during or shortly after running in the Cup since 2013.

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SQUIZ THE REST

HE’S BAAAACK (MAYBE)
Put your best spooky voice as you ponder former Labor leader Mark Latham’s potential return to federal politics. Latham told 2GB broadcaster Ben Fordham yesterday arvo that there would be something to say soon. Insider types say Latham will make an announcement on another 2GB program (spoiler alert: Alan Jones) this morning. Oh, and which party would he run for? Reports say it’s Pauline Hanson’s One Nation.

AN AMBASSADOR AT LAST
America hasn’t had an ambassador in Oz for a couple of years. The Trump administration had nominated Admiral Harry Harris for the job, but they sent him to South Korea instead. So we've waited and waited, and yesterday the White House announced Arthur B Culvahouse (what is it with Americans and the middle initial?) would be nominated for the post. Culvahouse has strong Republican ties: he was involved with the selection process for Republican presidential candidates’ running mates (think Sarah Palin), and he worked for Ronald Reagan. All going well, he’ll be here in the new year.

INTEREST RATE HOLD
The Reserve Bank is just not interested in shifting the record low interest rate of 1.5% it seems. Governor Philip Lowe yesterday said the Aussie economy is performing well, that unemployment could fall below 5% (which is no mean feat) and that wages growth should pick up soon with skills shortages starting to emerge. It’s the 27th consecutive month the rate has been left unchanged.

VALE TED MACK
The original modern independent politician has died aged 84yo after suffering a stroke. His political career saw him elected to the three tiers of government, representing blue ribbon Liberal-held areas on Sydney’s lower North Shore. After nearly a decade in local government, he was elected to the NSW Parliament. And in 1990 he was Canberra bound after beating John Spender (aka formerly Mr Carla Zampatti) to win North Sydney. Regarded widely as a faithful servant of the public, Mack famously timed his retirement from state and federal politics to avoid receiving a parliamentary pension. You read that right – avoid.

QUICK MOVING PICTURES WRAP
CAVE TALES - The Thai cave boys, their coach and Aussie cave-diving doctors Richard Harris and Craig Challen have almost finalised movie and book deals with studio Universal and publisher Ballantine. Reports say the Aussies will receive more than US$1 million each while the Wild Boars team and coach are looking at sharing a US$1.8 payday. It’s been a good week for Challen and Harris – both have been nominated for Australian of the Year. (Just give it to both of them now and be done with it…)

ARETHA THE MOVIE - Sydney Pollack filmed a lot of footage for a doco on singing diva Aretha Franklin in 1972, but decades of legal wrangling prevented its release. And Pollack didn’t use a clapperboard (you know, that thing where someone reads out the ‘take’ and claps the board together). Why is that a problem? Until the advent of digital recording, the clapperboard helped editors synchronise sound - pretty essential for a music doco… Anyway, after all that, Amazing Grace makes its debut in New York next week.

IT’S KIWI SAFETY – And it’s Air New Zealand’s new flight safety video featuring Ricky Baker (aka Julian Dennison). Warning: we can’t get “It’s Kiwi Kiwi Kiwi” out of our head, although it doesn’t hold a candle (pun intended) to Ricky Baker’s Birthday song…

SQUIZ THE DAY

America votes in the Midterm Election, results start trickling in from early afternoon Oz time

Diwali - Hindu festival of lights

Birthdays for DJ/music producer David Guetta (1967) and singer Lorde (1996)