The newspapers, news websites and radio of Oct 29 2009 widely reported Prof Tony Dooley's comments on a formula for winning (long term, anyway) at Melbourne Cup betting.

"Number crunchers from the University of NSW have analysed Cup results from the past two decades and discovered a trifecta bet – predicting the first three places in the race – that would have given a better return than saving at a bank.

If punters followed the formula over 20 years, they would have outlaid $75,966 and received a total return of $116,851 – a profit of almost 54 per cent.

The trifecta eliminates all horses that have odds longer than 50-1, and puts $1 on all possible combinations for the remaining starters."

"Number crunchers from the University of NSW have analysed Cup results from the past two decades and discovered a trifecta bet – predicting the first three places in the race – that would have given a better return than saving at a bank.

If punters followed the formula over 20 years, they would have outlaid $75,966 and received a total return of $116,851 – a profit of almost 54 per cent.

The trifecta eliminates all horses that have odds longer than 50-1, and puts $1 on all possible combinations for the remaining starters."

The Australian

Daily Telegraph

Sky News

That was before the Cup. So how did it go?

There were 14 horses with starting odds 50/1 and less.
That gave 2184 combinations to cover.

The payout for the trifecta, assuming a $1 bet on the winning combination, was $9320 (on SUPERTAB) and $8694 (on NSW TAB). So if you bet $2184 that gives a profit of $7136 or $5610.

(Data from http://www.millersguide.com.au/results/melbournecups/melbcup_2009.htm)