There is one race in Australia that is said to stop the nation, a race which is more important than work, rest and play, a race that demands the attention of every living Australian and a race that is regarded as one of the greatest flat handicaps in the world. It is of course the Melbourne Cup. Its prize money in 2008 was a huge 5.5 million Australian Dollars.
The Melbourne Cup is raced at 3pm (local time) on the first Tuesday in November and has been in existence since 1861 - to put that into perspective that is the same year that the American Civil War started.
That first race was won by a horse called Archer, who legend has it walked 500 miles from its stable in New South Wales to race. His prize was not a cup at all, instead the winning owner was presented with a hand - beaten gold watch. Archer went on to win the race again the following year. Archer in fact is only one of five horses to have won the Cup more than once.
The Melbourne Cup is raced over a distance of 2 miles and is open to horses aged three years and over. It is run at the Flemington race track in Melbourne, which has a crowd capacity of over 120,000 and they sell every ticket every year without fail. The race track is shaped similarly to a pear and has a back straight of six furlongs known as the 'straight six'. The final straight to the post is a demanding 450 metres long which has been decisive in many races over its history. The course also hosts the Australian VRC Derby, the VRC Oaks, the Australia Cup and the Lightening Stakes.
Makybe Diva holds the record for the most race wins: this mare won the race in 2003, 2004 and 2005 and was the highest Stakes earner in the history of Australian horse racing. She is only one of 11 mares and 3 fillies ever to have won the race; such has been the dominance of the colts and geldings.
Despite Makybe Diva's success, the Melbourne Cup's most famous winner was the great Phar Lap, who dominated horse racing in Australia from 1929 to 1932 winning the Melbourne Cup in 1930 and a dozen other top rated races. A very impressive bronze statue has been built and is now one of the many great features at the Flemington race track.
The 2008 winner of the Melbourne Gold Cup was a horse named Viewed trained by the man known as the "Cups King", Bart Cummings. Cummings has trained a formidable 12 winners of the Melbourne Cup down the years, with his earliest victory dating back to 1965 when Light Fingers. During his illustrious career Cummings has only trained one horse to two Melbourne Cup victories and that was Think Big in 1974 and 1975. It remains to be see if Viewed will take his chance for a second year running, but if he does you can be sure that Bart Cummings will stand a great chance of adding a 13th Melbourne Cup victory to his roll of honour.
Find out more about the Melbourne Cup including latest news and Melbourne Cup Odds on the 2009 race at the website the author contributes to.
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