MELBOURNE CUP
The Melbourne Cup is the most well-known yearly Thoroughbred horse race in Australia. As part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival, the Victoria Racing Club holds a 3200-meter event for three-year-olds and older on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria. It is also one of the most lucrative turf races and the richest “two-mile” handicap in the entire globe. The race that stops the nation takes place on the first Tuesday in November and begins at 3:00 p.m.
With the first race taking place in 1861, the Melbourne Cup has a long history. It was originally ran over two miles (3.219 kilometers), but when Australia adopted the metric system in 1972, it was cut to 3,200 meters (1 mile and 1,740 yards). Due to the 18.688 m (61 ft 3+3/4 in) shorter distance, Rain Lover’s 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was changed to 3:17.9. With a time of 3:16.3, the winner from 1990, Kingston Rule, holds the current record.
HISTORY
The initiative to conduct a horse race and coin the name “Melbourne Cup” was credited to Frederick Standish, a member of the Victorian Turf Club and steward on the day of the first Cup.
On Thursday, November 7, 1861, seventeen horses competed in the inaugural Melbourne Cup, racing for the modest prize of 710 gold sovereigns (£710) in cash and a hand-beaten gold watch, winner takes all. Contrary to what some have claimed, the prize did not come with the biggest payout at the time. Although it has been suggested that this was less than expected due to word reaching Melbourne of the explorers Burke and Wills’ passing five days earlier on November 2, a sizable throng of 4,000 men and women watched the race.
Despite this, aside from the recently held Two Thousand Guinea Stakes, the turnout was the highest at Flemington on any day in the previous two years.
A 16.3-hand bay stallion by the name of Archer, who was ridden by John Cutts, trained by Etienne de Mestre, and leased (and consequently competed in his own name) by de Mestre, won the first Melbourne Cup race in a time of 3.52.00. De Mestre was Archer’s “owner” and solely accountable lessee during the lease. The “Exeter Farm” of Jembaicumbene in the vicinity of Braidwood, New South Wales, leased Archer. The Melbourne Town Plate is a second 2-mile long-distance competition.
Legend has it that Archer traveled from de Mestre’s stable at “Terara” near Nowra, New South Wales, to Flemington on foot for more than 800 kilometers (nearly 500 miles). He, de Mestre, and two of de Mestre’s other horses, Exeter and Inheritor, however, traveled south aboard the steamboat City of Melbourne from Sydney to Melbourne, according to newspaper archives from the time. The horses arrived in Sydney in September 1861 and were winched onto the ship for the voyage to Melbourne.
The following year (1862), Archer returned to Melbourne by steamboat to compete in the second Melbourne Cup.
The Melbourne Cup was won twice by Peter Pan in 1932 and 1934, a feat that was not duplicated until more than 70 years later, and the Melbourne Cup was won consecutively by Rain Lover in 1968 and 1969, a feat that was not repeated for more than 30 years.
The following year, Archer took a steamboat once more to Melbourne (1863). Archer would have competed in the third cup in 1863 despite weighing 11 stone 4 pounds, but because of a Victorian public holiday, trainer Etienne de Mestre’s telegraphed acceptance paperwork came late, and Archer was disqualified on a technicality. Many of the owners of de Mestre boycotted the third race and scratched their horses in sympathy in protest of this choice. The Melbourne Cup that year featured the fewest starters in Cup history—just seven—as a result.
In a poem he penned in 1865, Adam Lindsay Gordon referred to the Melbourne Cup victor as Tim Whiffler. Tim Whiffler was the name of two horses that competed in the Melbourne Cup two years later, in 1867. (Two horses with the same name, Falcon, also competed in the Melbourne Cup the year prior, in 1866.) The two Tim Whifflers were given the names “Sydney” Tim Whiffler and “Melbourne” Tim Whiffler to distinguish them from one another.
MELBOURNE CUP 2022
The Melbourne Cup, which starts on Tuesday, November 1, at 3 p.m., in 2022, is approaching quickly as usual. This year’s running of the “race that stops a nation” is more thrilling than ever, with numerous celebrations occurring both on and off the racetrack. The centerpiece of the Melbourne Cup Carnival is the $8 million Lexus Melbourne Cup, but there are plenty of other races and social events to keep everyone occupied.
Ten events overall, each with a different race distance and prize pool, are held throughout the day. The entire Melbourne Cup day extravaganza is planned as a comprehensive and captivating package, even though the 3200 meter Lexus Melbourne Cup is by far the most prestigious event on the Australian racing calendar. Everyone is aware of how much fun it is to get dressed up for this particular day and place a wager, with women donning their most lavish hats and vibrant dresses. VIP guests have a number of marquees set up, and throughout the day, fashion shows and other entertainment are also held. Corporate marquee and dining packages are already open for reservations, and communal marquees can be rented as well.
The Melbourne Cup, which attracts horses from all over the world, is the second-richest award in Australian sports. It is incredible to consider that Australia comes to a complete stop to listen to and watch the major event, with a crowd of at least 100,000 expected to watch the race live.