The Race that Stops the Nation
Well that’s what the Melbourne Cup is otherwise known as in Australia and will be taking place this coming Tuesday. Not only is it Australia’s most famous race but it’s the richest and most prestigious annual horse racing event in the world with a distance of 3200m. It is billed as ‘the race that stops the nation’ because literally millions of people around the country stopping what they are doing at 2pm and turn to the radio or TV. Parliament even stops and it’s public holiday in Melbourne!!! There is traditionally a huge spike the in the number of workers taking sick days to stay home and watch. Usually about 100,000 people attend the race itself at the Flemington Racecourse.
The race originally began in 1861 and now attracts horses from around the world to compete. Last year’s prize money amounted to AUD$5.5 million. It is also the most heavily bet on event in Australia with millions of punters who probably don’t place a bet on anything else at all during the year.
The horse trainer Bart Cummings is a bit of an icon of the Melbourne Cup and has had a record 12 horses win the Cup. This year he has a total of four horses in the race, including equal favourite to win, Viewed, who won the race last year. Cummings just won the Cox Plate, an important preparation race for the Melbourne Cup, with So You Think. The other Melbourne Cup favourite to win is Efficient who won the year before in 2007. Efficient has beaten Viewed home twice out of three of their meetings. Other top favourites include Alcopop. Favourites tend to fair quite well on race day.
