A Day at the Races: the Melbourne Cup

“The race that stops a nation.” That is how Australian people describe the Melbourne Cup and it really does! Today was the second time I watched this horse race. Last year I did not have a clue what the Melbourne Cup is, but now I know it is big, really big, almost bigger than the U.S. elections. It is the major annual horse race and generally regarded as the most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world, according to Wikipedia. The event is held on the first Tuesday in November, just like the U.S. elections. Actually I thought that Australians are mostly interested in rugby and cricket, but now I think that more people watch the Melbourne Cup than the rugby-league final. Most weekend newspapers came with a special edition dedicated to the race with more analysis and pictures about Master O’Reilly or Septimus than about Obama and McCain together.

The Melbourne Cup is celebrated as a public holiday in Victoria, but we live in Sydney so unfortunately no free day for us. However everyone in Australia stops working when the race is about to begin. Where I work you could by ‘sweep tickets’ during the day and bet on one or more horses. An hour before the race everybody came together in the canteen for free drinks and snacks, all prepared for ‘the Cup’. I think this is different for every work place, last year there was a big lunch and then a whole ceremony of selling and bidding on horses.

I was quite excited to see my first horse race, because I have not been very interested in any sport that is related to horses. More than 100.000 people come together on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. It is also about fashion, wearing your best suit, your most extraordinary hat and get to be seen. But you have to pay very much attention once the race really starts, the horses run almost 60 km an hour, so the whole race takes less than 4 minutes. This years winner is Viewed, who beat Bauer in the closest finish ever as can be seen on the picture

Unfortunately we could not visit the race our self and we had to do with television. Therefore no photo report or video this time, but if you are interested you can watch this video.