Australias Melbourne Cup: The race that stops a nation

On the first Tuesday of November at 3.10pm Australians everywhere down tools and the country comes to a standstill. Workers gather around televisions in office tearooms, drivers tune their radios to sporting stations; expatriates form strange little groups in Australian embassies and around satellite televisions in hostels. Even Parliament halts so members may listen to the running of the Melbourne Cup.

Billed as the race that stops a nation, what is it about this race that calls to our collective psyche?

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s premier horse race. A handicap run over 3200 meters, with total prize money of five million dollars, it is the richest handicap in the world. International horses come from as far away as Ireland, Japan and the United Arab Emirates to compete. But it is not the prize money or the international recognition that draws the attention of millions, it is the spirit of the “People’s Cup”.

In what is most often considered an elitist sport, the spirit of this race has been built on dreams, hard luck and triumph. Throughout its history, winners have overcome great odds to snatch the coveted prize. It calls to our need to champion the battler, to see the underdog win.

It all started with Archer in 1861. This horse walked 500 miles from his stable in Nowra, New South Wales to compete and win at the Flemington track in Victoria.

During the Great Depression, Phar Lap, Australia’s most famous racehorse ran in three Melbourne Cups winning in 1930. His Melbourne Cup runs became a symbol of hope for all Australians and he is immortalized to this day. His heart lies in the National Museum of Australia and his hide is mounted and on display at the Museum of Victoria. His bones were returned to his country of birth and rest in the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa.

In 1939 Rivette’s owner was down to his last dollar when his win saved him from financial ruin. In 1968, Rain Lover won for a trainer, licensed for only 4 months. Kiwi was the winner in 1983. His trainer, Snowy Lupton admitted he used him to round up sheep when he was spelling from racing.

These stories of ordinary people and horses winning against the odds are what make this so much more than just another horse race for the Australian people.

All of Australia rode with Damien Oliver in 2002 as he won his second Cup only seven days after his brother was tragically killed in a track accident.

The Cup’s history is peppered with unlikely winners. Horses, trainers, owners, jockeys; stories of tragedy turned to triumph, of the battler prevailing against the odds.

Mark Twain, visiting Australia in 1895, was quoted as saying, “Nowhere in my travels have I encountered a festival of the people that has such magnetic appeal to a whole nation. The Cup astonishes me!”

That spirit lives on today. It doesn’t matter if you are young or old, born here or overseas, are a resident or a visitor. If you are in Australia on the first Tuesday of November you will be swept up in the emotion that unites us all as we watch the race that stops our nation.

www.melbournecup.com

www.cultureandrecreation.gov.a u

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