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the Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major annual thoroughbred horse race, held at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. Nearly every person in Australia stops to watch or listen to this event, it is billed as 'The race that stops a nation'. It is held by the Victoria Racing Club on the first Tuesday each November, at 3.20 p.m. It has been on this date since it conception in 1861.

The race is for three-year-olds and over, and covers a distance of 3200 meters. It was originally held over two miles, about 3,218 meters, but changed to the current distance of 3200 meters following Australia's adoption of the metric system in 1972.

The start of the race is in the straight, 888 meters from the finish post. The runners race past the post and complete another lap (2312 m) after that.

Seventeen horses contested the first Melbourne Cup in 1861, watched by a crowd of 4000. The prize was a gold watch and 170 pounds cash. The winner of the first race, Archer, is said to have walked 800km to the course from Nowra, New South Wales. The most famous winner of the race is Phar Lap, who won in 1930.

Related Pages

• List of Melbourne Cup Winners
• Melbourne Cup race Trivia
• Photos from the 2006 Melbourne Cup