Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most famous horse race, and is truly the "race, that stops a nation".
It is now the richest handicap in the world, worth some $6 million and attracts in excess of 100,000 racegoers to the Flemington racecourse. The Melbourne Cup continues to have an increasingly popular international appeal since the breakthrough win of Irish-trained Vintage Crop in 1993. To put this into perspective, winning the Melbourne Cup automatically propels the horse, trainer, owners into a part of Australian racing history - the 'holy grail' of all horse racing.
In 2011, it is expected an audience in excess of 700 million from 120 countries
will watch the 2011 Melbourne Cup live and relive multiple replays.
In many ways the Melbourne Cup is an anachronism - being a handicap and run over the unfashionable distance of 3200m - when in other countries the feature events are more likely to be run at weight-for-age and over 2000m to 2400m.
The race has produced some outstanding champions in many forms. Makybe Diva holds the record for the most Melbourne Cup wins by a horse, winning the prestigious race three times in consecutive years, 2003, 2004 & 2005. Bart Cummings sets the current record for the most Melbourne Cup wins by a trainer, a current tally of 12 wins.
Americain took out the 2010 Melbourne Cup race to cause a massive upset over favourite So You Think. The Australian owned, US bred, French trained stallion proved its staying power to take out the $6 million race, with Gerald Mosse (Hong Kong trained jockey) accelerating within the last 200 metres to win by 2-3/4 lengths.
Looking for more information?
- Race Day Information - getting to and from the track.
- View previous winners by:
Melbourne Cup Results
Breedings
Jockeys
Trainers
- Check out the latest Spring Racing Carnival Guide for Metro and Country meets.
Click here for all the latest betting odds at IASbet.com .