The Melbourne Cup is well known as the race that stops a nation. Only this statement can tell you how much the Australian horse race is popular and beloved. Believe it or not, this is even the richest handicap in the world. Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday and you can be free to visit Australia and experience an unforgettable day while watching a horse race and betting on your favorite horse.
However, if you are not able to go watch it in person, you can still bet online. Punters will have just the same exciting time betting from their own house as they would have in person. The Melbourne Cup comes with a long tradition. It is a 3200-meter race for at least three-year-old horses. The Cup starts the first Tuesday in November and this year the prize money stands at a stunning $8 million dollars. It is expected to be 75 million punters this year from all around the world which promises to be the most exciting and entertaining race of the year. In this article, we prepared some very amazing historical facts that will be interesting to hear.
The Melbourne Cup has a very long and rich tradition
Believe it or not, the Melbourne Cup tradition goes long back to the 19th century. The first race was organized in 1861. To the people in Australia, this horse race event has very significant meaning just because of its tradition. The first winning jockey’s name was John Cutts, that came first riding his horse called Archer. Interestingly, the next year, in 1862, John Cutts and his beloved horse come back for another win. They become the first multiple winners of this amazing race event. After that moment, The Melbourne Cup become the most popular yearly entertainment for Australians. In fact, people from all corners of the world were interested in their horse race and wanted to participate.
During WWII the Melbourne Cup was still run
Many would say that when the war is all over the world that all types of entertainment would stop. Well, not even World War II had an impact on the Australian Melbourne Cup. The races were still organized and they gathered a lot of people. In the period of war, the Melbourne Cup was organized on Saturdays. This change only occurred in the period of way which was from 1942 to 1944. During these two years, one-third of the males in Australia had to tune in for the race from different threats of conflict.
The Melbourne Cup is one of Australia’s most-attended events
We believe that this fact will not surprise you so much, now after you realized how long tradition this horse race event has. Logically, in the beginning, the popularity of the race was not so huge. It included only a few thousand people that were willing to attend the horse race. However, as years were passing by the number of people that wanted to attend this show rose constantly and reached over 90 thousand. If we would speak about these years, the popularity is incredibly huge. For instance, if we would take into consideration even the number of people that are watching the horse race on their TV and betting online, the number of viewers will surely go above 75 million.
The Melbourne Cup represents more than just a horse race
Surely, this horse race in Australia is the biggest public event that day, However, at the same time, many smaller non-sport events are organized with the purpose of entertaining the people that come. For instance, there is one non-sport-related event called the Fashion on the field which is organized to gather people that love fashion and clothes. They need to show off their most outstanding dresses and suits.
It is great that both women and men can participate in this event. Believe it or not, even for these types of events people can grab big prizes. There are so many other interesting events that go around, so if you sometimes decide to visit this event, you will surely have the greatest time of your life. Therefore, this event is not just about the horses, it gathers people with different passions to be included and to show off in the way they best can. However, in the end, fun, entertainment, and friendship are all that matter, and that makes people come to the event in the first place.
Only one female jockey has ever won the race
This horse race is not only for men as many would assume. Unfortunately, women did not have a chance to win the race throughout history as men had. The only woman that achieved this goal is the Australian jockey called Michelle Payne while riding his horse called the Prince Of Penzance. They took together the victory in the 2015 Melbourne Cup. At that moment, she become the first female that even won the event which was pretty exciting for women across the world to see this.
Melbourne Cup Day is one of our biggest days for alcohol consumption
What we are going to tell you will definitely sound unrealistic to you. However, demand for the alcohol on this special event day is very high. Conducted studies are showing that Australians consume a volume equivalent to 25 Olympic swimming pools of alcoholic beverages on Melbourne Cup Day. This is an incredible fact that will surely tell you a lot about how much fun people have while enjoying this event. Therefore, be free to consider visiting this horse race event and experience its charm in person.