Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup, Australia's prestigious international thoroughbred race, is considered one of the world's richest races. Sponsored by Emirates the Cup, known as "the race that stops a nation," has been held in the Melbourne suburb of Flemington on the first Tuesday of November since 1861.Culture.gov.au: Melbourne Cup Telegraph: Up for the Cup (October 26, 2001)

In 2008 Bart Cummings won his 12th Cup, with Viewed winning by a nose over Bauer. Jockey Blake Shinn won his first Cup. http://www.vrc.net.au/melbourne-cup-carnival/melbourne-cup-statistics.asp

In 2009 It was the first win in the Cup for trainer Mark Kavanagh and jockey Corey Brown.http://www.melbournecup.com/melbourne-cup-carnival/melbourne-cup-statistics.asp

The two most successful lead up races in the last 38 years have been the MacKinnon Stakes and the Caulfield Cup. These two races have "produced" 27 of the last 39 Melbourne Cup winners.

Other testing lead up races during the Spring Carnival are The Herbert Power Stakes, Coxs Plate and the Saab Cup http://melbournecup.racingandsports.com.au/melbourne-cup.asp?f=melbourne-cup-leadup

• 2009: Shocking
• 2008: Viewed
• 2007: Efficient
• 2006: Delta Blues
• 2005: Makybe Diva
• 2004: Makybe Diva
• 2003: Makybe Diva
• 2002: Media Puzzle
• 2001: Ethereal
• 2000: Brew

• The first Melbourne Cup was run on 7th November 1861 over a distance of two miles.http://www.topendsports.com/sport/horse-racing/melbourne-cup-trivia.htm

• The winning horse was Archer. Archer also won the cup the following year.http://www.progroupracing.com.au/Melbourne_Cup_Trivia.htm

• In 1877, the first Tuesday in November was declared a public holiday in Victoria.http://www.topendsports.com/sport/horse-racing/melbourne-cup-trivia.htm

• Only five horses in the history of the Cup have won the race more than once including Archer, Peter Pan, Rain Lover, Think Big and three times Melbourne Cup winner Makybe Diva

• In 1972 the race was converted to the metric distance of 3200 metres which is equal to 18.69 metres or 61.30 feet less than two miles. http://www.progroupracing.com.au/Melbourne_Cup_Trivia.htm

• The fastest race in history was run by Kingston Rule in 1990 in a time of 3 minutes 16.3 secondshttp://www.progroupracing.com.au/Melbourne_Cup_Trivia.htm