The Melbourne Cup is the most popular sporting event in Australia each year.
The Melbourne Cup remains as one of the most prominent sporting events Australia has ever known. The History of this Horse Racing Cup is incredibly rich and filled with interesting facts, figures, records, and statistics. With many horse racing fans counting down the days until the big day kicks off, we thought we would give you a roundup of all you need to know!
Melbourne Cup Betting Extravaganza
For obvious reasons, betting on the Melbourne Cup is almost as popular as watching it. As this is the biggest Australian horseracing event of the year, it is only natural that it will pull in some of the biggest numbers for the bookmakers around.
Bettors add a bit of monetary excitement to the whole affair, as it just spices everything up even more. Who knows, you could walk away with a big wodge of cash in your virtual wallet!
As the race is approaching, Melbourne Cup betting offers will become more and more frequent. However, the best and most convenient way to do this is through online betting, just download an app, place your wager and hold tight! If you think this might tickle your fancy, check out this Melbourne Cup free bets list for a selection of the best free bets to get you going!
The Start
It all started with Victorian Turf Club when a gentleman named Frederick Standish came up with the idea of holding horse races in Melbourne on an annual basis. At first, there were seventeen horses who contested for first Melbourne Cup in November 1861 and they raced for a prize of 710 Gold Sovereigns and a gold watch. The prize was not very impressive the event managed to draw a crowd of around 4,000 spectators. The winner of the first Cup was Hand Bay Stallion known as Archer ridden by John Curtis and trained by Etienne de Mestre.
Rise in Notoriety
The Victoria Turf Club and Victoria Jockey Club merged together and they formed The Victoria Racing Club in 1854. The VRC took charge of proceedings and what is now known as the Melbourne Cup was born and started its stratospheric rise to fame. However, in 1865,
Then in 1865, the Melbourne Cup was declared as Half day holiday, and it became a full day holiday in 1877. This was done to encourage Australians to attend the event at Flemington Racecourse. The Melbourne Cup was held on first Tuesday of September in 1875 and adopted the four-day format, this went on to evolve into the carnival that it is today!
Famous Trainers
- Etienne L de Mestre, as named before, trained five Melbourne Cup Winners between the years of 1861 and 1978, this also includes the first Melbourne Cup Winner, Archer.
- Bart Cummings is another well-known trainer who is dubbed as the Melbourne Cup King. He trained an impressive feat of winners from 1965 and went on to win 12 Melbourne Cups, while five of his trainees trained runner ups.
- Lee Freedman hailed from a racing family and trained the winners of 1989, 1992 and 1995. He also enjoyed success at Cox Place, Golden Slipper and the Caulfield Cup.
A Fashion Parade
The Melbourne Cup is also well known for the incredible high fashion outfits that its patrons turn up wearing. The event has a huge “rich fashion and race culture”, and it remains one of the few places in colonial Australia where both high society and lower classes come together.
Recent Developments
There are many notable changes in Melbourne Cup history with the arrival of many foreign-trained horses in last decade. This increased the attraction for foreigners as they competed with a quality handicap weighting system and the first foreign-bred to win was Comedy King in 1910, while other notable winners are Backwood, Belldale Bail, At Talq, Kingston Rule, Jeune, and Media Puzzle.
If you are thinking of dabbling in the world of horse race betting then I would highly suggest you give the Melbourne Cup a go!
