The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as "the race that stops the nation".
The W. S. Cox Plate is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres, that is held by the Moonee Valley Racing Club at Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in late October. The race has a purse of A$5,000,000.
Makybe Diva is a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to win three Melbourne Cups and the only mare to win it more than once. She achieved the feat in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She also won the 2005 Cox Plate. She was the highest stakes-earner in Australian history, winning more than A$ 14 million.
Kingston Town was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races and was the 1980 Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.
Vain was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse that dominated Australian sprint racing in the period 1968–70, when he won 12 of the 14 races he contested and ran second in the other two. He went on to become a leading sire in Australia.
Carbine (1885–1914) was a champion New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won 30 principal races in New Zealand and Australia. He was very popular with racing fans, and sporting commentators of the day praised him for his gameness, versatility, stamina and weight-carrying ability, as well as for his speed. He was one of five inaugural inductees into both the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame and the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Archer (1856–1872) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first and the second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862. He won both Cups easily, and is one of only five horses to win the Melbourne Cup twice or more and is one of only four horses to win successive Cups. In 2017 Archer was inducted to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
Gabriel Marie "Gai" Waterhouse is an Australian horse trainer and businesswoman. The daughter of Tommy J. Smith, a leading trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, Waterhouse was born and raised in Sydney. After graduating from the University of New South Wales, she worked as an actor for a time, appearing in both Australian and English television series. Having worked under her father for a period of 15 years, Waterhouse was granted an Australian Jockey Club (AJC) licence in 1992, and trained her first Group One (G1) winner later that year.
Efficient is a grey Thoroughbred racehorse gelding, bred in New Zealand, who won the 2007 Melbourne Cup and the 2006 Victoria Derby, both times ridden by Michael Rodd.
Street Cry was a Thoroughbred racehorse, winner of the 2002 Dubai World Cup, the 2002 Stephen Foster Handicap and runner up in the 2002 Whitney Handicap. He was an international shuttle stallion that stood at the Darley Studs in Australia and the United States.
Etienne Livingston de Mestre, was a 19th-century Australian breeder and jockey of Thoroughbred racehorses, De Mestre, was Australia's first outstanding racehorse trainer and racing identity. In his 30-year career he experienced all the highs and the lows of the turf in a career which ended with him dependent on donations from racing friends.
Briseis foaled in 1873, was a brown Australian Thoroughbred filly that is regarded as one of the greatest mares ever foaled in Australia. As a two-year-old she won the AJC Doncaster Handicap and the weight for age (w.f.a.) AJC All Aged Stakes. Then as a three-year-old she won the VRC Victoria Derby, the 1876 Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks, all within six days.
Rogilla was a chestnut Australian thoroughbred gelding, who was a versatile racehorse performing in Australia. Known as the Coalfields Champion from Newcastle, Rogilla raced during a vintage era of the Australian turf. He won in each of the six seasons that he raced as a three-year-old to an eight-year-old. Rogilla was an outstanding galloper in Sydney and Melbourne on wet or dry tracks recording 26 wins from 4½ furlongs to 2 miles with regular jockey Darby Munro winning 16 races.
Tulloch was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the greatest Australian stayers.
Thormanby (1857–1875) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a career that lasted from May 1859 to July 1861, he ran twenty-four times and won fourteen races. He was regarded by experts as one of the outstanding horses of his era.
Protectionist is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred and trained in Germany. He was bred by Christoph Berglar, and owned by Berglar in conjunction with an Australian syndicate. Protectionist was the winner of the 2014 Melbourne Cup, ridden by Ryan Moore and trained by Andreas Wöhler, and became the first German-trained horse to win the race.
Carbon Copy was an Australian chestnut Thoroughbred horse, who raced from a two-year-old to a five year old recording 14 wins from 1 mile to 2 miles with regular jockey Scobie Breasley winning 8 races was a member of a vintage crop of three year olds 1948-1949 including Comic Court, Foxzami, Vagabond and Bernbrook.
Winooka was a bay Australian thoroughbred stallion who raced for 5 seasons from a two-year-old to a six-year-old including America recording major wins from 6 furlongs to 1 mile and winning jockeys being Stan Davidson from Newcastle and Sydney Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductees Jim Pike and Edgar Britt.
Gothic was a black Australian thoroughbred stallion who raced for 4 seasons from a three-year-old to a six-year-old, recording major wins from 6 furlongs to 1½ miles and champion Sydney jockey Jim Pike the Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee 2002 winning 9 races.
The 1929 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 5 November 1929.
