| Melbourne Cup | |
| Location | Flemington Racecourse |
|---|---|
| Date | 7 Nov 1876 |
| Distance | 2 miles |
| Winning horse | Briseis |
| Winning time | 3:36.25 |
| Final odds | 13/2 |
| Jockey | Peter St Albans |
| Trainer | James Wilson |
| Owner | James Wilson |
| Surface | Turf |
| Attendance | 75,000 |
The 1876 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 7 November 1876. [1]
This year was the sixteenth running of the Melbourne Cup. The race is most famous for winning jockey Peter St Albans (real name: Micheal Bowden) who became the youngest Melbourne Cup winning jockey at 12 (he was actually a few days shy of his 11th birthday). [2] Briseis, who won the Doncaster Handicap at two, won by two lengths and was the first of three fillies to win the race the Cup. She also completed the VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup double. [3] Briseis won in a field of 33 and "The boy who rode the winner was carried around the pack and is the hero of the day" reported the Australasian Sketcher. [4] Both Peter St Albans and Briseis have now become racing legends.[ citation needed ][ according to whom? ]
This is the list of placegetters for the 1876 Melbourne Cup. [1] [2]
| Place | Name | Jockey | Trainer | Owner |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Briseis | Peter St. Albans | James Wilson | James Wilson |
| 2 | Sibyl | Phelps | ||
| 3 | Timothy | D. Nicholson | Etienne De Mestre |
The Melbourne Cup is a annual Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms 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".
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Peter St Albans (1864–1898) is the youngest jockey ever to win the Melbourne Cup. He won in 1876 riding Briseis at the recorded age of thirteen. His record is unlikely to be beaten as he rode in the Melbourne Cup when he was under the stated minimum age of thirteen. He secured the mount for the three-year-old Briseis after the regular stable jockey could not make the featherweight of 6 stone and 4 pounds. Before 75,000 at Flemington Briseis, with St Albans in the saddle, comfortably won by one length in the biggest field of all time. "At 4 o'clock the starter released the 33 runners and they swept down the long Flemington straight in a thundering rush. Briseis, ridden by what one writer termed a mere child, captured a rare double, the Victoria Race Club Derby and the Melbourne Cup. Shouts and hurrahs were heard, hats were thrown in the air and one excited individual fell on his back in the attempt to do a somersault. The boy who rode the winner was carried around the pack and is the hero of the day," reported the Australasian Sketcher in 1876. Both Peter St Albans and Briseis have now become racing legends, and Briseis is regarded as one of the greatest mares foaled in Australia.
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The 1870 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Thursday, 10 November 1870. This year was the tenth running of the Melbourne Cup. The entire carnival was pushed back a week due to a waterlogged track.
The 1880 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 2 November 1880.
The 1900 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 6 November 1900.
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