The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 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".
The Middle Park Stakes is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to two-year-old colts. It is run on the Rowley Mile at Newmarket over a distance of 6 furlongs, and it is scheduled to take place each year in September.
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.
The Grand Annual is an Australian Thoroughbred steeplechase for horses that run at Warrnambool, Victoria during its annual May Racing Carnival. The distance is officially listed as about 5500 metres because many sections of the race are run in open paddocks with little or no fences. The race is the longest horse race run in Australia on a public course. There are 33 obstacles, more than any other steeplechase in the world.
Steven Mark Asmussen is an American Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. The leading trainer in North America by wins, he is a two-time winner of the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Trainer and was inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 2016. His horses have won the Breeders' Cup Classic, Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes, Travers Stakes, Breeders' Cup Distaff, Kentucky Oaks and Dubai World Cup.
David Pipe is a horse racing trainer based in Somerset. He is the son of 15 time champion trainer Martin Pipe.
Richard E. "Rick" Dutrow Jr. is an American thoroughbred racehorse trainer. A winner of multiple stakes races including three victories in the Breeders' Cup, Dutrow campaigned Big Brown to his wins in the Florida Derby, Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes and Haskell Invitational in 2008 en route to champion three-year-old male honors.
Hayley Turner is an English jockey who competes in flat racing. Originally from Nottingham, she is based in Newmarket.
Jamie Osborne is a Lambourn-based racehorse trainer and former National Hunt jockey.
Arrogate was a Thoroughbred racehorse.
Sandwich was a British Thoroughbred racehorse that won the classic St Leger Stakes at Doncaster Racecourse in 1931, for owner Earl of Rosebery. By 1931, Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery had died, making this a win for his son, Harry Primrose, 6th Earl of Rosebery. Sandwich was a half-brother to Manna, winner of the 1925 Epsom Derby, and as well as his 1931 St Leger success also won the Chester Vase and King Edward VII Stakes.
Sopressa is a Thoroughbred racehorse trained and bred in Australia. She won the Schweppes Oaks, a Group One race, and has won over six hundred thousand dollars.
Merchant Navy is an Australian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed considerable promise as a juvenile when he was undefeated in three start including the Listed ANZAC Day Stakes. As a three-year-old he proved himself one of the best horses of his generation in Australia over sprint distances, taking the HDF McNeil Stakes and the Coolmore Stud Stakes as well as being placed in both the Rubiton Stakes and the Newmarket Handicap. In the summer of 2018 he was relocated to Europe where he won both his races, the Greenlands Stakes in Ireland and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Etah James is a retired Thoroughbred racehorse trained and bred in New Zealand and raced in New Zealand and Australia. She has won a Group One race, and over a million dollars.
Verry Elleegant was a New Zealand-bred Australian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse that won 11 Group One races. She was crowned the 2020/2021 Australian Racehorse of the Year, and was the winner of the 2021 Melbourne Cup and 2020 Caulfield Cup.
Sir Dragonet was an Irish bred thoroughbred racehorse that won two Group One races in Australia, most notably the 2020 W. S. Cox Plate.
The Big Dance is an Australian Turf Club thoroughbred horse race run over 1,600 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia.
The 2022 Melbourne Cup was the 162nd running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 1 November 2022 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.
Michael Dee is a New Zealand born jockey who currently rides in Victoria, Australia. He is notable for having ridden the winners of a number of Group One races.
Cody's Wish is a retired multiple Grade I winning American Thoroughbred racehorse and the American Horse of the Year for 2023. He is a two-time winner of the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile. In 2022 he was a winner in four of his five starts–all stakes races–including two Grade I victories in the Forego Stakes at Saratoga and the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Keeneland. In 2023 he again won four of his five starts, winning the Grade I Metropolitan Handicap, Grade I Churchill Downs Stakes and Grade II Vosburgh Stakes before defending his title in the Breeders' Cup Dirt Mile at Santa Anita Park. Named after Cody Dorman, a native of Richmond, Kentucky who was born with Wolf–Hirschhorn syndrome and had attended several races throughout the horse’s career, Cody’s Wish was the winner of the Secretariat Vox Populi Award in 2022 and 2023.