The Melbourne Cup is Australia's most famous annual Thoroughbred horse race. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, 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".
Thoroughbred racing is a sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport – flat racing and jump racing, the latter known as National Hunt racing in the UK and steeplechasing in the US. Jump racing can be further divided into hurdling and steeplechasing.
Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys over a set distance, for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic premise – to identify which of two or more horses is the fastest over a set course or distance – has been unchanged since at least classical antiquity.
The W.S. Cox Plate is a Moonee Valley Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres, held 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.
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.
The Auckland Cup is an annual race held by the Auckland Racing Club (ARC). It is an Open Handicap for thoroughbred racehorses competed on the flat turf over 3200 metres at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. The race is graded as a Group One (G1) and was first contested in 1874.
Kindergarten was a New Zealand bred Thoroughbred racehorse that raced during the early 1940s. He won many of the premier events in New Zealand including the Wellington Cup and Auckland Cup for more than £16,000 in stake money, which was a large amount during the War.
Gloaming was an outstanding Thoroughbred racehorse, owned, trained, and based in New Zealand. He set many records which included the Australasian record of 19 successive wins, many in Principal Races. Gloaming was unusual in that he was a champion who won many major races in both Australia and New Zealand. Gloaming still holds the Australasian record of 45 seconds for four furlongs.
The Wellington Cup is a Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race in New Zealand held annually in late January at Trentham Racecourse in Trentham by the Wellington Racing Club.
Poseidon was an Australian Thoroughbred Hall of Fame racehorse. He won 19 races over distances ranging from five furlongs to three miles. Sixteen of these wins were "Principal Races", eight of them now of Group 1 (G1) status.
Show Gate is a New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame champion thoroughbred racehorse sired by Gatekeeper out of Minglow, a Eulogy mare. Foaled in 1969, she was horse of the year in 1975 and 1977 and won races from 1200 metres up to 2400 metres in record time. She started in 51 races, winning 30, and was second 7 times, third twice and unplaced in 12 races.
Robert James Skelton was a New Zealand jockey who competed from the 1950s through the 1980s. Among his many major race wins, Skelton rode Great Sensation to three victories in the Wellington Cup and won the Auckland Cup on Rose Mellay in 1974 and again in 1977 on Royal Cadenza. In 1976, he rode Van der Hum to victory in Australia's most prestigious race, the Melbourne Cup, and ten years later rode Rising Fear into second place in the 1986 Cup. He was also successful in completing a double in the Perth Cup on Magistrate in 1980 and 1981. Overall winning 13 3200m and two mile races.
Shannon (1941–1955), named Shannon II in America, was an outstanding Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He created new racecourse records in Australia before he was sold to an American buyer who exported him to California in 1948. There Shannon equalled the world record of 1:473⁄5 for the nine furlongs in winning the Forty Niner Handicap Stakes, then one week later equalled the world record of 1:594⁄5 for a mile and a quarter. Shannon was named the 1948 American Champion Older Male Horse. At stud in America he proved to be a good sire.
The Trentham Stakes is a Group 3 weight-for-age race held for thoroughbred racehorses at Trentham Racecourse near Wellington, New Zealand conducted by the Wellington Racing Club.
Harness racing in New Zealand is primarily a professional sport which involves pacing and trotting competitions for Standardbred racehorses. The difference is the horse's gait or running style:
Tulloch was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was one of the greatest Australian stayers.
Septimus was an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. In a racing career which was frequently interrupted by injury he won eight of his thirteen races between September 2005 and November 2008. He showed very promising form as a juvenile, winning the Beresford Stakes and finishing third when favourite the Racing Post Trophy and went on to win the Dante Stakes by eight lengths in an abbreviated three-year-old campaign. At four he won the Mooresbridge Stakes and was then stepped up in distance to take the Lonsdale Cup and the Doncaster Cup. In his final season he won the Curragh Cup and the Irish St. Leger, taking the latter event by thirteen lengths. He was rated the best horse in the world over extended distances in both 2007 and 2008. He was retired to stud but had fertility problems and died on 12 December 2010 after complications resulting from a gelding operation.
Cross Counter is a Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2018 Melbourne Cup. After winning two minor races he was gelded before returning in the summer of 2018 to win two more races including the Gordon Stakes as well as finishing second in the Great Voltigeur Stakes and fourth in the King George V Stakes. In autumn he was sent to Australia and on 6 November he became the first British-trained horse to win the Melbourne Cup. In 2019 he won the Dubai Gold Cup and ran third in the Goodwood Cup. He failed to win in 2020 but finished third in the Ascot Gold Cup and the Henry II Stakes.
Twilight Payment is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 2020 Melbourne Cup. Bred and originally trained by Jim Bolger he did not race until he was three years old but showed promising form over extended distances as he won two races including the Listed Loughbrown Stakes in his first season. He ran consistently as a four-year-old without winning a race and was gelded at the end of the year, but in 2018 he took his second Listed prize as he won Her Majesty's Plate. In 2019 he won the Saval Beg Stakes and the Curragh Cup before moving to the stable of Joseph Patrick O'Brien. As a seven-year-old in 2020 he took the Vintage Crop Stakes and a second Curragh Cup before being sent to Australia and winning the Melbourne Cup on 3 November and produced a new career peak Timeform rating of 121.
