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".
Damien Oliver is an Australian retired thoroughbred racing jockey. Oliver comes from a racing family; his father Ray Oliver had a successful career until his death in a race fall during the 1975 Kalgoorlie Cup in Western Australia. In 2008, Oliver was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. In August 2023 he announced that he would retire at the end of that year's spring carnival.
Brew is a small, plain bay Thoroughbred gelding who won the 2000 Melbourne Cup for trainer Mike Moroney and jockey Kerrin McEvoy. Brew's first stakes win was the Listed Japan Trophy at 2559 metres on Turnbull Stakes day. This race is now called The Bart Cummings and is run at Group 3 level. Brew carried the lightweight of 49 kilograms and defeated the veteran Yippyio and the stablemate Second Coming in the Melbourne Cup. After finishing second to Yippyio in the Moonee Valley Cup, Brew qualified for the Melbourne Cup by winning The Group 2 Saab Quality at 2500 metres on Derby Day, three days before the Cup. When winning the Saab Quality, Brew achieved a Timeform rating of 113. Brew is a son of Sir Tristram and the champion New Zealand racemare and Japan Cup winner Horlicks but was gelded before showing his best form. The Melbourne Cup was Brew's last win. In the Melbourne Cup, Brew achieved a career peak Timeform rating of 114. Brew also ran in the previous Melbourne Cup in 1999 which was won by Rogan Josh A little known fact: Some time after winning the Melbourne Cup, Brew was spelled from racing and trained for duty as a police horse in Melbourne. He returned to racing but never found his previous form. Brew is now at Living Legends, the International Home of Rest for Champion Horses located in Woodlands Historic Park, Greenvale, Victoria, Australia. Since the death of 1999 winner Rogan Josh on 24 June 2022, he is both the oldest and the earliest winning of all the surviving Melbourne Cup winning horses.
David Lee Freedman is an Australian thoroughbred racehorse trainer. and Hall of Fame inductee. In partnership with brothers Anthony, Michael, and Richard, he has been a prolific winner of Australia's major races in past 20 years, with four Golden Slippers, four Caulfield Cups, two Cox Plates, and five Melbourne Cups, including two of the three won by Makybe Diva. On 19 June 2007 he won the prestigious King's Stand Stakes at the United Kingdom's Royal Ascot racecourse with his champion mare, Miss Andretti.
On A Jeune is an Australian-bred thoroughbred racehorse. His sire is the British racehorse Jeune, and his dam is Chandada Rose.
The 2000 Melbourne Cup was the 140th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 6 November 2000 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.
Ryan Lee Moore is an English flat racing jockey, who was Champion Jockey in 2006, 2008 and 2009. He is currently the first choice jockey for Aidan O'Brien's Ballydoyle operation, a role in which he mainly rides horses owned by Coolmore Stud. He also sometimes rides horses for Juddmonte and The Royal Family. As of 2024, Moore has ridden over 190 Group or Grade 1 winners internationally. He has the most British Group & Listed wins of any active jockey.
Shocking is an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse, trained by Mark Kavanagh, who won the 149th Melbourne Cup on 3 November 2009 by three-quarters of a length.
Brett Prebble is an Australian jockey, currently based in Melbourne, Victoria. Having ridden over 1200 career winners, Prebble's most famous win came aboard Green Moon in the 2012 Emirates Melbourne Cup.
Rule of Law, is a retired World Champion Thoroughbred racehorse and active sire who was bred in the United States but trained in Britain. In a career which lasted from June 2003 until September 2004, he ran nine times and won four races. He recorded his most important victory when winning the Classic St. Leger Stakes on his final racecourse appearance. He had previously finished second in the 2004 Epsom Derby.
The 2016 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 156th running of the Melbourne Cup, an Australian thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 1 November 2016 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse. The date was a public holiday in the state of Victoria. The final field for the race was declared on 29 October. The total prize money for the race was A$6.2 million, the same as the previous year.
Almandin is a Thoroughbred racehorse bred in Germany and trained in Germany and Australia.
The 2018 Melbourne Cup was the 158th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race was run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi) on 6 November 2018 at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne.
Stradivarius is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse. After winning one minor race as a two-year-old, he emerged as a top-class stayer in the following year, winning the Queen's Vase and Goodwood Cup as well as finishing a close third in the St Leger. As a four-year-old he won the Yorkshire Cup, Ascot Gold Cup, a second Goodwood Cup and the Lonsdale Cup, securing a £1 million bonus for winning all four races, and ended the year by winning the British Champions Long Distance Cup. In 2019 he repeated his victories in the Yorkshire Cup, Ascot Gold Cup and Lonsdale Cup, and won a third Goodwood Cup, giving him a second £1 million bonus. With jockey Frankie Dettori on board, on 18 June 2020, Stradivarius won his third Ascot Gold Cup and on 28 July 2020, he won his record fourth Goodwood Cup. In 2021 he won the Lonsdale Cup for the third time and in 2022 he achieved a third victory in the Yorkshire Cup. He was retired to stud at the end of the 2022 season, having won a record 18 European Group races.
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.
James Hugh Bowman is an Australian thoroughbred racing jockey. Based in Sydney, Bowman has won the New South Wales Metropolitan Jockey Premiership four times and has ridden 100 Group 1 winners. He was the jockey for Australian champion mare Winx from 2014 through to her retirement in 2019. In 2017, Bowman won the Longines World’s Best Jockey award presented by the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities. The award capped off a year in which he added to his domestic success with international Group 1 wins in Hong Kong and Japan. In 2019, he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, the industry’s highest accolade. Bowman is also renowned for his “She’s Apples” winning salute and his nickname of “the Undisputed Group 1 King”.
Melody Belle is a champion New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who is the only horse to win the New Zealand Triple Crown. She is also a two-time New Zealand Horse of the Year and holds the New Zealand record for the most Group 1 races won with 14, surpassing the previous New Zealand record of 13 set by the great mare Sunline and only one off the Australian record of 15 set by Black Caviar.
Bivouac is a multiple Group 1 winning Australian thoroughbred racehorse.
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.
Paulele is a Group 1 winning Australian Thoroughbred racehorse.
