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.
Quigley Down Under is a 1990 western film directed by Simon Wincer and starring Tom Selleck, Alan Rickman, and Laura San Giacomo.
The 2002 Melbourne Cup was the 142nd running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 5 November 2002 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse.
The Man from Snowy River is a 1982 Australian Western drama film based on the Banjo Paterson poem "The Man from Snowy River". The film had a cast including Kirk Douglas in a dual role as the brothers Harrison and Spur, Jack Thompson as Clancy, Tom Burlinson as Jim Craig, Sigrid Thornton as Harrison's daughter Jessica, Terence Donovan as Jim's father Henry Craig, and Chris Haywood as Curly. Both Burlinson and Thornton later reprised their roles in the 1988 sequel, The Man from Snowy River II. The 1988 sequel film was later released in the United States by Walt Disney Pictures under the title Return to Snowy River and in the United Kingdom under the title The Untamed.
The Lighthorsemen is a 1987 Australian war film about the men of a World War I light horse unit involved in Sinai and Palestine campaign's 1917 Battle of Beersheeba. The film is based on a true story and most of the characters in the film were based on real people.
Media Puzzle, foaled in the United States was an Irish horse best known for his win in the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
Doriemus was a Thoroughbred racehorse who began his career in New Zealand and rose to prominence in Australia by winning the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in 1995. He was the eighth of just nine horses to complete the double in the same year.
Phar Lap is a 1983 Australian biographical drama film about the racehorse Phar Lap. The film stars Tom Burlinson and was written by David Williamson.
Lightning Jack is a 1994 Western comedy film written by and starring Paul Hogan, as well as Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beverly D'Angelo.
The Cup is a non-fiction book written by American author Eric O'Keefe. First published in Australia in 2009, its subject is the 2002 running of the Melbourne Cup, which was won by the American-bred gelding Media Puzzle, who was ridden by champion Australian jockey Damien Oliver and prepared by the Irish trainer Dermot Weld. The Cup was based on a 2003 article that O’Keefe wrote for Nicklaus magazine titled "The Race That Stopped a Nation." O’Keefe and Australian director Simon Wincer co-authored the screenplay for the movie version of the story, which premiered in 2011 starring Brendan Gleeson.
Eric O'Keefe is an American author, editor, and journalist based in Texas. His most recent book is the Palm Beach polo murder mystery The Perfect 10. He authored the book The Cup and co-wrote the screenplay for the Village Roadshow feature film The Cup. O'Keefe has served as the editor-in-chief of The Land Report since its founding in 2007. In January 2021, The Land Report published O’Keefe’s investigative report on the extensive farmland holdings of Microsoft cofounder Bill Gates. His cover story revealed Gates to be the largest private farmland owner in the United States with 242,000 acres in 16 states in 2020.
John Michael McDonagh is a screenwriter and film director with Irish and British nationality. He wrote and directed The Guard (2011) and Calvary (2014), both films starring Brendan Gleeson, receiving a BAFTA Award nomination for the former. He was born in London in 1967. He is the older brother of playwright and filmmaker Martin McDonagh.
Horseplay is a 2003 Australian Comedy drama film, written & directed by Stavros Kazantzidis and co-written & produced by Allanah Zitserman, starring Abbie Cornish and Marcus Graham. The film is set around the famous Melbourne Cup horse race, in Melbourne, Australia. The film was released on 22 May 2003.
The 2013 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 153rd running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, held on 5 November 2013, at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria, was won by Fiorente. The horse, owned by Andrew Roberts and Barry Pang, was bred in Ireland, trained in Australia by Gai Waterhouse, and ridden by jockey Damien Oliver. It was Oliver's third victory in the event, after previous wins in 1995 and 2002, and his first start after a ten-month ban for a betting offence. Waterhouse, the daughter of Tommy J. Smith, who trained winners in 1955 and 1981, became the first Australian woman to train a winner.
Hampstead is a 2017 British drama film directed by Joel Hopkins and written by Robert Festinger. It is based on the life of Harry Hallowes who successfully claimed ownership of a half-acre plot of Hampstead Heath. The film stars Diane Keaton, Brendan Gleeson, James Norton, Lesley Manville, Jason Watkins, Hugh Skinner, and Simon Callow. The film was released on 23 June 2017, by Entertainment One Films.
Australia Day is a 2017 Australian drama anthology film directed by Kriv Stenders and starring Bryan Brown.
Saltwater is a 2000 Irish drama film written and directed by Conor McPherson. The film stars Peter McDonald, Brian Cox, Conor Mullen, Laurence Kinlan, Brendan Gleeson, Eva Birthistle and Paul Cooper. The film was released on 29 September 2000, by Buena Vista International.
Ride Like a Girl is a 2019 Australian biographical sports drama film directed by Rachel Griffiths in her feature film directing debut and starring Teresa Palmer and Sam Neill. It is based on the true story of Michelle Payne, the first female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup in 2015.
