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".
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.
The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. A legacy passed from the Victoria Turf Club was the annual "race that stops a nation", the Melbourne Cup, which was first contested in 1861.
Flemington Racecourse is a major horse racing venue located in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It is most notable for hosting the Melbourne Cup, which is the world's richest handicap and the world's richest 3200-metre horse race. The racecourse is situated on low alluvial flats, next to the Maribyrnong River. The area was first used for horse racing in March 1840.
The Spring Racing Carnival is the name of an Australian Thoroughbred horse racing series held annually in Melbourne during October and November.
Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horse racing located in the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse is Crown Land leased to the Australian Turf Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters. The racecourse is located about six kilometres south-east from the Sydney Central Business District in the suburb of Randwick. The course proper has a circumference of 2224m with a home straight of 410m.
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.
James Wilson was an Australian rules footballer who played with Geelong in the Victorian Football Association (VFA), captaining the side for a few seasons during the 1870s and 1880s. This was an era when the club won a number of premierships prior to the inception of the Victorian Football League (VFL).
The Zipping Classic, is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions over a distance of 2400 metres run at Sandown Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in mid November. Prize money is A$750,000.
Frank Reys (c.1931–1984) was an Aboriginal Australian jockey. He was the first, and as of 2022 the only Indigenous Australian jockey to win the prestigious Melbourne Cup when, in 1973, he rode to victory on Gala Supreme.
Michelle J. Payne is an Australian jockey. She won the 2015 Melbourne Cup, riding Prince of Penzance, and is the first and only female jockey to win the event.
The 2012 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 152nd running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, held on Tuesday, 6 November 2012, at Flemington Racecourse, was won by Green Moon, ridden by jockey Brett Prebble, trained by Robert Hickmott, and owned by businessman Lloyd Williams.
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.
The 2014 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 154th running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres, was held on 4 November 2014, at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. Protectionist, ridden by Ryan Moore and trained by German Andreas Wöhler, won the race by four lengths, becoming the first German-trained winner of the Melbourne Cup. Red Cadeaux placed second and Who Shot Thebarman third, with Red Cadeaux the first horse to place second on three occasions.
The 2015 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 155th running of the Melbourne Cup, a prestigious Australian Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres (1.988 mi), was held on 3 November 2015 at Melbourne's Flemington Racecourse. The date is a public holiday in the state of Victoria. The final field for the race was declared on 31 October. The total prize money for the race was A$6.2 million, the same as the previous year.
Merman (1892–1914) was a Thoroughbred racehorse, one of the finest racehorses in Colonial Australian racing history that raced in Europe. He won at distances from 5 furlongs to 21⁄2 miles. In 2016 Merman was inducted to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
James Scobie was an Australian jockey and racehorse trainer. He was an inaugural inductee to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.
James "Old Jim" Wilson was a racehorse trainer in Victoria, Australia, founder of the historic St Albans Stud in Geelong, and trainer of the 1873 Melbourne Cup winner Don Juan and 1876 winner Briseis. His older son James Wilson, Jr. captained the Geelong Football Club and as "Young Jim Wilson" trained 1899 Cup winner Merriwee. His younger son William Wilson was the jockey who rode Don Juan to victory in the 1873 Cup.
Warning is a Group 1 winning Australian bred thoroughbred racehorse who is most notable for winning the 2019 Victoria Derby.
Newhaven was an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won the 1896 Victoria Derby and the 1896 Melbourne Cup carrying a record weight for a 3 year old of 7st.13lb by 6 lengths.
Arrival of a train, Hill Platform. (Catalogue Lumière)
The Crowd near the grandstand. NFSA 