Melbourne Cup, 2008

[ancientcitadel]

Today is Melbourne Cup Day. A public holiday in Victoria and since 2007 also in the Australian Capital Territory. For a horse race. :)

For the Cup, fixed for the first Tuesday in November. nearly every person in Australia stops to watch or listen.

Todays Results: 1st - Viewed
                              2nd - Bauer (IRE)
                              3rd - C'est La Guerre (NZ)

I bet on Master O'Reilly and Mad Rush - So I got 4th and 7th out of 22 horses. :( Bart Cummings won his 12th Melbourne Cup today, 50 years to the day that he won his first.

So I hope you enjoyed the 147th Melbourne Cup today.

Melbourne Cup Trivia

* The Cup was first run in 1861.

* Melbourne Cup Race Record: Kingston Rule 1990 - 3 minutes 16.3 seconds

* Distance: 3200 metres

* Biggest Winning Margins: 8 lengths - Archer 1862 / Rain Lover 1968

* Highest Winning Weight:
o 10st 5 lb (65.5 kg) Carbine
o 10st 2 lb (64.5 kg) Archer
o 10st 0 lb (63.5 kg) Poitrel

* Highest Weight Carried: 10st 10 lb (68 kg) Phar Lap

* Age Of Winners:
o 3 year old - 23 - last 3yo - Skipton (1941)
o 4 year old - 41
o 5 year old - 41
o 6 year old - 26
o 7 year old - 9
o 8 year old - 2

* Most Wins:
o 3 Wins - Makybe Diva - 2003 - 2005
o 2 Wins - Archer - 1861-1962; Peter Pan - 1932-1934; Rain Lover - 1968-1969; Think Big - 1974-1975

* Most wins by a trainer:
o 12 - Bart Cummings (1965, 1966, 1967, 1974, 1975, 1977, 1979, 1990, 1991, 1996, 1999, 2008)
o 5 - Etienne L. de Mestre (1861, 1862, 1867, 1877, 1878)
o 5 - Lee Freedman (1989, 1992, 1995, 2004, 2005)