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Day is reported as taking up horse-racing as a jockey in the late 1860s, [2] but details are hard to find. Dubbed the "Wonder Walker", [ 7 ] he rode Nimblefoot to victory in the Hotham Handicap of 5 November 1870 [ 8 ] and the same combination was judged winner of the 1870 Melbourne Cup in a very close finish, ahead of Lapdog, [ 9 ] a record ...
Many people from outside of Melbourne take a half or full day off work to celebrate the occasion. Many people feel that the day should be a national public holiday as sick leave is said to increase on the day and productivity wanes. As early as 1865, Cup Day was a half-holiday in Melbourne for public servants and bank officials.
Samuel Griffiths, handicapper and turf historian, scotched the story as having been fabricated by the bookmaker Joseph Bragge "Leviathan" Slack. [3] The winning time of 3:37.0 was at the time the fastest winning time in the race's history. [4] This is the list of placegetters for the 1870 Melbourne Cup. [5]
Payne was the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup in its 155-year history. She was also the fourth woman to ride in the race and was coincidentally wearing the colours of the suffragette movement: purple, green and white. [18] In an interview shortly after her Melbourne Cup win, Payne said that horse racing is a "chauvinistic sport". [19]
The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. [1] It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. [2] 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.
The final field for the race was declared on 2 November 2024. [3] The total prize money for the race was A$ 8.56 million, a $150,000 increase from 2023. [ 4 ] It was the first Melbourne Cup to be broadcast by Nine Network after Network 10 , who had broadcast the race since 2019 , dropped out of the bidding for the rights to the race in June 2023.
The Victoria Derby, also known as the Penfolds Victoria Derby, is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds held under Set Weights conditions over a distance of 2,500 metres at Flemington Racecourse, in Melbourne, Australia scheduled annually on the first day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival. [1]
The shortest-priced favourite in Cup history was Phar Lap when he won in 1930 at 8-11 ($1.72).; Metrication – The race was originally held over two miles (about 3,218 metres), but following Australia's adoption of the Metric system in the 1970s the current distance of 3,200 metres was adopted in 1972.