About
Melbourne Cup is an Australian Thoroughbred horse race held every first Tuesday of November every year at 3
pm. The 3,200-meter race is restricted to three years old and over horses. The event is always held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria. Victoria state celebrates Melbourne Cup Day during the event.
History
Melbourne Cup horse race was started in 1861. Jockey John Cutts became the winner in the first two years while riding Archer. The Melbourne Cup Day in Victoria was first marked in 1877 in honour of the event and has been held ever since. The racecourse was over two miles until 1972 when it was reduced to 1.988 mi (3200 meters).
The first Melbourne Cup race with a prize of over $1 million was run in 1985. In 2004, the prize hit $4,600,000. In 2010, it reached $6,000,000 and later $6,200,000 in 2012, the level it has maintained since then. The cup is regarded as one of the world’s richest turf races.
Record
Makybe Diva holds the record for the horse with most wins. Glenn Boss is the Australian jockey who rode Makybe Diva to victory in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Bobby Lewis and Harry White are the two most successful jockeys at the event with five wins each. Lewis’ last victory was in 1927 while White last win was in 1979. The 2003 event had the highest attendance of about 122,736 people.
Previous Winners
Jockey Corey Brown won the 2017 Melbourne Cup race riding Rekindling, a three-year-old Thoroughbred horse.
Jockey Ben Melham, on Johannes Vermeer, came second. Jockey Kerrin McEvoy had won the 2016 race riding Almandin.
Apart from Archer and Makybe Diva, other horses that have won the event twice are Peter Pan, Rain Lover, and Think Big. In 2014, jockey Ryan Moore won the race while riding Protectionist. In 2015, Michelle Payne became the first female jockey to win while riding on Prince of Penzance.