The race that stops a nation will again in the 2018 Melbourne Cup at Flemington on Tuesday.
Will it be another international winner like Protectionist was in 2014. There are plenty running in the 2018 Melbourne Cup (3200m) at Flemington on Tuesday.
2018 Melbourne Cup: Nominations
2018 MELBOURNE CUP - RACE HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The Melbourne Cup is a Group 1 race run under Handicap conditions for open class stayers at Flemington conducted by the Victoria Racing Club.
| 2017 Emirates Melbourne Cup - Rekindling |
The Melbourne Cup is run over 3200m. It was first run in 1861 and was won by Archer who would win the first two Cups.
The race has always been at two miles (3200m).
The Melbourne Cup was a Principal Race until 1979 then Group 1.
The most famous names of the Melbourne Cup are Phar Lap who won in 1930 and was an all-time great, Bart Cummings who won 12 Cups (7 more than anyone else) and Makybe Diva who became the only horse in the history of the race to win three of them.
Bobby Lewis and Harry White won four Melbourne Cups as jockeys while Etienne De Mestre and Lee Freedman have five Cups as well as trainers.
Lloyd Williams is the most successful owner with six victories – Rekindling the most recent.
Besides Makybe Diva, Think Big, Rain Lover, Peter Pan and Archer are the only horses to win more than one Cup.
Kingston Rule holds the race record at 3:16.30.
Shadow King ran in six Melbourne Cups from 1929 with numerous placings.
Dunaden defeated Red Cadeaux by the smallest margin in history taking 3 minutes to decide the photo.
There have been four 100-1 shots win as the biggest price. The most recent was only 2015 with Prince Of Penzance.
Eleven horses has done the Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double – Ethereal, Might And Power, Doriemus, Let’s Elope, Gurner’s Lane, Galilee, Even Stevens, Rising Fast, Rivette, The Trump and Poseidon.
Last Southern Hemisphere 3yo winner was Skipton in 1941. Rekindling was a Northern Hemisphere 3yo.
While mares have won 13 times, the most recent was Makybe Diva in 2005. They won five times from 1988 to 2005 but before that Light Fingers was 1965.
History was made at Flemington in 2015 when Prince Of Penzance won making Michelle Payne the first female jockey to win the race.
In 2001 Shiela Laxon was the first woman to ‘officially’ train the winner when Ethereal scored a big win. Catalogue was forced to be raced under the name of the husband of its trainer A McDonald. Gai Waterhouse has done it since with Fiorente.
Dermot Weld changed the race forever winning the 1993 Cup with Irish stayer Vintage Crop. He would win it again in 2002 with Media Puzzle under emotional circumstances after jockey Damien Oliver rode the race despite his brother dying within the week prior.
Other internationals to win since then have been Delta Blues for Japan, Americain and Dunaden for France, Protectionist for Germany and Rekindling for Ireland.
In fact Ireland trifectad the race last year with Joseph O’Brien, Aidan O’Brien and Willie Mullins taking the main spoils. There was one Australian trained horse home in the first seven.
The Melbourne Cup is worth $7.05million in 2018.
Notable winners of the Melbourne Cup include Almandin (2016), Prince Of Penzance (2015), Protectionist (2014), Americain (2010), Delta Blues (2006), Makybe Diva (2003/2004/2005), Media Puzzle (2002), Might And Power (1997), Saintly (1996), Vintage Crop (1993), Kiwi (1983), Think Big (1974/1975), Rain Lover (1968/1969), Galilee (1966), Light Fingers (1965), Evening Peal (1956), Rising Fast (1954), Comic Court (1950), Peter Pan (1932/1934), Phar Lap (1930), Poseidon (1906), Carbine (1890), Malua (1884), Grand Flaneur (1880), The Barb (1866) and Archer (1861/1862).
The 2017 Melbourne Cup was won by Rekindling from Johannes Vermeer and Max Dynamite.
