Melbourne Cup and all That

For those who don’t know, today is Melbourne Cup day, the day that a whole nation stops to watch a horse race. It is even a public holiday in Victoria. Of course if you live in Australia you could not avoid knowing. If you live outside of Australia this a big event folks!

Today is the day that all the once a year punters come out and have a flutter on the cup and of course all the office sweep stakes. TAB’s are not the place to be on Melbourne Cup day… very hectic places indeed. On the first Tuesday in November TAB’s are full of an assortment of little old ladies, office workers and housewives who don’t have a clue to fill out a betting ticket who inevitably severely jam the ticket machines in the TABS, frustrating TAB employees and other punters who fail to get a bet on due to the jams. [TAB’s for those outside Australia, are a form of betting shop. Once upon a time these were state run but are now largely private companies.]

I used to be a regular punter and occasional racegoer, and must confess to having an air of superiority come Cup day when it came to once a year punters. However this year I join their ranks. I haven’t followed horse racing for a long while and would not have a clue as to who will win. I know very little about most of the field.

Makybe Diva, a 7 year old mare, is certainly the favourite to win and is very much the popular people’s choice. She is aiming for her third Melbourne Cup win, which would be a tremendous feat in itself. She’s the only horse to win two Melbourne Cups and a Cox Plate [Australia’s premier Group 1 weight for age race]. The last 7 year old mare to win the Melbourne Cup was Acrasia in 1904 who only carried 47kg. Makybe Diva is carrying 58kg, today and her weight last year of 55.5kg was a record winning weight for a mare in the Melbourne. Today is very hot too. If the Diva does carry it off it will be a tremendous history making win. If not she will have had a good go anyway and the records she has set to date have been phenomenal. ‘Go the Diva!!’

Will I back her? Well maybe…. Come on Rob leave the blog alone for a while….