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by Chamari Senanayake, Vice President, University Wide 2004 and Deakin University Student Association.

Winning Jockey Glenn Boss on Makybe Diva

Australians call it the day that stops a nation. Spring racing carnival is a four day celebration with its main attraction being the cup day, which takes place on the first Tuesday of November every year at Flemington racecourse in Melbourne.

That day, the moment the horses start to run, the entire nation stops, in front of Televisions or Radios, at shops, Pubs or even on public transport. This day has always been a public holiday allowing more Australians to gather at Flemington to see and celebrate their most favorite sport.

This year it attracted more than one million spectators, only on the cup day Tuesday itself. The Five million dollars worth Melbourne cup is not just a horse race, it is a 144 year old social and cultural tradition of Australia that attracts the best race horses and trainers from Australia and all over the world.

Today, it draws more than 700 million of Television audience over 120 countries and even a larger audience on the internet.

Spring Racing Carnival is a Victoria- wide festival, where many purebred race horses compete in various races at various race grounds in Victoria.

It has many different categories with trophies such as, length of run, weight of horses and maiden runs. And Caulfield Cup, held at the Caulfield race grounds in Melbourne is one of them that are highly popular. The best of the best then can be entered for the biggest day of the year, the Melbourne cup Day.

The winner is the champion of them all. Melbourne cup day is surrounded by the four day carnival at Flemington, where many final races take place, many different cups and plates to be won and each has its own standards and price money.

During those four days, the Victoria Racing club offers more than 14 million dollars worth of prize money.

Fashion at Cup carnival

Spring Racing Carnival is known well for its fashion. Men and women dress in their best and most expensive cloths and arrive in style. Transport to the venue is by various stylish ways, starting from the free Tram which runs during the four day carnival to Flemington Race grounds from the city.

During these days the Tram is filled with people dressed in various colours, women with stylish hats, feathers and shawls and, men holding wine and Champaign glasses. Some reach the venue by Cabs, and some by limousines. Also are the people that come by ferries and boats, and some wealthy that arrives by helicopters that is specially run for the Melbourne Racing Cup Carnival.

Among the stylish are famous actors, models, politicians, former jockeys and champion horse owners, sports stars, sometimes the representatitives from the Royal family and even the Prime Minister of Australia himself.

History

The first Melbourne cup race was a dramatic event, which took place in 1861. Four thousand people, a good crowd at that time, gathered at Flemington race grounds and seventeen horses ran the race, and one horse called Twilight started too early and was only captured after he ran the whole course. Sadly, two race horses called Dispatch and Medora fell and died.

'Archer' became a legendary horse not only because he came first that day, he had to walk 580 miles from his home town in New South Wales to be a part of the race. It is rumored that the following year, Archer walked again from his home town to reach Melbourne and ran the race to become the champion for the second time.

In the third year, although Archer's owner wanted to include him again in the race, due to a postal delay his application arrived late and Archer could not be included. As a respect for Archer, most of the horse owners withdrew their horses from the race and that year Melbourne cup had the minimum number of runners in history, only 7. At the age of ten, Archer fell and got injured in a race and was retired to stud. His legendary story was portrayed in the 1984 movie 'Archer'.

Flemington ground is the oldest Metropolitan racing ground and the oldest continuing race course in Australia. In 1840 the first race meeting was held there and on 1861 the official Melbourne Cup started. After the gold rush era of 1850's Melbourne became a dynamic city and the Melbourne Cup Carnival added fame and fashion to the city.

Since 1870's the first Tuesday of November has been a public holiday to hold the Melbourne Cup. However, at the beginning there were no trophies or cups available, and Archer's owner received price money and a gold watch. 1865 was the first year an elaborate silver cup made in England was awarded as the trophy. Since then, the cup has taken various shapes and values.

Today, the cup is valued over 80, 000 Australian dollars and the winning horse wins for his owner millions of dollars as price money. Also, he brings his Jockey, Trainer and strapper miniature gold trophies with prize money.

Since 1861, apart from Archer, horses named Peter Pan, Rain Lover, Think Big and Makybe Diva, each have managed to win the cup twice.

2005 Melbourne Cup

As Victoria wide Spring Racing Carnival commenced, there were a few tragedies before the cup day. On the Caulfield Cup Day, just three weeks before the Melbourne cup, one of the most admired Melbourne Cup runners and the 2003 Caulfield Cup champion 'Mummify' broke his leg during the race.

The brave horse still ran and not only he completed the race with a broken leg, he also came to the third place. He was immediately taken to the vet hospital but by the following morning his condition worsened as it was decided to put him down.

Mummify was a champion horse who has won his owner more than five million dollars in Prize money. Just few days before the cup day, the English horse 'Carte Diamond' fell during a practice run, got badly injured and had to be pulled out of the runner's list for the Melbourne Cup.

This year, more than one million spectators gathered at the Flemington grounds on Tuesday to see the best horses competing for the Melbourne cup. It is also the 75th anniversary year of Phar Lap's legendary 1930 Melbourne Cup win.

Also this year, a record breaking three million eighty four thousand spectators gathered at Flemington during the four day carnival. Along the race track, around the stalls and almost everywhere on the grounds rose bushes were covered with roses of various colours. Men and women were dressed in their best clothes, with feathers on ladies fashionable hats shaking to a rhythm to the gallop of horses.

Champion horses were constantly coming in and out of stables to run for various plates since nine o'clock in the morning. Mounting yard was covered by a circle of red rose bushes and the great runners were escorted by clerks and strappers for display before their run.

Champagne and wine glasses and empty bottles were lying everywhere on the ground, and some people were resting on picnic clothes laid on bare grass. Many famous faces were seen reaching the grounds by cars, limousines, cabs and even by helicopters. Among the famous people was Victoria Premier Steve Bracks, looking down from the palladium at the champion horses.

A minute before the main race, a jet carved the name 'Diva' in the sky with smoke, the last two years champion's name, 'Makybe Diva'. The biggest attraction started at three in the afternoon. The moment the horse gates opened with a huge 'thud' a loud scream echoed as people yelled their lungs out.

The magnificent 24 champion racehorses galloped around the tracks. Their statuette bodies were covered with sweat, and sun rays reflected on them, exposing their muscles and veins. Their gallop almost shook the ground, and to that sound everyone's heart beat seemed to rise. People held their breath, to the emotion of seeing their magnificent performance, their effort, their beauty and courage.

Commentators continued to scream on microphones while television cameras traveled on top speed on a vehicle parallel to the horses. Newspaper journalists kept flashing their cameras as if they were competing with each other while the huge screens around the tracks showed the viewers close ups of the champion horses's gallop.

Horses from France, Japan, New Zealand, England, Ireland and USA along with horses from all around Australia were running alongside each other. Light bodies of the Jockey's were flying in the air as they encouraged and pushed the four-legged champions under them.

As cheering grew louder I realized that the horses were coming closer to the finishing line. Seconds later, in the last quarter of the race, the dark brown mare 'Makybe Diva' last two year's champion, accelerated to top speed and came out of the crowd of the rest of the horses.

As she galloped towards the Australian racing records as the very first horse to win Melbourne Cup for consecutive three years, commentators yelled 'a winner, a champion.. a legend'. The crowd continued to scream as loud as they could for the next many minutes. 'On a Jeune' and 'Xcellent' followed her as second and third, while all the other horses also showed a magnificent performance.

This year, I went to the Melbourne Cup to embrace my love of horses and to witness the most famous event in Australia for the second time, a long lived tradition and a celebration, but was even glad to have been able to witness a legendary moment.

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