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The race that stops a nation

BlackheathenBlackheathen
in Charlton International
Today is Melbourne Cup Day, the first Tuesday every November and all eyes, Australia and New Zealand on the biggest race on the racing calendar.

This year there will be no crowd, no fashion parades, in fact not even the horse owners will be allowed to attend.  At a recent Cup meeting there was no commentary over the loudspeaker, the only noise apart from horses hooves, the sound of jockeys yelling.

NZ usually features with NZ owned and trained horses.  This year only one - The Chosen One.

Comments

  • stoneroses19stoneroses19
    Seems odd there’s no crowd when only last week the NRL final was allowed a 40k attendance. 
  • dicktraceydicktracey
    Different state .... 
  • PaddyP17PaddyP17
    This will be an odd viewing experience (well, as it's at 4am in the UK, an odd watching-back experience). If I had to advise on parting with a shilling, then Stratum Albion (AKA Stratum, but there's a prolific stud horse out in Oz called Stratum, hence the name change) and Sir Dragonet would be my picks.
  • Brendan_O_ConnellBrendan_O_Connell
    https://forum.charltonlife.com/discussion/90286/melbourne-cup-2020#latest
  • LargeAddickLargeAddick
    landed in Melbourne once the day before the Melbourne Cup to find we'd beaten Arsenal 4-2 at Highbury. On Cup day it was lovely going round the City as it was practically deserted except for us tourists. 
  • thai malaysia addickthai malaysia addick
    LargeAddick said:
    landed in Melbourne once the day before the Melbourne Cup to find we'd beaten Arsenal 4-2 at Highbury. On Cup day it was lovely going round the City as it was practically deserted except for us tourists. 
    I've been there on Cup day. There's some wasted people around in the evening though. I seem to recall someone stumbling into me at the Young & Jackson pub opposite Flinders Station causing me to spill two drinks. The worst part was trying to understand what she was saying as she tried to press money into my hand for the spillage. I politely refused, but the barman overheard the conversation and asked her to leave the pub. 
  • SoundAsa£SoundAsa£
    PaddyP17 said:
    This will be an odd viewing experience (well, as it's at 4am in the UK, an odd watching-back experience). If I had to advise on parting with a shilling, then Stratum Albion (AKA Stratum, but there's a prolific stud horse out in Oz called Stratum, hence the name change) and Sir Dragonet would be my picks.
    I’ve heard there’s yet another horse out of the same stables being touted as a potential future champion called Stratum & Hove Albion.
  • Anna_KissedAnna_Kissed
    Anthony Van Dyck  RIP.  Yet another fatality at this meeting.

    Kerrin McEvoy (on another horse) received one of the biggest fines in Australian racing history for breaching whipping rules. He was fined $50,000 after race stewards found him to have whipped his horse Tiger Moth thirteen times before reaching the 100m mark - the allowed amount is  no more than five times before reaching the 100m mark - and twenty-one in total. McEvoy was also handed a 13-meeting suspension for far exceeding the allowed amount of times a jockey is allowed to whip.

    Animal Justice Party MP Andy Meddick said “Melbourne Cup is beginning to feel like Groundhog Day. No animal deserves to die or be injured for gambling profits. Racing isn’t the sport of kings – it is a pastime of animal abuse. No amount of industry spin, glitz and glamour or celebrities can hide the truth.”

  • PaddyP17PaddyP17
    Gutted to see AVD break a fetlock. A great Derby winner, and that Caulfield Cup second - what a battle that was.

    It's also a huge shame to see that the Australian attitude toward horse racing and welfare lags inexcusably and massively behind the UK/Irish (generally European) bodies. At least the fine is sort of proportionate to his cut of the earnings, whereas in the UK this is an issue that needs some work.

    One would do well to bear this in mind: jurisdictions vary from country to country/region to region.
  • Anna_KissedAnna_Kissed
    A death is a death, wherever it occurs.

    £$£$£

    🐴 
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  • PaddyP17PaddyP17
    Anna_Kissed said:
    A death is a death, wherever it occurs.

    £$£$£

    🐴 
    Forgive me for potentially massively misinterpreting your post that immediately follows mine - but would you thus hold FDR responsible for the Holodomor?
  • Anna_KissedAnna_Kissed
    I forgive you. 
    The 'sport' will dig its own grave.
    (As regards the UK: There have been 2,105 racehorse fatalities in 4,986 days. It is an appalling statistic).
    https://www.horsedeathwatch.com/
  • paulg1947paulg1947
     The Melbourne Cup stops the nation because we get a days holiday .Just another con for Melbourne to claim to be the sports' capital of the world--- That comes over great, if you are prepared to accept that there will be extremely brief and limited coverage, of the beautiful game.
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