This is the most special day in Australian sport. There are other great days, but nothing matches the Melbourne Cup when it comes to history, excitement, joy, heartbreak and offering something for everyone.
I came from a family of gamblers, which I found out the hard way isn’t the ideal starting point in life, but I don’t hold that against the Cup.
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To me, it’s a magnificent occasion, wound as tightly as anything into the fabric of Australian society. What other annual event brings us together like the Cup does?
It’s still not for everyone. I’ve got a mate who won’t even watch the race today. But a huge amount of people will have an interest, whether it’s a ticket in an office sweep or a bet at the TAB, and win or lose they will get caught up in the hype.
Why is the Cup so great?
For a start, it goes back so far, to 1861, and from the start there were these wonderful stories about the race and its winners. The beauty of the race grew from there.
It became legend that when Archer won the first Cup, in 1861, the horse was walked all the way from his trainer’s stables near Nowra to Flemington – more than 800km. The truth is it went by steamboat, but the legend sounds better.
Great horses like Briseis, a three-year-old filly, and the mighty Carbine went on to win it before the turn of the century.
The grainy, black-and-white film of Phar Lap, our greatest ever horse, winning it in 1930 is burned into my brain. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve been to the Melbourne Museum to gaze at that magnificent creature’s stuffed hide.
I had just turned nine years old when I had my first bet in the race, in 1967. My aunty put something on Red Handed for me – 25 cents, I think it was – at the TAB. It won.
I ran a book on the Cup with a mate in high school. That was more profitable than punting.
The cup used to be run at 2.40pm back then and I remember being in the class-room in Year Eight and cheering loudly for the first horse I idolised, Gunsynd, in the 1972 cup as the call came over the school PA system.
The great grey wasn’t even close to being a genuine two-miler, but his huge heart got him into third place despite the big weight he had to carry.
The next time one of my idols ran in the Cup I was there. It was 1981 and Kingston Town wasn’t at his best and ran a rare poor race. The following year I was there again, when he raced to the lead in the straight but was overtaken near the line by Gurner’s Lane.
That’s the most upset I’ve ever been about a race result.
It became like a pilgrimage for me, going to the Cup. Not being the most responsible type, sometimes I didn’t really have the money when I was young, but I’d find enough to get to Melbourne and worry about the rest later.
Further down the track I was fortunate enough to see Might And Power win in 1997, Makybe Diva win her third in 2005 and Bart Cummings win his last with Viewed, in 2008.
So many fabulous stories have come out of the race and regardless of its long history it is still capable of breaking new ground. You only have to go back to last year and Michelle Payne riding Prince Of Penzance for the most recent extraordinary example of that.
It never fails to be a spine-tingling event for me, whether I’m at Flemington or watching on TV, which is what I’ll be doing today.
As much as horse-racing is described as the sport of kings and the Cup itself has become a truly international event, it has always been the people’s race and I don’t need to have a bet in it to maintain my interest.
But while I’m in it strictly for the love of the race and I don’t really care who wins, I’ve still had a crack at picking the winner.
Last week on The Roar I wrote a column before acceptances, tipping Scottish. But then they announced he wouldn’t run in the Cup and would go around at next Saturday’s meeting instead.
My second tip was Big Orange and I’m happy to stick with him now. He likes to lead or at least be in the first two or three.
For his sake, I hope something else takes up the running because it’s very hard to lead all the way in the cup. Hartnell for second and Heartbreak City for third.
Have a fabulous Cup day everyone.
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