The Melbourne Cup is always run at 3 PM on the first Tuesday of November. As such, it will be run on November 3rd in 2009. The race length is 3,200 meters (1.988 miles, 16 furlongs).
Originally set to be two miles or 3,218 meters in length, the Melbourne Cup was redistanced in the 1970s as Australia converted to the metric system. The Cup officially becames 3,200 meters in 1972.
The race has seen some excitement, and much history. An example is the picture above; it's of renowned horse Phar Lap winning the 1930 Melbourne Cup.
This year's running is the 149th such running of the Melbourne Cup, with a clear favorite already defined. Most believe that 81-year-old legendary Australian trainer Bart Cummings, running three entries in the race, including reigning champ Viewed, will take his 13th cup title. Cummings' other entries are Roman Emperor and Allez Wonder.
At the same time, if Cummings takes the Melbourne Cup, he would be only the third trainer to sweep all three spring majors, with the Caulfield and Melbourne cups and the Cox Plate. It is, of course, spring in Australia, being in the Southern Hemisphere.
Cummings is not without challengers, though. Alcopop, which is a great story, as he has been used to muster cattle and as a polo referee's horse, had his first start on Melbourne Cup day last year, winning a maiden handicap at Morphettville in Adelaide. Since then he has won win seven of his 10 starts for trainer Jake Stephens, who is fairly new, having only been training for three years, and jockey Dominic Tourneur, who has never ridden a race at Flemington, site of the race.
As race time closes it, the betting money has set the following as favorites: Viewed a $4.75 favorite ahead of Alcopop at $5.50, with that aforementioned other Cummings home, Roman Emperor, at $8. This Melbourne Cup will indeed stop a nation, and indeed already has, as it's already Tuesday in Australia.
Posted November 3rd, 2009 by Michael Santo
