Will she, won't she? | Tuesday, November 01, 2005 |
So today is the 1st Tuesday in November, and as such it's the Melbourne Cup. I suppose it's a bit like the Grand National or the Derby back in the UK, but the purse is significantly larger at $5m and it's known as "the race that stops a nation". Quite why that should be I don't know, but that's sport for you. It's certainly true that people are into it though - I saw heaps of women dressed to the 9's (whatever that means) on the way into work, and this will be just for lunch/afternoon work things must likely.I will actually be watching it - simply because there is beer and snacks being laid on downstairs and it would be churlish to refuse, but in line with my no gambling posture (after all it's good to abstain from at least one vice) I've not entered the sweep.
Wikipedia says:
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major annual thoroughbred horse race. "The race that stops a nation", as it has been called, is for three-year-olds and over, and covers a distance of 3,200 metres. The race has been held on the first Tuesday in November since 1861 in Melbourne, Australia. The race is held at Flemington Racecourse by the Victoria Racing Club. It is run as a "weight-for-age handicap", in which the weight of the jockey, and riding gear is adjusted with ballast to a nominated figure. Older horses are given more weight than younger ones, and weightings are further adjusted according to the horse's previous results.
There's a lot of fuss this year as Makybe Diva (or just Diva to her friends) is running and there are hope she'll take the cup for a record third time in a row. Naturally there are comparisons with the aussies adopted wonder-horse Phar Lap (though the fact that Diva isn't an aussie horse either doesn't seem to get mentioned much either). Even Google joined in the fun.I guess we'll see how she does.
