Melbourne Cup History - The Cup is held on the first Tuesday of November on a 3200 metre length track : Aussie Punter

The History of the Melbourne Cup

In January 1788, the First Fleet landed at Port Jackson carrying convicts, other cargo, and a stallion, four mares, a colt and a filly. This was no Noah's ark, but from these sea-sick beasts began the horse history of Australia. In Melbourne settlers set up residence around 1835, and without further ado went about preparing a track to resume their favourite horse racing which was rudely interrupted by a voyage across the seas. Bullock carts served as grandstands and the winning post was marked by a coat stand. Bottles of rum were the prevalent currency for bets.

The event probably grew too big for the bullock cart and soon the venue was shifted to Fleming Town on the banks of the Maribyrnong River, named after a local butcher, Bob Fleming. A three day event held in March, 1840 marked the beginning of official horse racing history in Melbourne. Minor clubs ran the show till in 1861, The Victoria Turf Club took over and held the first Melbourne Cup on Thursday 7th November. This historic race was run by seventeen horses and the lucky horse to go down in history as the winner was Archer, who legend has it, had to walk all the way from Nowra in NSW to participate. His efforts were amply rewarded by a hand-crafted gold watch and £170 prize money. This probably proved incentive enough, and he went on to win again the next year.

Later in 1864, the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club merged to from the Victoria Racing Club which then took charge of proceedings, and it has been so ever since. In 1871, the Victoria Racing Club Act was passed and this granted the VRC legal rights over the Flemington Racecourse. Under the VRC, the sport grew from strength to strength, shed its parochial image, and became widely popular. This led to the Cup day being declared a half day holiday in 1865. By 1877 the whole day was declared a holiday and the crowds thronged the Flemington race course.

It was in 1875 that the Cup was held on the first Tuesday of November and adopted the four day format, which eventually evolved into the Carnival we now enjoy. By all accounts the Cup was growing into a major event which was starting to grab attention and create frenzy locally and overseas.

Since 1972, the distance to be covered was changed to 3200 metres to adhere to the metric system, from the original distance of 2 miles which is roughly about 3218 metres. A few records, such as the one made by Rain Lover had to be adjusted to suit the new distance. The best timing was recorded by Kingston Rule in the 1990 Cup Day, when he clocked 3:16:3, a record that remains unbroken. He is not to be confused with Kingston Town who is known as the champ of the eighties.

Though the Cup Day has been held since 1861 every year without fail, a trophy was handed over to the winner only in 1865. This was in the form of a miniature horse and rider atop a silver bowl with decorative handles. In 1876, the first gold cup was awarded and it was made in Victoria and not from England as was the custom until then. In 1888, the trophy again reverted to silver, this time three silver horses on a silver base. The next year, it was someone's idea of a joke in the form of a silver tea and coffee service, which reportedly, the winner didn't think was funny. 1899 saw the presenting of a plaque with an embossing of a silver horse. From 1915 till 1918, a large rose bowl was used as a trophy. And finally in 1919 was introduced the trophy that we now know as the Melbourne Cup.

From 1922-1960 trophies growing in value from £200 to £750 were presented. 1973 saw a cup worth $3000 which grew to $9000 by 1978. The dramatic growth in value continued with $23,000 in 1984 rising to $60,000 in 2001. And as of 2006 it was reported to be of $75,000 value. The prize money has risen from $1420 in 1861 to just over a whopping $5 million in 2006. And now the trophy as befitting a world class event is made up of 34 pieces of hand-beaten 18 carat gold. Not bad for a race that lasts about 3 minutes.