The Melbourne Cup
Few events capture the imagination of the Australian public quite like the Melbourne Cup.
Ever since 1993 the race has become a global event with the best international horses making the long trek over to Australia to compete.
As over 100,000 people get ready to descend on the Flemington race course for this year’s event, the media attention is as high as ever for Australia’s most famous horse race.
The race, which starts on November the 3rd, is part of a four day Melbourne Cup Carnival. Families of all ages are welcome, with a variety of music, delicious food, and betting offices, complimented by the forecasted sun soaked weather.
The stakes are higher than ever ahead of the big race, with a record breaking $6,175,000 available to the field in prize money. This makes it the richest handicap event in the world over two miles. The race is classed as a group one open handicap, and is famed for testing both the horses and jockeys endurance levels.
The race is made up of 24 international and local horses, who gallop to cover a distance of 3,200 metres in the hope of being crowned champion.
Each and every horse is handicapped meticulously ahead of the event, which makes the race extremely competitive, and hard to call.
In front of 100,794 spectators, Protectionist won the event last year, but after a poor year of form, is un-fancied at 40/1 to defend his crown.
Fame game is attracting a lot of interest from punters, with bookmakers quoting the talented horse at odds of 8/1 for triumph.
In recent weeks 16/1 shot Mongolian Khan has also seen his odds cut due to impressive performances, but it is Red Cadeaux who looks the best value shot at 33/1.
Red Cadeaux’s experience at this level is almost un-matched, finishing runner up in this race in three of the last four years. Following some encouraging form after a slow start to the year, Red Cadeaux has the ability to go one step closer and claim 1st place this time around.
With tickets to the carnival still available, this year’s event looks simply unmissable. It is often argued which is more popular a gambling event in Australia, the day the nation stops for the Melbourne Cup, or the continuous sounds of the pokies, played 24/7 in many venues throughout Australia. No nation spends as much on pokies machines as Australian citizens, and no other nation has a public holiday for a horse race! One of the best online venues to play games online at is Pokies Palace for real money Australian pokies. We hope the arguemtn over which form of gambling isn’t settled like this one.