Doodlewatch

The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s major annual Thoroughbred horse race. Billed as The race that stops a nation, it is a race for three-year-olds and over, over a distance of 3,200 metres. It is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races in the world. The event is held at 3 pm on the first Tuesday in November by the Victoria Racing Club, on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. This day is a public holiday for all working within metropolitan Melbourne, but not for country Victoria. For Federal Public Servants it is also observed as a holiday in the entire state of Victoria, and since 2007 also in the Australian Capital Territory. No other horse race in the world has a public holiday dedicated to it.

The race has been held since 1861 (see list of Melbourne Cup winners) and was originally held over two miles (about 3,218 metres) but following preparation for Australia’s adoption of the metric system in the 1970s, the current race distance of 3,200 metres was established in 1972.

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Melbourne_Cup