Nov 05, 2013

It’s that time of the year again – Melbourne Cup. It’s the day where one race stops the nation. It’s the day where Victorians (and a handful of Queenslanders) get an extra public holiday. But here are ten facts that you may have not known about this colourful celebration.

1. Horse racing was the first sport to be covered live on Australian radio.
2. The saddlecloth numbers 4 and 12 have won the Cup a record 11 times each – so if you’re struggling to find a horse to back, go for 4 or 12.
3. The first Fashion on the Field was held in 1962 on Darby Day to attract a wider crowd, including celebrities.
4. Social media analysis of last year's Melbourne Cup shows the number of Australian tweets dropped from almost 900 per minute to around 500 during the race.
5. The average horse heart weighs 3.2kg. Phar Lap’s (1930 Melbourne Cup winner) heart weighed 6.2kg!
6. Fifty-five Melbourne Cup winners have their own Wikipedia entries. So far.
7. World War I and World War II stopped most major sport in Australia, but never the Melbourne Cup.
8. Jockeys in Victoria must have a blood-alcohol reading under 0.02.
9. The crowd at the first Melbourne Cup was a measly 4000 (though access to the bar would be much easier!)
10. Last year's Cup brought 26,000 international and interstate visitors to Melbourne and injected $155 million into the Victorian economy.

Now have a great Melbourne Cup Day and may the best horse win! The above facts have been sourced from News.com.au, Herald Sun and Readers Digest Australia.