Australians are extremely fond of their sport, particularly when there is wagering to be done on it. (There's a frequently recited saying that if a pair of Australians noticed two flys on the wall, they would have odds set on which one would leave first before either fly did.) The Melbourne Cup, commonly known as the "race that stops the nation", was held yesterday. The Cup is the biggest race (by far) in Australia, is cause for a public holiday in Victoria, attracts over 100,000 spectators (and several million watching on television), is worth over $5 million to the winner, and probably has more sporting, cultural, and historical significance to Victorians than the Kentucky Derby does to a Kentuckian (Mark Twain's 1895 description of the Cup is regularly rolled out in the pre-Cup festivities: "Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.")
It's difficult to describe the craziness and the atmosphere of the Cup, which has been somewhat subdued this year due to a nasty October outbreak of equine flu. As part of the Spring Racing Carnival, I'll be heading to the racetrack tomorrow for Oaks Day. Apparently it was originally supposed to be "Ladies Day" at the track, but over time the prospect on many fine looking women has enough boys filtering in for the day to be colloquially as "Blokes Day". It doesn't have the prestige of Cup Day, but as a result the clientèle is more..."democratic" (read: younger, more likely to get silly drunk and do regrettable things - though things do get pretty debaucherous on other days throughout the Racing Carnival too.) :) There's also a classier side to the Carnival as well.
And in other news, further evidence of the spectacular rise in Australian wine...Australia can now claim to have the world's best winemaker. Not bad, eh?
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