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Every year Australia and Victoria in particular, comes to a standstill on the first Tuesday in November as the nation focuses on the Melbourne Cup, the country’s largest thoroughbred horse race. The race was first run in 1861, meaning the 2011 event will be the 151st.

Originally a two mile race, the distance dropped by 18 metres to 3200 in 1972 as the country changed from imperial to metric measurements. The first race saw 17 jockeys compete for the prize pot of 710 gold sovereigns and a gold watch. The winner for the 2010 race walked away with $6 million.

The prize isn’t the only thing to have grown hugely over the years. The original race was watched by around 4000 spectators, while more than 110,000 were in attendance for the 2010 race, with many booking cheap flights from across the country and from overseas.

The Melbourne Cup made its debut on a Tuesday in 1876 and has remained on that day ever since. That year the race was won by Briseis, a filly that won the VRC Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks within six days, all while being jockeyed by a 13-year-old boy. In 1877 the Melbourne Cup was first officially recognised as a public holiday.

would you think this is a horse racing? not really this is just a festival parade.

More than anything, the Melbourne Cup is famous for making a hero out of Phar Lap. The horse won the Melbourne Cup in 1930, as well as two Cox Plates and 19 other races across Australia. Phar Lap also won the Agua Caliente in Mexico, setting a record for the course before falling victim to a mysterious illness. The remains of the triumphant horse are on display in three museums: his hide in Melbourne, his skeleton in Wellington and his heart in Canberra.

The Aussie raised, New Zealand born horse is one of the most famous to run in the Melbourne Cup and until recently only locally trained horses were allowed to enter. This changed in the last decade, although few foreign trained horses cope well with the track conditions at Melbourne’s Flemington Racecourse.

Although Phar Lap wasn’t the most successful horse to enter the Melbourne Cup, he is the best known. That honour falls to Makybe Diva, the first horse to win the cup three times, who won the race in 2003, 2004 and 2005.

The 2011 Melbourne Cup is due to take place on 1 November and with cheap flights and tickets on sale now, this year’s cup is likely to be bigger than any before.

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