MELBOURNE CUP 2024

The Melbourne Cup is the horse race of all Australian horse races. Every year when this race is run around 3:00 pm, it literally stops the entire nation. Melbourne Cup Day is fixed on the first Tuesday in November and although it is a public holiday only in the Melbourne Metropolitan area, Australians all over the nation are glued to their television screens or listen on the radio (or more likely on the internet, nowadays, I suppose) to watch this historic race.

The race is held over a distance of 3,200 meters, the traditional two-mile cup distance, for horses three years and older and is the richest and most prestigious “two-mile” handicap in the world. It is held in Flemington Racecourse, located in Flemington, one of Melbourne's inner city suburbs, which is named after a butcher who lived there in the 19th century. I certainly hope he didn't sell horse meat - that would be grand irony!

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861. There were 17 starters and the prize was 170 pounds and a hand-beaten gold watch (this was the trophy given before the traditional Loving Cup which the Melbourne Cup is known for). “Archer”, the first Cup-winning horse, had been walked to Melbourne from its stable in Nowra, New South Wales, a distance of about 800km. “Archer” won again the following year to a prize of 810 gold sovereigns (£810) and a gold watch. “Archer” went on to win the race the following year once more, making him one of the five horses to win the event more than once.

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SUBURBAN FOOTBALL OVAL

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AT THE LOCAL PARK

Sunday at the local park, where junior football is being played in the oval.

This post is part of the My Sunday Best meme

AO

The 2022 Australian Open was a Grand Slam tennis tournament that took place at Melbourne Park, Australia from 17 to 30 January 2022. It was the 110th edition of the Australian Open, the 54th in the Open Era, and the first Grand Slam of the year. The tournament consisted of events for professional players in singles, doubles and mixed doubles. Junior and wheelchair players competed in singles and doubles tournaments.

Rafael Nadal and Ashleigh Barty won the Men's Singles and Women's Singles titles, respectively. Nadal claimed his record-breaking 21st major title by defeating Daniil Medvedev in the final, coming back from two sets to love down. Barty won the first Australian Open singles title by an Australian in 44 years by defeating Danielle Collins in straight sets in the final.

Novak Djokovic and Naomi Osaka were the 2021 champions in Men's Singles and Women's Singles, respectively. Djokovic was unable to participate in the tournament after his visa was cancelled by Australian Immigration Minister Alex Hawke on the merits of Djokovic being a "high profile unvaccinated individual" whose presence in Melbourne "may foster anti-vaccination sentiment". Osaka lost in the third round to Amanda Anisimova.

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and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

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COVID EXERCISE

Perfect for maintaining appropriate social distancing measures during the COVID-19 pandemic...

This post is part of the Wordless Wednesday meme,
and also part of the My Corner of the World meme.

MELBOURNE CUP

Today is Melbourne Cup Day here in my home city. At 3.00 pm, on the first Tuesday in November, Australians everywhere stop for one of the world's most famous horse races - the Melbourne Cup. If you cannot be in Flemington Racecourse to watch the Cup live, you can listen to the race call on radio, or watch the race on TV. Even those who don't usually bet, try their luck with a small bet or entry into a “sweep” (a lottery in which each ticket-holder is matched with a randomly drawn horse).

ince 1877, Melbourne Cup Day has been a public holiday for Melbourne, and crowds have flocked to Flemington. By 11.00 am the grandstand is packed to its 7,000 capacity, and by 3.00 pm, many tens of thousands of people usually gather around the racecourse. The party atmosphere often means that champagne and canapés, huge hats and racetrack fashions overshadow the business of horse racing. American writer Mark Twain said of a visit to the Melbourne Cup in 1895: “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.”

The first Melbourne Cup was run in 1861 at Flemington Racecourse and was won by Archer, a horse from Nowra, New South Wales, beating the local favourite, Mormon. The prize was a gold watch and £170. Dismissed by the bookies, Archer took a lot of money away from Melbourne, refuelling interstate rivalry and adding to the excitement of the Cup. Australia's most famous racehorse, Phar Lap, combined great stamina and speed. He was foaled in New Zealand in 1926 by Night Raid out of Entreaty and he grew to 17 hands. Over his career he won more than £65,000 in prize money and won 37 of his 51 starts. From September 1929 he was the favourite in all but one of his races. Phar Lap became the darling of Australian race crowds during the Great Depression of the 1930s - winning all four days of the 1930 Flemington Spring Carnival including the Melbourne Cup carrying 62.5 kg. Phar Lap is the only horse to have started favourite in three successive Melbourne Cups. He came third in 1929, won the race in 1930 and ran eighth in 1931.

The Melbourne Cup is one of the world's most challenging horse races and one of the richest (the total prizemoney, including trophies, for the 2018 Lexus Melbourne Cup will increase to $7.3 million, up from $6.25 million in 2017. The winner will receive $4 million - plus $250,000 in trophies, second place $1 million, and third place $500,000), and is the highlight of the Spring Racing Carnival. The race is run over 3,200 metres and is a handicapped race. This means that the better the horse is, the more weight it has to carry in the race. The distance and the handicap ensure that the Melbourne Cup is a horse race in which the occasional punter has as good a chance of picking the winner as those who follow the form. It is a day when all Australians are considered to have an equal chance on the turf as well as on the lawn.

This post is part of the Our World Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Ruby Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Travel Tuesday meme,

and also part of the Wordless Wednesday meme.

AT THE FOOTY OVAL

The Australian Football League (AFL) has numerous grounds upon which senior VFL/AFL games have been played. This list comprises current grounds in use, former grounds in use (both major and minor), regional pre-season grounds and international grounds. In accordance with the Laws of Australian football, a ground must be grassed, have a minimum length of 135 metres (443 ft) and a minimum width of 110 metres (360 ft).

Most Australian rules football grounds are also used for cricket, which is also played on a grassed, oval-shaped ground, and it is commonplace for a ground to be used for football in winter and cricket in summer. Due to the popularity of Australian rules football, particularly in southern Australia, most of Australia's largest stadiums by capacity are used for Australian rules football; and it is therefore common to use those stadiums for other high-drawing events, particularly sporting events. Sports such as Rugby and soccer can be readily played on an Australian rules football arena, as their rectangular fields are typically small enough to be set on the larger oval.

We are fortunate in Melbourne to have many other football grounds that are used for junior and regional games. Each suburb may have several of these, which are maintained by the regional councils and each ground is host to one or more junior and/or amateur teams. Here is the Seddon Reserve in Ivanhoe, an inner suburb of Melbourne. The West Ivanhoe Roosters Junior Football Club participates in the Northern Football League and has its home ground on this reserve. There are teams in the U9, U10, U11 and U12 age groups. Games are played on a Sunday morning from April to August.

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and also part of the Skywatch Friday meme.

MORNING CRICKET MATCH

There are numerous junior sporting clubs in sports-mad Melbourne. Every weekend one may see little athletes in the neighbourhood ovals, practicing or playing (depending on the season) football or cricket, or occasionally more exotic sports such as baseball.

Here is a cricket match in progress in one of our local ovals. The kids are doing very well and the admiring parents and other relatives lose no opportunity to applaud or shout encouragement...

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MELBOURNE WELCOMES OLYMPIANS

Yesterday, at Federation Square the City of Melbourne celebrated our Olympic Athletes who have returned form London. Hundreds of people turned out to cheer on their favourite athletes. Gold medal winners Anna Meares and Sally Pearson were the headline acts at Federation Square.

Sydney became the first Australian city to officially welcome home Olympic athletes on Monday, and Brisbane will hold a parade on Friday. Buoyed by the reception, star athletes in Melbourne say it has spurred them on to compete again at Rio in 2016.

The crowd got into the spirit of things by wearing blue wigs, waving boxing kangaroo flags and cheering loudly as the athletes filed past. Melbourne once again lived up to its name as the sporting capital of Australia.

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WALTER LINDRUM'S GRAVE

Walter Albert Lindrum, OBE (29 August 1898 – 30 July 1960), often known as Wally Lindrum, was an Australian professional player of English billiards who held the World Professional Billiards Championship from 1933 until his retirement in 1950. He was named Walter Albert to have the initials of the state where he was born - W.A. (Western Australia). He was one of the most successful players ever seen in billiards, with 57 world records to his credit, some of which still stand. Lindrum is also considered amongst Australia's all-time greatest sportspeople.

In 1981 Lindrum was honoured on a postage stamp issued by Australia Post, which featured a caricature of him by famed artist Tony Rafty. Lindrum was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame and the Western Australia Sporting Hall of Champions in 1985. His house in Melbourne at 158 Kerferd Road, Albert Park, is noted for its historical association with him by the Port Phillip Council.

In Melbourne, the Hotel Lindrum on Flinders Street has incorporated much memorabilia associated with Walter Lindrum. The building formerly housed the Lindrum's Billiard Centre run by Walter's niece, Dolly. One of the original tables from the Billiard Centre has been fully restored there by the original manufacturing company. In April 2009, the Hotel Lindrum hosted the Capital Cup, a billiards tournament that, on its 10th Anniversary, honoured the life and history of Walter Lindrum.

On 30 July 1960, at the age of 61, Walter Lindrum suddenly became ill and died while on holiday in Surfers Paradise, Queensland. The cause of death was officially listed as heart failure, but it has alternatively been suggested that he died as a result of food poisoning from a steak and kidney pie. His body was returned to Melbourne, and he was given a state funeral attended by 1,500 people. He was buried at Melbourne General Cemetery, with champion cyclist Sir Hubert Opperman raising the funds for a distinctive monument consisting of a billiards table, complete with balls and cue; more than fifty years after his death the site reportedly remains the most visited grave in this substantial cemetery.

It has been proposed to have a large collection of Lindrum memorabilia including personal and professional effects, newspaper clippings, diagrams of his shots, letters, and photographs moved to a special display in Australia's National Sports Museum.

This post is part of Julie's Taphophile Tragics meme.

MELBOURNE BY NIGHT 2

It is a rather quiet Easter Saturday in Melbourne this year, with many people having gone away for the long Easter weekend. As I was driving home tonight, I took a few photos around Olympic Boulevard in the Sports and Entertainment Precinct, in inner Melbourne. The Swan Street Bridge over the Yarra, the riverbank and the AAMI Park stadium provided a few interesting shots. AAMI Park became Melbourne's first large purpose built rectangular stadium. At the time of its conception the largest stadiums in use were the MCG, Docklands Stadium and Princes Park. These were all of oval configuration and best suited to Australian rules football or cricket. The largest rectangular stadium in the city, Olympic Park, was a repurposed track and field venue. After being referred to as Melbourne Rectangular Stadium during its construction, the ground was officially named AAMI Park on 16 March 2010, in an eight year sponsorship deal with an insurance firm. Its geodesic dome design is quite striking by day or night.

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