You're right, today is Melbourne Cup Day and there's no bigger sporting event in this country. It's only a public holiday in Victoria but all the other states take an "unofficial" day off and at 3.10pm every Aussie is glued to the TV screen with a fistfull of betting tickets. We had 8 overseas ( European ) starters in the field of 23 and the Irish stayer Media Puzzle took the Cup back to Ireland. Every Aussie was willing Media Puzzle ( backed into favouritism ) to victory as he was ridden by Australia's top jockey Damien Oliver who's brother was killed in a barrier trial accident last Thursday. It was clearly the most emotional Cup in the event's 142 year history. The winner was trained by Dermot Weld, who trained Vintage Crop to win the Cup for Ireland back in 1993. What a training effort !. He brought 2 horses ( also Vinnie Roe ) half way across the globe and managed to get first and fourth past the post. To give you an idea how popular the Cup is out here, the state where I live, Queensland has a population of under 2 million yet Queenslander's wagered $21 million on the race. The population of Australia is 22 million so you can imagine how much was bet nationwide.
