In a recent poll by one of the leading Australian news websites the absolute majority said that they do not care about Melbourne Cup. Despite that, the media hype around the even where sport, gambling, glamour and vulgarity are mixed together, is enormous.
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What does Melbourne Cup mean to you: is it still the race that stops the nation or just another day on the calendar?
Posted by on 06 Nov 2013
I think Melbourne Cup Day is a gamblers heaven it gives them the excuse they need to gamble till their hearts content. Me I don't mind the day but it doesn't hold much interest for me it doesn't matter if I don't see the race.
It is cruel and insensitive to the horses, who get chopped up for pet food once they cannot run well anymore. It feeds the greedy minds of people who don't give a damn about animal cruelty. I am always ashamed of the way race horses are treated during and after racing.
To me it's just another day
I think it is big in Melbourne, but of limited interest in other states. Some people use it as a excuse to waste a few hours at work, but otherwise there is not much interest in my state. Just another example of the power of the media to influence Public opinion.
Absolutely love the Melbourne Cup, it is leading event in Australia and should continue to be so. I can never attend but am happy to attend a function or simply watch it on TV. Karen
I believe we should delete the Queen's birthday and have melbourne cup day as our holiday, this is a sound propisition for buisness partictuly in West Australia as we have the Queen's b/day one Monday and the eastern states on another. I have been around Australia a few times and people who dont know one end of a horse from the other get excited and i think most of the voters where minorty groups and heads in the sand do gooders.
For the nation, it is the event that stops the nation, for me it is an adrenalin hit when I see my chosen horse beat the rest....and come first, but disappointing when does not even make it to third.
For me it is just another day. It is a day where people lose more than they can afford and spend a day dressing up - mutten dressed like lamb but behaving badly.. This is a waste.
It used to mean more to me when I was younger, single and a gambler. Have much better things to spend my money on now as I'm a reformed compulsive gambler. Watch it some years just out of sporting interest but, to be honest, these days the racing is pushed into the background by all the social set wannabes which I really cannot stand to watch.
Melbourne Cup is not important and I would be very disappointed if the day was made a public holiday right around Australia, as I have seen discussed. It just isn't that important to the majority.
Hi I think it is a national icon, it is one day a year where if you choose to ladies especially like to dress up wear a hat or whatever go to a luncheon and have a flutter. I look forward to it every year.
its no big deal to me I think its just a big hype where people can get drunk ect
i cant understand people with gambling when our own are trying to live on the streets and our community needs help and people spend thousands of dollars on bets and the money could have been better use else where and i think it should be put on people who gamble to pay 10% of that money to charity to help our communities and not wasted on gambling on pokies horses and troots and any type,,,i think its a waste of money
To us racing family people this is the equivalent of the Olympics in horse sport! The world stops for the Olympics wether they are sports people or not, so how about broadening your outlook and taking an interest in something different even if you do not bet on it. This is SPORTS at its best, a partnership between rider and horse at a very fast pace. Exciting!!!
Horse racing is a huge greedy gsambling imoral animal creulty event and is wrapped up in glamour and style.
I honestly couldn't care less for the Melbourne Cup. Sorry if that offends, but it is just a horse race.
Race thatstops the nation
I'm not big on horse races. The Melbourne cup still attracts a lot of attention although people have other things to occupy them these days. I guess it will never have any significance to some people, but it's only one day and a good excuse to have a bit of a break from day to day events.
it is still the race that stops the nation
Horse racing is interesting and it is a sport. Good fun! There will always be people who get drunk, take off their shoes and walk in the streets, but we can relax a little, no need to get too judgmental!
I do not gamble, but I love attending my local race club for melbourne cup! I think it gives the rural community a chance to get together, dress up pretty and support the local race course. Plus - its a chance to get together and socialise with friends who live busy lifestyles and dont get to spend time together often.
I love the melbourne cup it's once a year I make a bet and I love the excitement of it all.i love that lots of community clubs and organisations use the day to host an event to raise money for charity.
Melbourne Cup, along with other horse racing be they in Australia or the rest of the world does not interest me, especially after hearing about the not so glamourous horror stories of what can happen to some of these poor horses. No I gave it a miss and will continue to do so from now on.
I don't know anyone who bets on or even watches the race. I myself am not interested but I don't see anything wrong with people liking the idea of getting dressed up fancy and enjoying a lunch or some other sort of function to celebrate an icon in Australian history.
The Melbourne Cup has always stopped the Nation, it always has and always will. The fun, the fashions, and the amazing Hats. It's a fantastic day for people to get together and have some fun and enjoy a day at the Races. Some people do get a bit under the weather, but for the most it's just a great day out and have a little or big flutter on the horses. To be able to win the Melbourne Cup is really something special. I diddn't have a flutter this year, however it holds many good memories of my mum and dad cutting the names of the horses out and putting them into a container, giving it a good shake and throwing them up the hallway, which ever horses name came out first they would have a small flutter on it. Sometimes lucky and sometimes not so lucky, more times no so lucky than lucky. But it was always good fun. No I do not think that it's just another calander day, it's an Icon and I love it.
I have watched the Melbourne Cup every year for the past 8 years. This year I went to the Cup, I was actually a little dissapointed with the atmosphere, it was minimal compared with all the hype and the atmosphere as seen on the TV. Dont get me wrong it was a great day lots of fashion, getting together with friends and family, it is still a race that stops the Nation though I believe I will be watching it from the TV or Radio after my first outing at the Cup.
It has always been a important event, not only is it a money maker, people enjoy watchn a full on race. It should stay the same, why change it.
I think the media a running out of things to comment on. Like it or loathe it the Melbourne Cup does stop people who are interested in it. For the rest of us it is a great day to dress up and enjoy some Champus, who won again?
A very busy day at work,
Something Ive watched since I was little and will continue to do so, it's the only thing I ever bet on. It's an australian tradition, which is more than I can say for Halloween, which they are trying to push on aussies. Keep australia alive, certainly nearly everyone I know stops for that couple mins, and really hope it continues. only thing that isnt right is that some of victorians get a day off, what about the rest of australia???
Melbourne Cup is a national icon, who ever says it does not atract maxium attention in this country is talking crap, take a look at the crowds there yesterday, the fash ion is superb, lots of people enjoying a day out young and old.
Most people do not attend it, but I think a lot of people enjoy the occasion of it and watching it on TV, also attending Functions. I can take it or leave it but I see nothing wrong with many enjoying themselves. Heaps of people including myself have a little flutter on betting on the winner. You can't refer to them as gamblers if it's a once a year occasion and there is also a lot more to it within the Racing Fraternity. Owners and Trainers put a lot of their lives into it and it is far more than money to them. It certainly isn't any worse than Car Racing as far as I am concerned. You will always find people who make spectacles of themselves at any occasion. This shouldn't detract from a quite historical event in Australia.
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