The race that stops a Nation for 10 minutes.
Except for Victoria, where they stop for the whole day.

Any tips, cautions, indignations, insights welcome here.

I am tipping Ethiopia to end the famine of Oz horses.

>>Except for Victoria, where they stop for the whole day.<<

My staff and I have done a substitution for Melbourne Cup Day. We take Easter Tuesday as our Melbourne Cup public holiday. We all think that is a lot more sensible.

I can honestly say that I’ve learn’t something today. The name of one horse in the Melbourne Cup…Ethiopia.

i decided to stop learning new things – it just made me angry

buffy said:

>>Except for Victoria, where they stop for the whole day.<<

My staff and I have done a substitution for Melbourne Cup Day. We take Easter Tuesday as our Melbourne Cup public holiday. We all think that is a lot more sensible.

I’d love to be the fly on the wall for that discussion.

sibeen said:

I can honestly say that I’ve learn’t something today. The name of one horse in the Melbourne Cup…Ethiopia.

-

Guess you can’t name the horse after a country without a slight change

Like America..in

>Guess you can’t name the horse after a country without a slight change

As I haven’t looked at the field, have paid zero attention to any news article etc, etc.

OK, I’m not so blinkered (sic) that I don’t recognise that horse’s name. If you asked me five minutes ago whether it was in the race, my answer would have been an emphatic…don’t know :)

sibeen said:

>Guess you can’t name the horse after a country without a slight change

As I haven’t looked at the field, have paid zero attention to any news article etc, etc.

OK, I’m not so blinkered (sic) that I don’t recognise that horse’s name. If you asked me five minutes ago whether it was in the race, my answer would have been an emphatic…don’t know :)

—-

well non punter, so you can piss off now. :)

>Melbourne Cup

Never heard of it.

>>I’d love to be the fly on the wall for that discussion.<<

Well, at the time we had two staff. Now there is only me and one other. We had traditionally taken Easter Tuesday as a holiday because many years ago Hamilton had two half day holidays (Hamilton Racing Cup and Hamilton Pacing Cup) which were really annoying and never declared more than about two weeks prior. So you never knew if the council would declare the holidays or not. So a couple of years ago when the Victorian Government decided to extend the Melbourne Cup public holiday to the entire state, I put it to my staff that I preferred to have a longer Easter and that would be what I was going to continue doing. So they could work Easter Tuesday and have Melbourne Cup Day off (but they would be working alone on Easter Tuesday) or they could continue as we have done for the past 25 years. None of us are interested in the gee-gees, so we kept our nice long Easter break. I wrote the appropriate letters to them for their files so it is official.

wookiemeister said:

i decided to stop learning new things – it just made me angry

So know you just pretend you know everything?

Bubble Car said:

>Melbourne Cup

Never heard of it.

——

Like an Election, you vote for the best candidate, except if you put money in and you are right, you win more money.

As long as you don’t bet too much it can be a lot of fun. :)

>As long as you don’t bet too much it can be a lot of fun. :)

So they say, but I know nothing about which horse is fastest etc so would very probably be throwing my money away. Which doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.

Also, horse racing is cruel.

Bubble Car said:

Also, horse racing is cruel.

How about horse riding?

Bubble Car said:

>As long as you don’t bet too much it can be a lot of fun. :)

So they say, but I know nothing about which horse is fastest etc so would very probably be throwing my money away. Which doesn’t sound like a lot of fun.

Also, horse racing is cruel.

—-

sad so is eating meat.

>sad so is eating meat.

Not necessarily. Farming and slaughtering practises can be humane.

It’s hard to see how horse-racing can be made more humane, what with the inevitable serious injuries and stress involved etc.

>How about horse riding?

If it’s careful and considerate horse riding for the pleasure of horse & rider, fine. But most of the competitive horse sports seem to involve high potential for injury and abuse.

Bubble Car said:

Also, horse racing is cruel.

Probably true, but I don’t think there are enough people who care enough about the horses to care. The Cup is all about dressing up and being seen, the thrill of gambling, getting pissed before lunchtime etc.. if a few a few horses get hurt in the process of providing such entertainment it’s a case of “ah well – stiff shit” for most.

Bubble Car said:

>sad so is eating meat.

Not necessarily. Farming and slaughtering practises can be humane.

It’s hard to see how horse-racing can be made more humane, what with the inevitable serious injuries and stress involved etc.

-
Am having a trouble finding you a horse in this field.

Galileo’s Choice.

Yes, thats it.

>>Not necessarily. Farming and slaughtering practises can be humane.

Exactly, theres nothing better than a nice leg from a lamb that has been lovingly slaughtered, gutted, beheaded and dressed for the table.
It also has Christian/Judean cultural significance, the culture that our society has prospered under for generations.

Anyway I’m off to read my book and listen to the wireless before drifting off into the arms of Morpheus.

wookiemeister said:

please put all your melbourne cup posts in this thread please

No. This one preceded yours. Bit rude of you.

I’m tipping Charlie Windsor with his old mount Camilla, a bit long in the tooth but a proven stayer, to end up holding the cup.

Ian said:

I’m tipping Charlie Windsor with his old mount Camilla, a bit long in the tooth but a proven stayer, to end up holding the cup.

I couldn’t have said it better :)

Ian said:

I’m tipping Charlie Windsor with his old mount Camilla, a bit long in the tooth but a proven stayer, to end up holding the cup.

Last year it was my former BIL and his new mount who ended up holding the cup.

I want to know why the grass is so long on the track.

Divine Angel said:

I want to know why the grass is so long on the track.

They had a mowing contractor named Rodney, hasn’t showed to work up for a while.

ROFL

They are interviewing the winning jockey now and he is panting like he ran carrying the horse.

What’s the horse wearing? You know, the one who married Chuck.

Divine Angel said:

What’s the horse wearing? You know, the one who married Chuck.

Dunno, my TV is off already.

Hoping for better luck in the $100 million lotto draw tonight.

Who won?

Green Moon

Divine Angel said:

Green Moon

Never heard of it

>Who won?

A man carrying a horse.

morrie said:

Who won?

Radish I think.

Oh, bugger – it’s been held. I was doing the washing up and I missed it. How un-Australian.

(Puts self into sin-bin.)

morrie said:

Who won?

14, 11 & 3 are the winning numbers.

Michael V said:

Oh, bugger – it’s been held. I was doing the washing up and I missed it. How un-Australian.

(Puts self into sin-bin.)

I forgot :)

party_pants said:

morrie said:

Who won?

14, 11 & 3 are the winning numbers.

.
Ah, numbers, not nag won.

bob(from black rock) said:

They are interviewing the winning jockey now and he is panting like he ran carrying the horse.

I imagine there would be some physical exertion just staying on the horse while it’s running full pace.

19 shillings said:

I am tipping Ethiopia to end the famine of Oz horses.

SO how did that work out for you?