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The cruise ships tethered to Station Pier at Port Melbourne began disgorging their passengers early.<\/p>\n
They filled a procession of coaches bound for Flemington. The adventurous queued at the Beacon Cove tram stop; a skirl of excited confusion over the mystery of buying a myki card.<\/p>\n
They had cruised in to Melbourne to attend the Melbourne Cup, just as thousands do every year.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy can\u2019t I just tap my card?\u201d cried a woman graced with a multi-hued fascinator.<\/p>\n
Quite. The myki is among Melbourne\u2019s puzzles to outsiders. So, at its heart, is the Melbourne Cup.<\/p>\n
It has long been tagged the race that stops a nation. In truth, it is the race that stops Melbourne.<\/p>\n
To understand, you need only join the roistering throngs on Flemington\u2019s lawns, the connoisseurs of horseflesh in the members\u2019 and the grandstands and around the mounting yard, or \u2013 if you had an invitation and the inclination \u2013 the pleasure palaces of the Birdcage, where horse races barely intrude.<\/p>\n
A hot sun pouring down, farewelling a long winter, the towers of the city almost within reach.<\/p>\n
The Cup very nearly defines our southern capital, and the state of Victoria, too.<\/p>\n
The rest of the nation looks on with a mixture of fondness, envy and loathing \u2013 or packs itself into cruise ships and planes to get a taste of its mysterious essence.<\/p>\n
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Melbourne Cup winning jockey Mark Zahra celebrates.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Eddie Jim<\/cite><\/p>\n Sydney\u2019s spruikers, having misunderstood the enigma of the Melbourne Cup, imagined \u2013 as they regularly do \u2013 that it must be about the prize money, for the Cup had long been among the richest horse race in the world.<\/p>\n Not so long ago, Sydney\u2019s money folk manufactured a race with a greater prize and called it The Everest, succeeding in creating a slightly spivvy event notably lacking the 163-year history of Melbourne\u2019s grand old Cup.<\/p>\n Melbourne and Victoria all but ignored the challenge from The Everest.<\/p>\n Is there a state anywhere but Victoria that is officially permitted to go on strike on a Tuesday to go slightly bonkers over its favourite horse race?<\/p>\n If so, we can be sure there is no other place than Victoria that gives two public holidays for sporting events in a matter of weeks \u2013 one the day before a game of footy and the next for the Cup.<\/p>\n Indeed, Melbourne is surely defined by the two most exultant explosions of springtime pandemonium to be heard anywhere: the bounce of the ball at the MCG at 2.30pm on the last Saturday of September; and the unearthly howl that builds from some 100,000 throats as stampeding thoroughbreds hurl themselves at Flemington\u2019s finishing post about three minutes and 20 seconds after 3pm \u2013 or 3.08pm on Tuesday, to be precise \u2013 every first Tuesday of November.<\/p>\n The roar brought home this Tuesday the somewhat misnamed Without A Fight, a champion gelding that had already fought its way to the winner\u2019s post at this year\u2019s Caulfield Cup.<\/p>\n It was the second time in two years that jockey Mark Zahra had won the Cup, and it resurrected the legendary racing family name Freedman to the Cup\u2019s winner\u2019s circle, for father and son Anthony and Sam Freedman trained the winner.<\/p>\n There was, perhaps, an extra edge of desperation to the crowd\u2019s great howling on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Melbourne Cup winner Without A Fight celebrates with the crowd.<\/span>Credit: <\/span>Daniel Pockett<\/cite><\/p>\n Just half an hour before the big race, the Reserve Bank announced another rise in interest rates, just as it did on Cup Day in 2022.<\/p>\n The Cup, in short, has become the Race that Can\u2019t Beat Inflation.<\/p>\n Much of the Flemington crowd, growing bleary beneath the relentless sun and oceans of canned alcohol, seemed all but oblivious to this latest assault on their spending power.<\/p>\n Still, each had spent $95 for mere general admission, $238.60 for a reserved seat, and just about any number you might pick for a luncheon package high above the winning post.<\/p>\n Add the outfit, of course: Cup Day is all about preening even if, like some chaps, it was a spot minimalist: shorts and boat shoes without socks.<\/p>\n You could almost hear the scandalised intake of breath through quivering moustaches among the members, who must wear jacket and tie, though shorts seemed a shrewd choice on a day when the thermometer edged beyond 30 degrees.<\/p>\n Would next year\u2019s outfit need to be pared back even further if the Reserve Bank\u2019s latest manoeuvre failed? Would the cruise ships continue to bring thousands from elsewhere?<\/p>\n Up at the Victoria Racing Club\u2019s marquee in the Birdcage \u2013 Lucky\u2019s, they named it \u2013 rather a lot of presumably fortunate people each paid $1700 for a grazing menu and drinks. It was not known what they thought of the RBA\u2019s latest challenge to mortgage holders \u2013 if they even gave it a thought.<\/p>\n It was, after all, Melbourne Cup Day. The hangover is always reserved for Wednesday.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n