Melbourne Cup Day Today.....

[El Presidente]

Melbourne Cup....the race that stops a nation...literally 

100,000 at the track...at least half the nation partying from midday....$450 million bet on the race....one state takes a public holiday...the other states might as well declare one. 

The women dress up to the nines, tracks across the country are full, all restaurants in the nation are full. More Champagne is drunk today than any other day of the year. 

It is so grand at 12 pm. it is all so messy come 5pm. 

We have a little function on the deck today. Just close mates. Lunch, cigars, wine, beer.... we bet on every race in the country over 6 hours. if we need a get out of jail bet come 5pm.....we bet on international races just coming on 

 

It is supposedly all about this....but it is just the conduit for a huge party. 

 

It all starts so well....

 

 

it all ends so badly...

 

 

 

Welcome to Australia 

 

And if anyone has some "hot" tips for the cup today....OR ANY RACE IN OZ.......post them here. Outside of the cup...if I back your horse, you are in for a 15% cut of the winnings....paid in cigars 

[GavLew79]

I had the pleasure of being in Oz for the 2014 Cup, working at a facility near Adelaide. Come lunchtime the entire site stopped, and hundreds of government employees started drinking cold beer (on site) eating bbq'd 'chooks' and having a sweepsteak on the race. Fantastic. 

I then also had the pleasure of a severley pissed up woman of advanced years jump the taxi queue outside the Hilton, take our taxi and tell us to @$€£ off. Her sheepish husband in tow. Lol. 

So I saw both sides. ?

[JohnS]

I came across this article today by a Mathemetician and Racing Expert on how your money should be spent  today...

http://www.smh.com.au/sport/horseracing/melbourne-cup-2016-a-mathematician-and-a-racing-expert-on-how-you-should-spend-your-money-20161031-gseixs.html

It makes for some interesting reading. 

In regards to Melbourne Cup Day, I concur, it tends to start with high hopes, yet always seems to end badly!

[WarriorPrincess]

Only you could find a photo like the last one Rob 

Good luck to all who have a bet and enjoy 

[luv2fly]

Rob, we have something like that here (based on the pics).  Called Steeplechase.  Growing up we called it "Peoplewaste".  Great memories of great times with cigars and booze we acquired from I don't know where. ( I was 16 at the time).  Not the hangover per say but the fun we had.  Those days are long gone as the PoPo are in force now.  As well they should be!  Fun and cozy times.  Yes, cozy .  

[Ferrero]

Personal favourite from last year  Giddy up!

[luv2fly]

1 minute ago, Ferrero said:

Personal favourite from last year  Giddy up!

I have seen that at our race here.  Actually, quite typical and does not even make the news.  What does that say?

[CdnLimitada]

Wife is watching this with the gals in Singapore today.  Never heard of it before last week.  Fancy hair and champagne.   What could go wrong?

[Ken Gargett]

must confess that i am usually the only aussie who could not care less. love melb cup day as everyone leaves you alone and i can get some work done.

mind you, when i lived in london, some of the greatest days i ever had were at ascot. first time, we made the giant limo go around and around a roundabout near the track till every other car in a massive traffic jam. driver loved it. but we ran out of champers so had to rush to the track. i have photos of us slumped in the car park hiding with some bobbies we had got pissed.

the next year, a bloke from the victorian agent-general's office drove us (the agent-general was away so we pinched his car). we were the last car out of the carpark - which is actually the ascot golf club fairways. we had been holding pissed idiot races on the track. drunk blokes in morning suits and toppers rushing out of the barricades or starting gates or whatever they are called and racing around on foot. went well till the first steeplechase hurdle thingee and that was pretty much it. anyway, this bloke is so pissed, he drives straight into a bunker. if you can imagine the sight of a car full of drunks in suits and toppers all screaming blue murder while this bloke revs the crap out of the car trying to get it up and out of the bunker. eventually managed it and thank god no one was still there as i dread to think what he did to the bunker.

 

[garbandz]

This is the type of hilarious anecdote that I enjoy.

If there was a book of these by Ken,I would buy it.

If Ken were to wrIte a book of his adventures, what should he name it?

 

"No, It Really Happened"!

"The Adventures Of Ken Gargett"

"Ken's Excellent Adventure."

 

 

[BuzzArd]

35 minutes ago, garbandz said:

This is the type of hilarious anecdote that I enjoy.

If there was a book of these by Ken,I would buy it.

 

 

You could buy it, but from the little I know of Ken (all from the forum!) any title would be an empty promise.

 

Still don't know what the name of the best bar ever is....  Nevermind where to find it. 

[gweilgi]

6 hours ago, garbandz said:

This is the type of hilarious anecdote that I enjoy.

If there was a book of these by Ken,I would buy it.

If Ken were to wrIte a book of his adventures, what should he name it?

 

"No, It Really Happened"!

"The Adventures Of Ken Gargett"

"Ken's Excellent Adventure."

 

 

Nah ..... "The Best Bar in the World".

Gotta be...

[Bill Hayes]

Wish I'd seen this yesterday. I was a bit pre-occupied with my betting cap on. Backed the winner Almandin the night before to get better odds at $13 the win. Bugger, could've scored some stoggies. Been going OK on the punt this Spring. Usually by this time I'm like a kid in a candy shop and lose all the money I won from winning early in Spring. Still got two days of the carnival to go though to throw it all away. Oaks day on Thursday which is Ladies day and the fillies race is the feature then I'm going on Saturday to Emirates Stakes day. Hope everyone had a great day yesterday and backed a winner.