Melbourne Cup 2014 - at the Australian High Commission in Delhi

2014 Melbourne Cup

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The 2014 Emirates Melbourne Cup was the 154th running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's most prestigious Thoroughbred horse race. The race, run over 3,200 metres, was held on 4 November 2014, at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. Protectionist, ridden by Ryan Moore and trained by Andreas Wöhler, won the race by four lengths, becoming the first German-trained winner of the Melbourne Cup. Red Cadeaux placed second and Who Shot Thebarman third, with Red Cadeaux the first horse to place second on three occasions.
The total prize money for the race was A$6.2 million, with the winner receiving $3.6 million,^[1] as well as a solid gold trophy valued at $175,000.^[2] Hosted by the Victoria Racing Club, the Melbourne Cup was one of four major Group-1 races held at Flemington during the Spring Racing Carnival (the others being the Victoria Derby, the Crown Oaks, and the Emirates Stakes). An estimated $800 million was wagered on the race,^[3] which was attended by 100,794 people.^[4]

Race favourite Admire Rakti placed last and died shortly after the race of a suspected aortic rupture. Another horse, Araldo, shattered a hind pastern when frightened by a spectator after the race.^[5] He was later euthanised. - This I did not know until this evening!

Imagine the excitement!

Around 400 people gathered already at 8.30 this morning to cheer the horses in Melbourne on! Mostly women and everyone absolutely gorgeous with lovely dresses and hats or fascinators. I must admit to my ignorance ... until 3 days ago I had never heard of a fascinator ...

A friend from Australia told me that the country stands still when this race is on. Some companies gave their employees the day off, but that was not very popular ... no fun celebrating on your own at home! No, everyone wants to be at work all dressed up, with a drink, watch the race together then not work anymore that day :-) Sort of like in the 70s and 80s when Ingemar Stenmark raced down the slopes - Sweden stood virtually still - well, without the drink then maybe ... ;-)

Some Swedish friends were there of course.

My omnipotent and beautiful neighbour

The best dressed lady of the day

The best dressed couple of the day - designers in home made suits! Wonderful

... and petite moi with a very sore throat (should have been in bed really, but, hey, can you blame me?! I'll sleep tomorrow ...).

Must have bet all the money already ...

Bang on 3pm (in Melbourne) it starts and we were there, champagne in hand of course - What? Too early you say? Not in Australia :-)

By the time everyone had realized that the race was on, it was over ... just like that! I was waiting for the next race, but, alas ... that was it!

So, we directed our attention elsewhere ...

Then, as per usual it seems, on to ... the dance "floor"

It must have been at least 30 degrees in the shade - the dance floor was unfortunatelly not there ...

Let's get that bottle open!

 Good job!

 Cheers

Did my horse win? ... yeah, right ...

This all looks very decadent of course, and it is!!! And because all the money collected on this day every year goes to charity everybody is more than happy to pay too much for it all. Expensive raffle tickets are sold en masse and the prizes are fantastic: hotel nights, travels, jewellery, art, vouchers for brunches/lunches/dinners/spa treatments/massages, clothes, and much more, all donated by different companies.

This particular event is arranged every year by ANZA and all the proceeds go directly to STOP.

This is an excerpt from the ANZA home page:

The STOP movement is spearheaded by Dr Roma Debrabrata (and the underlying Ramola Bhar Charitable Trust) but works with a vast network of grassroots organisations to combat trafficking of women and children across India and the SAARC Region.

STOP is recognized by the United Nations as one of the most effective organisations focused on the prevention of trafficking, rescue & repatriation of victims and prosecution of traffickers.
More information about the STOP movement and can be found on our website www.stop-india.org.

How were charity funds spent from the last Melbourne Cup?

These funds have been used by STOP to:

• Immunize rescued girls against MMR, Hepatitis B and Cervical Cancer,
• Complete a structural engineering review of the STOP home and develop a detailed plan for building upgrade works and ongoing maintenance, and
• Commence emergency repairs to the STOP building.

ANZA Committee Members work closely with STOP to ensure all funds are effectively and sustainably spent.
In addition charity funds have been distributed for one off donations to Baas Educational Trust and the Habitat for Humanity - Uttarakhand Disaster Appeal.