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Make Melbourne Cup Day a national public holiday

01 Nov 05:55am

Filed under: Culture, Horse Racing, Melbourne Cup, Public Holiday, Society, Sport, Tab

On the first Tuesday of November, around three-ish, every fair-dinkum Australian gathers round for “The Race That Stops the Nation”. They show it in pubs, clubs, old-folks homes and school class-rooms. TABs fill up with people who couldn’t tell you the difference between a trifecta and a trilby, having their one bet for the year.

Last year's race was more like Bastille Day. Photo: Herald Sun

Suddenly you find yourself surrounded by racing experts who know all about form, breeding, lead-ups and how the raiders can’t handle the hard Aussie tracks.

In workplaces right around the country, people chuck in for $2 sweeps and agonise about drawing the 200-1 outsider with a name they can’t pronounce. And right around the country, in every state bar Victoria, work shuts down at 12.

Continue reading "Make Melbourne Cup Day a national public holiday" »

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Ron E Coote says:

09:39pm | 02/11/11

Jeez Jimmy, with all of that incredible insightful character assessment you seem to have forgotten to add anything of substance. No, there’s no cruelty in the racing industry. It’s and organisation just brimming with societal pillars, all selflessly seeking to further their contribution to the betterment of mankind. The thousands… Read more »
Nug says:

04:51pm | 02/11/11

For mine one of the things that has made the Melb Cup so big in states other than Vic is that people come to work and talk about the race….if you give everyone the day off by way of public holiday I think people will take the opportunity to do… Read more »

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