Today was the Melbourne Cup, the major Thouroughbred horse race in Australia. The race is held at the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on the first Tuesday in November at about 2:50pm. It's a big deal in Australia (hence the title), even an elderly female patient in the ED today had a favorite. We're learning that Aussies are punters (gamblers), and the Cup had AUD 98 million dollars wagered on the race.
As Americans, we're probably most familiar with the Triple Crown. The Cup differs from the Triple Crown in several ways. The distance is two miles (actually 3200 meters since the switch to the metric system in 1972), ran on turf, and horses are 3 years or older. It's also a handicap race which means horses carry differing amounts of weight based on their record.
Americain won today's race coming from the middle of the pack and winning by more than two lengths over local favorite So You Think.
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