General knowledge · Sport
First run 7 November 1861
Sport — Australian thoroughbred handicap horse racing
Australia's most famous horse race, a handicap over 3200 metres run at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne on the first Tuesday in November, and known as the race that stops a nation. It was first run in 1861, when a bay stallion called Archer won and the winner received gold sovereigns and a gold watch rather than any cup at all; the three-handled gold loving cup that is now the trophy dates only from 1919. Race day is a public holiday in metropolitan Melbourne, and the handicap conditions make it one of the few great races in which an outsider can genuinely win.
A bay stallion called Archer won the first running in 1861 and the second in 1862, though the prize that year was gold sovereigns and a gold watch, with no cup involved (1861)
Run on Thursday 7 November 1861, trained by Etienne de Mestre. Archer's entry for a third attempt in 1863 arrived late and was rejected
The trophy is a three-handled gold loving cup, the handles said to stand for horse, jockey and trainer (1919)
The James Steeth design of 1919; a trophy of some kind was first awarded in 1865
The New Zealand-bred gelding who won it in 1930 was dead in California eighteen months later, and his heart is now in the National Museum of Australia in Canberra (1930)
Phar Lap, the most celebrated horse in Australian racing
A British-bred mare won it three years running, from 2003 to 2005, and no horse has won it more than twice otherwise (2005)
Makybe Diva, owned by the tuna fisherman Tony Santic, who named her from the first two letters of five employees' names
Run over 3200 metres at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November, a public holiday in the host city
Two miles until metrication in 1972, when the distance became 3200 metres — some 18 metres shorter
The fastest winner, in 1990, was a son of the American triple crown winner Secretariat, in 3 minutes 16.3 seconds (1990)
Kingston Rule, trained by Bart Cummings — the record still stands
Michelle Payne became the first woman to win it in 2015, on a 100-1 shot, with her brother Stevie as strapper (2015)
Prince of Penzance; Payne told her doubters where to go in the post-race interview
Jamie Melham took it in 2025 on Half Yours, having already won the Caulfield equivalent on the same horse (2025)
The second woman to win, and the first jockey of either sex to complete that particular double in the same season