melbournecup

The 1876 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 7 November 1876.[1] This year was the sixteenth running of the Melbourne Cup. The race is most famous for winning jockey Peter St. Albans (real name: Micheal Bowden) who became the youngest Melbourne Cup winning jockey at 12 (he was actually a few days shy of his 11th birthday).[2] Briseis, who won the Doncaster Handicap at two, won by two lengths and was the first of three fillies to win the race the Cup. She also completed the VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup double.[3] Briseis won in a field of 33 and "The boy who rode the winner was carried around the pack and is the hero of the day" reported the Australasian Sketcher.[4] Both Peter St Albans and Briseis have now become racing legends. Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1876_Melbourne_Cup

The Melbourne Cup was introduced in 1861 by the Victorian Turf Club to trump the success of Victorian Jockey Club races such as the Two Thousand Guineas. As a handicap race, the Melbourne Cup introduced a level of speculation that the club hoped would attract more entries and therefore higher prize money. The two competing organisations disbanded in 1864, before merging to form the Victorian Racing Club, which has controlled racing in Victoria and the Melbourne Cup ever since. Although the Melbourne Cup today is well-known in Australia for being run on the first Tuesday in November, this hasn’t always been the case. The 1866 Melbourne Cup race was run on a Thursday, and in 1867 the Cup was run in October. It wasn’t until 1875 that the race was run on the first Tuesday of November. Although the three-handled loving cup is widely recognised as the traditional cup design, this has only been the case since 1919. Before then the cups came in a variety of styles, with each year having a completely original design. Some years no trophy was presented at all. In fact, for the first few decades of the race, it was more common for no trophy to be awarded. Source: www.nma.gov.au/explore/collection/highlights/1866-melbour...

Won the 1880 Melbourne Cup.

Foaled in 1877 Family no 14 from the Stud book Sired by Yattendon from the mare 'First Lady"

Another grand memory. We're indebted !