In 2025 the global population stood at approximately 8.2 billion and almost 10 percent of the world’s people stopped to watch the Melbourne Cup.

At 3pm on Tuesday, November 4, 2025, the Melbourne Cup was televised to over 750 million people in more than 120 countries, with many more millions listening on the radio or watching live on the internet.

As debate continues across the continent about whether Cup Day should be a national public holiday or not, its standing in Australian folklore is beyond question.

The Cup, famously known as ‘the race that stops a nation’, has been run every year since its inauguration in 1861.

For many Australians, it is a source of great passion, an annual event that fills the land with anticipation and excitement.

It is, after all, the race that gave us Phar Lap, Bart Cummings and Makybe Diva; legends that transcend the sport itself.

Originally held on a Thursday, the event moved to the first Tuesday of November in 1875, where it has traditionally remained.

While it has never failed to run in its 164-year history, the race was moved to Saturdays during the World War II years of 1942, 1943, and 1944.

But for all its pomp-and-circumstance, its grandeur and its spectacle, one question continues to divide the country: should the Melbourne Cup be a national public holiday?

Cup Day is a public holiday in Victoria, but that wasn’t always the case.

As early as 1865, Cup Day was observed as a half-holiday for bank officials and public servants in Melbourne, with many businesses closing at lunchtime.

The first official recognition came in 1873 when it was proclaimed a bank and civil service holiday and in 1877 it was formally gazetted as a full public holiday for the Melbourne metropolitan area.

For many years, the holiday was limited only to Melbourne and some regional areas.

In 2008, Victorian Parliament passed legislation making it a public holiday for the entire state, except in areas where local councils designated an alternative holiday for their own local races.

In Australia, public holidays are legislated by state and territory governments; the Federal Government has no authority to declare a national public holiday for a sporting event.

For this to happen, would require legislative action from every state and territory.

While it’s possible, it’s unlikely this will ever happen; but should it?

Where dreams are made and underdogs rule supreme

Mark Twain once described Melbourne as a “mitred Metropolitan of the Horse-Racing Cult. It’s race-ground is the Mecca of Australasia”.

When Twain visited Australia in 1895 he wrote of his travels in his book, ‘Following the Equator’, and spoke in wonder at the spectacle of the Melbourne Cup.

“On the great annual day business is suspended over a stretch of land and sea as wide as from New York to San Francisco, and deeper than from the northern lakes to the Gulf of Mexico; and every man and woman, of high degree or low, who can afford the expense, put away their other duties and come. They begin to swarm in by ship and rail a fortnight before the day, and they swarm thicker and thicker day after day, until all the vehicles of transportation are taxed to their uttermost to meet the demands of the occasion, and all hotels and lodgings are bulging outward because of the pressure from within. They come a hundred thousand strong, as all the best authorities say, and they pack the spacious grounds and grandstands and make a spectacle such as is never to be seen in Australasia elsewhere.

“It is the ‘Melbourne Cup’ that brings this multitude together.” – Mark Twain, 1895.

Phar Lap is perhaps the most revered horse in the sport’s history, a horse who famously captured the public's imagination during the Great Depression of the 1930s .

At a time of widespread unemployment and economic despair, the ‘Red Terror’ gave everyday Australians a hero to rally around.

His underdog narrative - overcoming a failed start at the Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico in 1932 to win against impossible odds - provided a much-needed morale boost.

At his peak, Phar Lap was so superior that he usually won by several lengths while carrying massive weight handicaps.

Legendary Australian racehorse trainer Bart Cummings, known as the ‘Cups King’, holds a legacy in Australian racing history that remains unparalleled, with 12 Melbourne Cup wins, seven more than any other trainer.

Cummings, a stalwart of the Australian racing industry, was known for his dry wit and quick one-liners and epitomized the very soul of the Melbourne Cup.

As a young boy who was allergic to horses, Cummings thumbed his nose at medical advice to “stay away from the beasts lest he break out in a rash or a fit of asthma”.

He once went two years without a winner as a young trainer, and in the recession of the 1990s, in debt to the tune of millions and facing bankruptcy, he still refused to give in.

“I always look on the bright side of everything,” Cummings once said.

“If you keep aiming for some goal, you usually get there if you don’t give up.”

Against all odds, he always persevered, he always prevailed; a Melbourne Cup underdog.

And who could forget Makybe Diva, the giant mare who won the Cup in three consecutive years from 2003 to 2005, the only horse to ever do so.

In her final Cup win of 2005, she carried 58kg, the heaviest weight any mare has carried to victory in the race.

Her feats defied age, distance, and historical weight penalties.

Victorian Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson said Makybe Diva was more than a champion, she truly transcended the sport of racing.

“Her three consecutive Melbourne Cup victories stand among the most iconic achievements in Australian sporting history,” he said.

While much of the day’s appeal lies in the adrenaline of the main race, many view it as a premier social occasion focused on Fashions on the Field, champagne, and celebrations with friends.

The Fashions on the Field competition often draws as much attention as the race itself.

The event is so significant for fashion that many people order custom ‘Cup-clothes’ a year in advance, with the demand for elegant headwear almost single-handedly sustaining Melbourne's millinery industry.

Despite being a regular working day in other states, people everywhere pause their daily routines to participate and social festivities are held across the country.

About 55 other race meetings are held on Cup Day at tracks around Australia, attracting more than 300,000 people and typically feature large screens where the main race at Flemington is televised for the crowds.

Offices and schools around Australia celebrate with hat and dress competitions, sweeps and luncheons.

It’s easy to get caught up in grandeur of the Melbourne Cup and what it represents; to be swallowed up by the classic underdog stories and the champions, and be overcome by the occasion.

Supporters, such as trainer Wayne Hawkes, have argued that the race's status as "the race that stops a nation" and its high television viewership justify national recognition.

But not everyone agrees.

A carnival of animal welfare and cruelty

Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi has called for horse racing to be shut down permanently and put in the "dustbin of history".

“The only reason this carnival of cruelty goes on is because gambling companies make a windfall and they bankroll the two major parties into silence," Ms Faruqi said in a statement in 2024.

"More and more people are saying ‘Nup to the Cup’ every year and fewer and fewer people are watching it.”

Animal welfare and cruelty is the primary driver for opposition to the Cup, fuelled by the fact that seven horses have died on Melbourne Cup Day in the past decade.

The Coalition for the Protection of Racehorses (CPR) found in their 2024 Deathwatch report that 151 racehorses died across Australia during 2023-2024 alone, and more than 1,400 since 2014.

According to the report on two-year-old racing, horses weren’t considered for racing until at least three years of age until about 40 years ago, stating that even then many were considered too young.

“Horses are not skeletally mature until around five years of age,” the report said.

“As a result, most two-year-olds will sustain injuries in their first year of racing and many of them will not race in the subsequent year.

“The benefit of racing two-year-olds is simply economic; it means that owners can hopefully see a return on their investment twelve months earlier, therefore making it cheaper to prepare a horse for its first race.

“To further encourage investment in racehorse ownership, races for two-year-olds offer some of the highest prize money - the Magic Millions Classic held in Queensland, Australia boasts a prize purse of $2,000,000.”

While it’s suggested the narrative within the industry is that there will always be a few ‘bad apples’ muddying the water for everyone else, CPR monitored the racing stewards’ inquiries for just four weeks to reveal the astonishing number of cases they investigated.

“Because the racing industry is allowed to regulate itself, perpetrators are penalised with only a few months suspension of their racing licence,” they said.

“They will rarely be prosecuted under state animal protection laws.

“How many ‘bad apples’ does it take before you must realise that the entire tree is infected?”

So, what’s the verdict?

Whichever side of the track you sit, there will always be debate.

Do you look past the fluff and fervor and see a crippling backstory of reported animal cruelty?

Or do you succumb to the emotional drawstrings of the day, the nostalgia of past feats of greatness and that endearing notion that the underdog can overcome all odds and win the day?

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Friday, 21st May 2027

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