In The Home Straight Trivia Quiz

Answer: Cook

Billy Cook was one of Australia's premier jockeys, winning the Sydney jockey's premiership on six separate occasions. Known as "The Champ", thanks to his sublime riding skills he also earned the sobriquet "Last Race Cookie" after he'd won the last race on the card on thirteen consecutive Saturdays. He would win the Melbourne Cup in 1941 on Skipton and in 1945 on Rainbird.

Billy's son Peter proved that following a famous father was achievable. Also blessed with exquisite riding skills he rode Just a Dash to victory in 1981 and Black Knight in 1984. Peter retired from the saddle ten years later after suffering permanent heart damage from the overuse of a sauna.

(Hold Your Horses) Most horse racing in Australia was suspended during the World War years, but not the Melbourne Cup.

Answer: Michelle Payne

Michelle always dreamt of being a jockey and, at age seven, she told her friends that one day she will win the Melbourne Cup. On November 3, 2015 she was true to her word as she stunned the racing public by riding the 100 to 1 shot Prince of Penzance to a historic win in Australia's premier racing event. The win not only caught the bookmakers short but also stunned the speechmakers who would later be criticized by Australia's Governor-General, Sir Peter Cosgrove, for being "unable to adapt and recognize the historic nature of the win".

Michelle Payne's performance saw her awarded the Don Award at the Sport Australia Hall of Fame awards the following year. Named after Sir Donald Bradman the award is presented to a "sportsperson who, through their achievements and example over the last 12 months, is considered to have most inspired the nation".

(Hold Your Horses) For many years the Cup did not allow females to ride in the event. The first to do so was Maree Lyndon who, in 1987, rode Argonaut Style. Sadly for Maree and the horse's owners, Argonaut Style only managed to beat one horse home, finishing second last.

Answer: 1877

The race was first run over 150 years ago in 1861 and it didn't take long for it to capture the public's imagination and write it self into Australian folklore. In view of its eminence in Australia and the attention it was garnering across the globe, in 1877 it was declared a public holiday by the state of Victoria. Most other states are miffed that it is "only in Victoria" and cannot understand why other states don't take the time off. Other states will also conduct race meetings on the day and offices right across the country conduct sweepstakes and champagne lunches. At 3:00pm (Australian Eastern Daylight Saving Time) this really is "The Race That Stops the Nation".

(Hold Your Horses) "The Race That Stops the Nation" has been trademarked by Victorian Racing. On Melbourne Cup day in 2017, Australians drink the equivalent of 25 million swimming pools of alcohol. Heck it should be a public holiday everywhere. After that lot, no one is going to be productive at work.

Answer: Comic King

Thanks to its prestige and prize money it didn't take long for the Melbourne Cup to draw interest from New Zealand. Martini-Henry (1883) would become the first New Zealand horse to take out the Cup however, because of the close ties between Australian and New Zealand racing, horses from "across the ditch" are not considered to be "internationals". In the eyes of Australian racing the first "real" international winner was Comedy King. Even then the horse qualifies as an international only on a technicality. Tragedy Queen, Comedy King's mother, was imported to Australia while she was "in foal" with Comedy King. For all intents, the colt was raised and trained in Australia. A series of other international horses such as Backwood (1924), Belldale Ball (1980), At Talaq (1986), and Jeune in 1994 would go on to win the Cup, however, they had all spent an extended period of time in the country, in the hands of a local trainer, adapting to the conditions and racing against the locals as locals in the lead up to the event. Many people argued that because they were Australian trained this didn't make them "true" internationals in the event. In 1993 the Dermot Weld trained Irish stayer, Vintage Crop, was flown out to Australia only a few weeks before the event and went on to overtake Te Akau Nick in the home straight. It became the first "internationally trained" horse to win the Cup.

(Hold Your Horses) None of these were international racehorses, but by 2018 and, 158 running of the Cup, only six grey horses had won the event.

Answer: Cummings

J.B. (Bart) Cummings is one of the legends of the Australian racing industry, an Australian cultural icon and, he was named a National Living Treasure in his time. That aside, his record in the Melbourne Cup is extraordinary. His first start in the race came in 1958 but he would have to wait until 1965 before he trained his first winner, Light Fingers. Remarkably, he was also the trainer of the second placed horse across the line, Ziema. Cummings repeated the dose the following year when Galilee crossed the line ahead of a gallant Light Fingers. In all Cummings would win the race on twelve occasions and quinellaed the race (first and second) on five of those occasions. At the time of Cummings passing in 2015, his nearest rivals as Cup winners were Etienne de Mestre and Lee Freedman, each of whom had five wins.

(Hold Your Horses) Bart's father, Jim, also trained a Melbourne Cup winner, Comic Court in 1950.

Answer: 1890

This was a mighty race in many respects and not just because of the size of the field. Thirty nine starters made the race a nightmare to control and raised a large number of safety concerns. Since then the number of starters has been limited to twenty four in the race, meaning this figure is never likely to be surpassed.

This Melbourne Cup became notable for another reason, the performance of its winner, Carbine. Carbine was a New Zealand born thoroughbred that raced in both that country and Australia. During its career it raced 43 times for 33 wins, six seconds and three thirds. The only time it failed to place in a race it galloped with a badly split hoof. In the 1890 event it carried a record 10 st 5 lb (66 kg) to victory, which, in 2018 was still the most carried by the race's winner. Despite the weight, Carbine blitzed the field to win in, what was then, a race record time.

(Hold Your Horses) Carbine's stud career was equally impressive with more than half the winners of the Melbourne Cups between 1914 and 1978 being direct descendants of his. Among those was the mighty Phar Lap.

Answer: Makybe Diva

When Makybe Diva crossed the finish line on the first of November, leading the 2005 Melbourne Cup field home, she created history by being the first to win the cup on three occasions. Not only that, she had done it in three consecutive years. Her trainer, Lee Freedman, was so moved that he immediately uttered to the crowd around him; "Go find the smallest child on this course, and there will be the only example of a person who will live long enough to see that again".

Diva retired from racing at the end of that season as Australia's highest stake-winner at that time. She was one of five horses to have won the cup multiple times. The others were Archer (1861, 1862) Peter Pan (1932,1934), Rain Lover (1968,1969) and Think Big (1974, 1975), who all won it twice. Makybe was the mare amongst this select group.

(Hold Your Horses) The most starts by a horse in the Cup was by Shadow King, who, between 1929 and 1935, made six attempts to win the race. He would finish 6th, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 2nd and 4th.

Answer: Jean Shrimpton

Jean Shrimpton has been hailed as one of the world's first super-models who turned heads where ever she went. She was certainly the talk of Flemington in 1965 when she appeared wearing a white shift dress made by Colin Rolfe;
"You should have seen that brazen little minx Elsie. She wore no hat and no gloves and, wait for it, no stockings".
"No stockings"?
"No stockings, Elsie. And that dress, it was so short. I swear Elsie, I've seen more cotton on a Q-Tip".
The little tit-bits within that piece of gossip were all true. As for the rest of the story, well they're all the bits that legends are made of. Yes, she did appear at Flemington Racecourse, but not on Melbourne Cup day, she was there three days earlier for the Victoria Derby. It seems many punter's memories were shorter than Miss Shrimpton's skirt.

(Hold Your Horses) In a bid to attract more women to the male dominated racing carnival the Victorian Racing Club staged the first of its "Fashions on the Field" events in 1962. This iconic event has now become a permanent fixture of the Melbourne Cup Carnival attracting internationally renowned models and judges.

Answer: St. Albans

The registration form will show that Peter St. Albans was thirteen years in 1876, when he rode Briseis to victory against a field of 33 horses. Peter, however, was not thirteen, the required age to be eligible to ride in the cup, at the time. He was eight days short of his thirteenth birthday. He was also lucky to get the ride. Briseis' regular jockey could not make the weight (39 kilograms) and Peter was grabbed as a substitute at the last minute. He would win the race easily and became an instant hero to the crowd who carried him around on the shoulders in celebrating the victory.

(Hold Your Horses) Nothing to do with jockeys or age but, one of the outstanding features of the Flemington race course is its stunning array of roses. There are more than 16,000 rose bushes here that are pruned and tied during the winter months, involving more than 1,500 manhours of work.

Answer: Archer

Archer's performance in winning the first Melbourne Cup in 1861 was extraordinary. Based in Sydney, he had to be walked to Melbourne to be there for the race, a distance of over 900 kilometres, and a journey over which he sustained injuries. In a field of seventeen starters he was not considered one of the favourites and his odds only shortened when his owner placed a large bet on him. He would go on to win the race easily but behind him lay a tale of sheer carnage; Two of the starters had to be put down after the race, one bolted from the course and two of the jockeys fell from their mounts and suffered broken bones.

Archer would return to Melbourne for the following cup and he would win again, this time by a longer margin of eight lengths. This stood as the biggest winning margin for 106 years until it was matched by Rain Lover in 1968. Rain Lover would also win the Cup the following year to become the second horse to match Archer's feat of winning consecutive Melbourne Cups.

(Hold Your Horses) After winning the first Melbourne Cup in 1861, Archer fronted up the next day to win the Melbourne Town Plate. Absolutely extraordinary.