文档介绍：Horse racing
in Australia
Melbourne Cup
*On the first Tuesday in November
*Since 1877, Cup Day has been a public holiday for Melbourne
*Australians everywhere stop for it
*Mark Twain said of a visit to the Melbourne Cup in 1895:
Nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.
Fashions and race culture
*The party atmosphere :
champagne and canapés, huge hats and racetrack fashions
* one of the few places in colonial Australia where high society and the lower classes came together socially
*The first Australian race meet, held in 1810, established the culture of the Melbourne Cup
from the 1880s onwards, the crowds transformed the race meetings into a fashion spectacular. People wear beautiful caps and dresses.
*Phar Lap is perhaps Australia's most famous racehorse, combining stamina and speed
*Over his career he won more than £65,000 in prize money and won 37 of his 51 starts