Flemington

17 Wollomai, winner of the 1875 Melbourne Cup. (Australian Racing Museum) on Tuesday, the Oaks on Thursday and a fourth and final Saturday – in those days featuring a steeplechase – Cup Week reached the pattern that has served so well. The only thing missing from this new formula was ‘The First Tuesday in November’. The honour of being the first winner on The First Tuesday belongs to the super filly Briseis the following year who took the Victoria Derby, Cup and Oaks in the one week. The Melbourne Cup was now big enough to justify an official public holiday in its own right. Three colonial governors were on hand to see Briseis win the Cup, from Victoria, New SouthWales and South Australia. ‘Cup Day has assumed a wide-spread significance in Australasia,’ said one Melbourne paper. ‘From the Governor to the shepherd, all have some sort of interest in that day … It is the national holiday.’ Flemington was amagnet. Crowds surged past 100,000 on Cup Day alone. There have been just five exceptions to the First Tuesday formula since. In 1882 when the Tasmanian-bred The Assyrian was the winner, the race was run on the last Tuesday in October. In 1916, Sasanof’s year, rain forced postponement from the First Tuesday to the following Saturday. For three of the years – from 1942 to 1944 – during the Second World War, the national emergency saw all public holidays suspended. The Cup had to be run on a Saturday, with the Derby a week beforehand.