'the Race that stops the Nation'

I know I know, I do one entry and then I fall off the radar for over a week. Not a great start for a brand new blog. What can I say? I’ve been a busy American SydneySider. It’s the truth. In the past week I’ve run a very American Halloween party, and today I’ve been enjoying the ‘race that stops the nation’ here in Australia. In any case, I’ve got some catching up to do….

Without further ado, Happy Melbourne Cup Day! If there is any Australia holiday or, in this case, tradition that I have fully adopted it’s the Melbourne Cup. I’m not even a die hard when it comes to following horse racing, but I do love the fuss made over the day. I think it really goes back to my first cup four years ago when I got to see Makybe Diva win her third Melbourne Cup in a row and a one way ticket into the history books. I love the quote that trainer Lee Freedman said, "Go and find the youngest child on the course, because that's the only person here who will have a chance of seeing this happen again in their lifetime." What a Cup to start with?!

Plus, it doesn't hurt that during my first cup I won my first ever 'sweeps.' For those of you unfamiliar with how a sweeps works it's where everyone in a group puts the same amount of money into a pool. Then a horse is randomly drawn for each person. It gives everyone someone different to cheer for and if you win you get the biggest slice of the pool. Usually first, second, and third get cuts of the prize money, and in many cases last place gets their money back. Melbourne Cup is designed so that every horse has a reasonably fair chance of winning, and often the favourite doesn't win. It keeps it interesting and nothing is a sure bet. This is a large part of why this race captivates the country. For my fellow Americans, think of it as the Kentucky Derby that gets the same audience as the Super Bowl.

On the first Tuesday in November, from the moment you walk out your door, you're likely to see fascinators on well-coiffed ladies and the fellas donning suits with a flashy tie and perhaps the traditional yellow rose on the lapel. Many offices will go out for lunch or will make special arrangements to watch the race and have a pretty casual day. Often a Melbourne Cup lunch will start at the reasonable time of 12Noon; however, the race isn't until 3PM so the lunch tends to get a bit boozy and ends up lasting until roughly 4:30PM which comes conveniently close to quitting time. Why go back to work?

The last two years, my office has been fortunate enough to go to the top of a hotel overlooking Sydney's iconic Circular Quay. It's a great setup. You have a nice long lunch leading up to the race. And just in case you forget where you are, you've got the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge outside the window to remind you. Aside from taking an interstate flight to see the Cup in person, this is one of the best ways I've found to watch the cup.

Now since my initial luck in 2005, I haven't had any big wins on the ponies. Don't get me wrong, I've been happy to break even or win a little because my horse came up second or third in a sweeps, but picking the winning horse is not my forte. My abilities are best used elsewhere on race day. A part of the festivities during racing carnivals in Australia is the Fashions of the Field. For ladies this means a chance to win prizes for an unusual (and often over-the-top) hat or fascinator in conjunction with their race day frock. But just to make sure the gentlemen don't slack off, their is often an award for the best dressed bloke. Being a big fan of vintage throwbacks, I've acquired my share of old-school hats and ties and Melbourne Cup gives me the chance to big them out in full force. Last year I was lucky enough to walk away from the function our office went to with a bottle of champagne. This year I figured I better step my game up. So I threw together a suit I think Sinatra would have been proud of (or at least would've got me an extras role on an episode of Mad Men), and I ended up walking away with an even bigger bottle of champagne this year.

So it's been smiles around for me today. I broke even thanks to drawing the third place horse, Mourilyan, in the sweeps at work. I had a beautiful lunch with my colleagues. And just to top it off I got a couple compliments from ladies on the street on how good I looked on my way home. So while Sydney has been a sweltering 37 degrees (almost 100 degrees Fahrenheit) I have felt nothing shy of cool on this fine Melbourne Cup.