Flemington Racecourse set for 2019 Melbourne Cup Carnival
The Melbourne Cup is the race that stops the nation and its that time of year again where the race is set to be run and won in front of thousands of fans.
While debate has raged over which is Australia’s #1 horse race, with the rise of The Everest at Royal Randwick in Sydney, what is clear is Melbourne’s Cup history is hard to match – first run in 1861.
With 24 horses in the field, picking a winner can be a difficult task, but visit this Melbourne Cup 2019 guide to find out more about the runners and odds, streaming details and other information.
The 2019 Melbourne Cup will be run on Tuesday, November 5 at Flemington Racecourse, with the race at 3:00pm AEDT. The total prize money for the 2019 Melbourne Cup is $8 million. Find out more about the event and venue, including tickets and directions to the course.
Victorian Racing Club officials will be hoping the Melbourne Cup crowd attendance can buck the recent trend and attract around 100,000 fans to Flemington Racecourse on Tuesday. The past three years has seen crowds posted less than 100k for the first time in a while, with the figure declining each year.
Last year, a crowd of 83,471 was in attendance at Flemington on Cup Day, down from 90k in 2017 and 97k in 2016. Back in 2003, a staggering 122,736 attended the famous race. Last year, the total attendance over the four-day carnival was 303,587. View more of Flemington's crowds here.
In Sydney, The Everest attracted 40,912 fans to Royal Randwick on October 19 – its highest crowd since it was first run in 2017. While it's a respectable attendance, it's still considerably less than the numbers Flemington attracts.
On Tuesday, while most fans will pack Flemington’s three main grandstands, including the newest members facility, the luxurious Club Stand which opened last year, masses of people will also be located in the various facilities in the in-field, the birdcage, members carpark, and other areas around the course.
Flemington Racecourse’s 16,000 roses are as much a feature of the Melbourne Cup Carnival as the horses. And the man behind them is about to oversee the delicate art of getting them to bloom for Cup Week for the very last time.
Terry Freeman has witnessed a magnificent transformation of the famous venue. When he started in 1976, Flemington’s display of about 6000 roses was already becoming a celebrated sideshow to the Melbourne Cup.
