MELBOURNE

Punt on special horse pays big dividends

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Original article by Brad Waters
The Australian – Page: 27 : 5-Nov-25

Half Yours has become only the 13th horse to win the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup in the same year. Jamie Melham in turn is now the only female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup-Caulfield Cup double, and just the second female jockey to win the Melbourne Cup. Half Yours was bought for $305,000 on the Inglis Digital Sale platform in 2024, and the owners of the five-year-old gelding have picked up $7.5m for winning the two prestigious races. Half Yours was trained by father-and-son team Tony and Calvin McEvoy; the former says Half Yours is a "very special horse". Half Yours won the Melbourne Cup by two lengths, ahead of Goodie Two Shoes and Middle Earth.

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A $2.3m gamble led to Cup glory

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Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 3 : 6-Nov-24

About 90,000 spectators were at Flemington on Tuesday to see 80-1 outsider Knight’s Choice win the Melbourne Cup in a photo finish. The owners of Knight’s Choice paid just $85,000 for the five-year-old gelding, which exceeded all expectations by winning the race and $4.4m in prizemoney. Winning trainer Sheila Laxon had urged owner Cameron Bain to accept an offer from Hong Kong interests to buy Knight’s Choice for $2.3m in 2023. Laxon has now trained two Melbourne Cup winners from two attempts, having won with Ethereal in 2001. The winning jockey, Robbie Dolan, made his Melbourne Cup debut on Knight’s Choice.

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Opposition’s calls to change question time for Melbourne Cup labelled ‘ridiculous

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Original article by Sezen Bakan
The New Daily – Page: Online : 11-Oct-24

Question time in federal parliament on 5 November is due to run from 2pm to 3pm, with the Melbourne Cup to be run on the same day at 3pm. Liberal MP Dan Tehan has described the schedule conflict as "un-Australian", and the Opposition is said to be pushing for question time on that day to be held at 10am instead. Bill Browne, director of the Democracy & Accountability Program at the Australia Institute, says he thinks most Australians would feel parliament sitting is more important than politicians watching the Melbourne Cup live. Australian National University and Griffith University Emeritus Professor in political science John Wanna has described the Opposition’s call to change question time to suit the Melbourne Cup as "ridiculous".

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LIBERAL PARTY OF AUSTRALIA, THE AUSTRALIA INSTITUTE LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY, GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY

Tabcorp to pay $35m-$40m for Melbourne Cup broadcast rights in new deal

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Original article by John Stensholt
The Australian – Page: 17 : 21-Feb-24

Tabcorp will sub-licence the free-to-air broadcasting rights to the Melbourne Cup to Nine Entertainment Company. Tabcorp has finalised a six-year deal with the Victoria Racing Club for exclusive broadcasting rights for the Melbourne Cup Carnival, at a cost of between $35m and $40m a year. Tabcorp was required to secure a sub-licensing deal with a free-to-air network to comply with the anti-siphoning laws for major sporting events; the Melbourne Cup will also be broadcast on Tacorp’s Sky Channel service. Nine’s deal with Tabcorp will commence with the 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival; the rights were previously held by the Ten Network.

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NINE ENTERTAINMENT COMPANY HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX NEC, NINE NETWORK AUSTRALIA LIMITED, TABCORP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX TAH, SKY CHANNEL, VICTORIA RACING CLUB LIMITED, TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Melbourne Cup viewing figures up, but far from impressive

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Original article by Nathan Jolly
Mumbrella – Page: Online : 9-Nov-23

The Ten Network’s coverage of the 2023 Melbourne Cup attracted 1.11 million viewers across the five major capital cities, compared with 1.024 million viewers in 2022. However, the broadcast was watched by 1.68 million people nationally, including streaming audiences; this compares with 1.35 million viewers nationally in 2022. The national audience was neverthless below 2021, when Ten’s coverage attracted 1.695 million viewers across metropolitan and regional areas. Ten has chosen not to renew its broadcasting rights deal.

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TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED

Viewers take slow track for Melbourne Cup

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Original article by Lilly Vitorovich
The Australian – Page: 22 : 5-Nov-20

The Ten Network’s coverage of the 2020 Melbourne Cup attracted about 1.41 million viewers across the five major metropolitan markets, compared with 1.44 million in 2019. OzTAM’s figures also show that the national audience for the Melbourne Cup was 1.86 million viewers, down from 1.92 million in 2019. Ten’s coverage of the iconic horse race also attracted 144,000 viewers on its 10 Play broadcast video-on-demand service.

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TEN NETWORK HOLDINGS LIMITED, OZTAM PTY LTD, THE LEXUS MELBOURNE CUP

Boxing Day Test crowd allowed at MCG after Melbourne lockdown ends

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Original article by
The Guardian Australia – Page: Online : 27-Oct-20

Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews has conceded that the easing of coronavirus lockdown restrictions has come too late to allow people to attend the Melbourne Cup at Flemington on 3 November. However, Andrews is confident that the traditional Boxing Day Test at the MCG will be played before a live crowd, although he cautions it is too soon to know how many people will be allowed through the gates. Australia is scheduled to play India in a four-Test series during the upcoming summer; more than 73,000 people were at the MCG for the first day of the Boxing Day match against India in 2018.

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VICTORIA. DEPT OF PREMIER AND CABINET

Fan-free Cup day as crowds banned

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Original article by Damon Johnston
The Australian – Page: 5 : 26-Oct-20

The four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival attracted about 275,000 people in 2019. The Victoria Racing Club had hoped that 10,000 people would be able to attend each day of the flagship event in 2020, with appropriate coronavirus measures in place. However, VRC chair Amanda Elliott has advised that Flemington racecourse will be closed to the general public for the entire event. The VRC remains hopeful that some racehorse owners can attend in person. The state government barred owners from attending the Cox Plate on 24 October.

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VICTORIA RACING CLUB LIMITED

Emirates still top brand associated with Melbourne Cup

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Market Research Update – Page: Online : 14-Jan-20

New research from Roy Morgan shows that Emirates is still the top brand associated with the Melbourne Cup, two years after the Dubai-based airline ended its naming rights sponsorship of Australia’s most watched horse race. Nearly 3.9 million Australians (19%) associate Emirates with the Melbourne Cup, down from a high of 5.3 million (27%) in 2016. Emirates held naming rights sponsorship for the Cup from 2004 to 2017. New naming rights sponsor Lexus is associated with the Cup by nearly 830,000 Australians (4%). However, recognition rises to 10% among Australians who watch the Cup on TV and to 15% among Australians who bet on horse racing in an average week. Lexus signed a five-year naming rights sponsorship agreement for the Melbourne Cup, covering the years 2018-2022 and has ground to make up on previous sponsor Emirates, which had a sponsorship association of 9% in its first year. Other sponsors Australians associate with the Melbourne Cup include Myer, Foster’s, AAMI and Sky Channel. Sponsorship recall is higher for all key brands among those who bet on horse racing, ahead of those who watch the race on TV.

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ROY MORGAN LIMITED, THE LEXUS MELBOURNE CUP, EMIRATES AIRLINES, LEXUS, MYER HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX MYR, FOSTER’S GROUP LIMITED, AUSTRALIAN ASSOCIATED MOTOR INSURERS LIMITED, SKY CHANNEL PTY LTD

Melbourne Cup in turmoil as ratings and attendance plunge in 2019

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Original article by Roy Morgan
Media Update – Page: Online : 7-Nov-19

TV viewership of the Melbourne Cup has plunged in 2019, dropping by more than half-a-million viewers compared to 2018 (a drop of 28% in only one year) and down over 330,000 in Melbourne – the home of the race. In total 1.324 million Australians in the 5 Capital Cities tuned in to Network 10’s coverage of Australia’s most important horse race. Sydney viewing was down by over 100,000 and down by tens of thousands in Brisbane, Perth and Adelaide. As reported yesterday attendance at the Melbourne Cup was only 81,408, the lowest attendance for nearly a quarter of a century since 1995. In line with plunging attendance figures, TV viewership was down across the whole day including the Race, Presentation, Mounting Yard and other viewing segments. Attendance at the Melbourne Cup has now dropped for five years in a row and is a clear indicator of problems facing Australia’s Racing Industry which Roy Morgan shows has among the highest level of distrust of all sports.

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