In 1879, the Melbourne Racing Club introduced a new 2400 metre race during autumn which was to be titled the Caulfield Cup. 130 years later, the Caulfield Cup has become one of the richest races in Australia and is one of the most respected races in the Spring Racing Carnival. After Newminster won the first Cup in its opening year, the race was moved to the spring racing season in 1881, which gave racing enthusiasts two Caulfield Cup races in the same year.
The race had an unlucky start firstly in 1885 when the worst race fall in Australian racing history took place during the Caulfield Cup race. As the 44 horses competing turned onto the straight, 16 of them fell to the ground, resulting in the death of 24 year old jockey Donald Nicholson. Then, on the eve of the 1922 Cup, a fire raged through the racetrack grounds destroying the Members’ Stand, Judge’s Box, Weighing Room, Committee Room, Steward’s Room, Secretary’s Office, Press Reserve, Telegraph and Telephone Office. Despite this horrific incident, the members of the club pressed on and managed to host the race.
During the war years, the Caulfield racetrack was closed and used by the military. Consequently the Caulfield Cup was moved to Flemington for a few years. Proving that the race was indeed popular amongst horse owner and trainers, two Caulfield Cup races were required in 1881 and 1943 as the number of entrants was too great for all the horses to fit on the one track. The races were split into two divisions, high and low and horses were categorised into either one of these depending on their previous and current form.
In 1943, punters and horse owners were shocked when outsider Saint Warden managed to win the Caulfield Cup despite the odds of 100-1 against him. Rising Fast made his way into the history books as the only horse to win the race in two successive years in 1954 and 1955. 1961 marked the year that the offcourse totalisator betting system was introduced to the race. Carlton & United Breweries sponsored the Caulfield Cup in 1984 and in 2000, signed a $17.5 million deal to sponsor the Melbourne Racing Club for 7 years.
In 2008, the previous race record time was smashed by Diatribe who finished the race in 2 minutes 25.32 seconds. Last year’s winner, All The Good was a surprise to all when he won the 2008 Caulfield Cup to the delight of Godolphin stables and his rider Kerrin McEvoy. However his victory was not greeted with cheers as he entered the winners circle. As no one knew this outsider horse, the crowd found it very difficult to accept his winning when there were so many champion horses on the track that day.
To this day there have been two names which stand out in the Caulfield Cup history books; Scobie Breasley and Bart Cummings. As the most successful Caulfield Cup jockey to date, Breasley has taken home a total of 5 wins and the notorious Bart Cummings has added 6 Caulfield Cup winnings to his victory list.
