Melbourne Cup Carnival Opens Today with Victoria Derby Day; More Than 280,000 Expected Across Four Race Days
MELBOURNE — Australia's premier racing carnival opened at Flemington Racecourse on October 31 with Victoria Derby Day. The feature race, the Victoria Derby, is a 2,500-meter test for three-year-olds, and Derby Day is known for its black-and-white dress tradition, with most racegoers wearing monochrome.
According to Visit Victoria and the Victoria Racing Club, the carnival runs from October 31 to November 7 across four race days: the 3,200-meter Melbourne Cup at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, November 3, Oaks Day on November 5, and Champions Stakes Day on November 7. More than 280,000 people are expected across the carnival, with single race days typically drawing 80,000 to 90,000.
The Melbourne Cup, first run in 1861, is known as "the race that stops a nation," and Cup Day, November 3, is a public holiday in Victoria. It remains one of the Southern Hemisphere's most prominent sporting occasions.
Melbourne has one of Australia's largest Chinese communities, and the carnival brings a peak week for restaurants and retailers around Flemington. Police and transport authorities are urging racegoers to use the dedicated rail services to the racecourse, which run extra trains on race days.
Source: GSM News (USA)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：墨尔本杯赛马在弗莱明顿赛马场竞逐（资料图）。Chris Phutully 摄，CC BY 2.0，经 Wikimedia Commons。 / Horses race at Flemington Racecourse during the Melbourne Cup carnival (file photo). Photo by Chris Phutully, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
