Talk:Melbourne Cup

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[edit] Betting

The claim that 'In 2000 it was estimated that 80% of the adult Australian population placed a bet on the race through legal betting agencies such as Tabcorp' is an incorrect interpretation of the reference source. The direct link to the reference is now dead, but a cached version is found here:

http://web.archive.org/web/20041029024402/http://www.tablimited.com.au/news.asp?NCID=1&NID=100

the quote from the NSW TAB's press release, as per the link, is:
Approximately 80% of the Australian adult population are expected to place a bet on the outcome of the race, with betting through TAB Limited (NSW) alone expected to reach $40 million on the Cup and over $60 million on the entire day’s racing.
not totally sure if entering a sweep is placing a bet but the 80% claim makes it likely in my experience that sweeps are probably included.--A Y Arktos (Talk) 10:57, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

The site claims that 80% of the adult population will make a bet, not necessarily with betting agencies, and even then it is not a figure substantiated after the race took place. Anyone familiar with the Melbourne Cup knows that almost all workplaces in Australia have their own betting pools for the race, which would account for a large percentage of that figure.

I'm going to change the wording of the Melbourne Cup article, and fix the reference link. Remy B 18:08, 31 October 2005 (UTC)

Even schools commonly ran Melbourne Cup sweepstakes, in the 70's and 80's. Don't know if they still do. Singkong2005 03:21, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
I know of at least one school that ran a sweep this year.--A Y Arktos (Talk) 10:49, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] 2005

The list of horses in the 2005 race is here: 2005 Melbourne Cup. It would be nice to get the results up there as soon as they come through Astrokey44 03:38, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

-Haha, that was quick. Race just ended and it's updated - you crazy Wikipedians

[edit] Photos

Maybe I am missing something, but this article would benefit greatly from photos of the racing and fashion. --203.214.87.207 04:40, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Its copyright restrictions that is usually the problem. If you have a non-copyright photo youd like to upload please do so Astrokey44 04:57, 1 November 2005 (UTC)
The photo of Glenn Boss and Makybe Diva after the 2005 Melbourne Cup is poor quality. Should it be removed?
Yes, it should be. Grumpyyoungman01 21:02, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
This article is just another example of the growing trend in wikipedia articles toward lower quality content over fair use issues which are dubious at best. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 203.161.73.246 (talk) 01:59, 6 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Handicap

After reading the article, I find myself wanting to know more about the handicap. Is anyone able to provide more information? -- CraigKeogh 05:39, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

It's a combination of weight for age, and handicap. See Spring Grand Slam. Cheers Moriori 07:18, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Per-year articles

Am I correct in assuming that the only article for a specific Cup is 2005 Melbourne Cup? It would be great to have an artical for each year, listing all the competitors. I'm having trouble though finding anything other than the winners for each year. If anyone can find some more complete records that'd be great. TPK 07:54, 1 November 2005 (UTC)

Yes thats right it being the only one. maybe you could make a stub on the 2003 cup based on this article - pretty short but thats all I could find [1] Astrokey44 12:10, 3 November 2005 (UTC)
Details of all runners and results for all Melbourne Cups are available at this site [2]. Eric. 58.84.87.48 06:32, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
Thankyou, that's exactly what I was looking for - but was too lazy to find! :-) TPK 08:30, 6 November 2005 (UTC)
We appear to have articles on the 1999 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004 and 2005 cups. Any thoughts as to how these could be organised? Linking from List of Melbourne Cup winners would be a good idea. Also, some time in the next few hours, I expect this link to turn blue. Michael Billington (talk • contribs) 23:34, 6 November 2006 (UTC)
Have a look at [3] as it has all details relating to the Melbourne Cup. Official site. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Joseph C.P. McGrath (talk • contribs) 03:37, 1 May 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Dog's breakfast

The article looked a bit like a dog's breakfast to me, not just because of the repetition of text and it seemed to have grown like Topsy, but because of messy presentation. Whatever happened to good old prose? Why do we need boxes where simple prose will do? I've been bold and done a rewrite. Moriori 01:03, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

agreed. you don't want to expand the history, do you! I would but I don't have any references. Nomadtales 22:32, 6 November 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Incorrect Information

There is a statement in this article that there were no races in the 1890's. However, the list of winners clearly shows that there were races. I think what was meant was there was no trophy but I can not be sure as I don't have a reference. 61.68.170.39 00:00, 7 November 2006 (UTC)

Incorrect section has been removed. I can not find anything about no trophy being awarded. (dark horse 23:02, 8 November 2006 (UTC))