Jockeys are a strange bunch…
The Melbourne Cup isn’t called the race that stops a nation because people tend to ignore it! Tomorrow (Tuesday 4 November 2014) marks the 154th edition of Australia’s greatest horserace and the nation (and many beyond these shores) will be abandoning their usual Tuesday duties and focusing instead on the equine events encapsulated at Flemington, the home of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.
Melbourne enjoys a public holiday for the Cup but for the rest of Victoria it is a normal working day. Businesses with urgent commerce with Melbourne-based businesses are encouraged to get the job done by close of business today. On that note, a lot of organisations hold lunches and celebrations around the running of the Cup so those looking for immediate responses to requests after midday tomorrow might find their requests treated like a losing bet: no return.
The race commences shortly after 3pm local time. That’s the same time in New South Wales, the rest of Victoria, Tasmania and the Australian Capital Territory. In South Australia, the race jumps at 2:30pm, while Queenslanders enjoy it from 2pm and Northern Territorians at 1:30pm. It’s a 12 midday start for Western Australia.
Channel Seven (and affiliates) is the official broadcast partner of the race and its coverage begins at 10am local time. Seven will be showing the race in standard definition to all centres — by the way, the Melbourne Cup is the most-watched 3.5 minutes of TV every year — while HD channel 7Mate screens a repeat of World’s Toughest Driving Tests (“High in the Alps in the breathtaking ski resort of Chatel, Will and Kirsten must learn to drive and then race a gravity-defying and mountain-climbing Snow Groomer.”).
Consumer electronics retail stores are encouraged to show the race live in store to demonstrate the awesome nature of current release TVs. As we have reported again and again and again, broadcasters do manufacturers and retailers a great disservice by not showing these premium sporting events in HD. Imagine how powerful a marketing opportunity it would be to have potential customers watching the Melbourne Cup in crystal clear HD on a beautiful new OLED, 4K or Curved TV? And yet the standard of coverage is no different to when Brew saluted in 2000. Despite Channel Seven’s atrocious recalcitrance, retailers should still tune their TVs into the race: it’s important to get into the spirit of the Cup.
While watching the race, keep an eye out for Chinese TV brand TCL. This year marks a decade of sponsorship of the Carnival and the Flemington course is once again bedecked with TCL’s signature red logo and branding.
The Melbourne Cup’s TAB betting code is MR7 and it’s the first leg of the Quaddie and the Daily Double.
Patrick’s Tips:
- Mutual Regard-11
- Lucia Valentina-22
- Red Cadeaux-4
- Protectionist-5
Patrick’s Melbourne Cup Tipping Record:
2008: Honolulu (21st)
2009: Shocking (winner)
2010: Monaco Consul (14th)
2011: Niwot (8th)
2012: Galileo’s Choice (20th)
2013: Dandino (5th)