“The race that stops a nation” isn’t stopping much these days as more Australians switch off, tune out and let Melbourne Cup Day pass by without a second thought. It’s working folks, let’s keep it up.
Victoria Racing Club, which puts on the Spring Racing Carnival every year, has been losing followers rapidly since the #nuptothecup campaign launched a decade ago in light of a number of horse deaths on the field. At the last pre-pandemic event in 2019, 81,408 people attended the Melbourne Cup and 276,186 to the carnival overall. That’s down from 2010 when 102,161 people went to the Cup and 368,929 turned up overall. No one will be surprised if the numbers drop further this year.
New national research commissioned by the Greens found 54 per cent of people thought horses should not be raced for gambling and entertainment and 59 per cent said it was cruel.
Melbourne uni psychology lecturer Dr Katie Greenaway told Guardian Australia the VRC’s own marketing tried to brand the centuries-old colonial event as “Australian” and create a sense of unity. The public holiday itself doubles down on this.
“What other country would do that? It implicates a national identity that distinguishes us from other groups,” Greenaway said.
“In recent years though, the meaning of the race has changed in people’s minds. It’s become controversial, associated with things people don’t want to be associated with like animal cruelty, gambling problems and wealth disparity.”
As more people have learnt about these evil side-effects, the carnival has struggled to bring audiences back into the fold. This year in particular people are condemning the lavish excess of the event which is occurring while many Australians struggle under a cost-of-living crisis and the most vulnerable people go without meaningful support.
But many of us grew up watching the Cup when our parents or school would chuck it on the tely. It was pretty normal to stop what you were doing for 10 minutes, watch the horses thunder down the Flemington Racecourse track, laugh at the commentator’s speed-talking and the animals’ funny names, feel a bit confused and then go back to your regular programming. So is it the needless cruelty to horses that’s turning people off or are there other factors at play?
We asked our readers what their turning point was — when they realised they’d never watch or attend the Melbourne Cup or any other horse racing event again. Buckle up.
“I thought it was fun when I was less than 10 years old because the horses had funny names and I’d listen to the commentators yell them out on the radio, and then I saw some of the pictures of the whole ‘hats, suits and champagne’ kind of branding and just couldn’t relate in the slightest. I later dated a horse girl in high school who did some rehab of ex-racehorses which was just really eye-opening on how badly the horses are treated.” — Mateus
“I’m more aware of animal cruelty now. I used to love getting dressed up but [I realised] I can do that any day of the year.” — Emily
“I think I stopped after the first time a horse died in a race I watched. Then you’re like, this kinda sucks.” — Brad
“As an adult most of my opposition comes from the cruelty to animals, but as a kid the moment I stopped caring was the moment I properly understood what gambling was and what it did to people. And tbh probably also the second I saw who was actually going to these races and what they acted like. [The Melbourne Cup] episode of Kath & Kim was an eye-opener.” — Jack
“Animal cruelty, wild displays of public drunkenness, rich people in stupid outfits, gambling… what is there to even like?” — Soaliha
“It feels like this embarrassing thing that we still do and probably shouldn’t, like Australia Day on Jan 26.” — Dave
“Outdated and irrelevant.” — Emily
“Why do people get so excited for an event where animals literally die?” — Amelia
“It’s just cheugy now, there are better ways to have fun.” — Hannah
sorry but going to the races is actually the most fucking embarrassing thing ever. find god
— Isabella Corbett FKA Australia’s Girlfriend (@bonsoyflatwhite) October 30, 2022
“It’s all commercial betting and not fun anymore.” — Jesse
“The associated costs. It’s a luxury few can afford or justify now.” — Sarah
“[I’m a school teacher and] we don’t watch it at all with the kids at my school. The staff do sweeps but that’s it. I [just] stopped and asked my kindy class if they know what the Melbourne Cup is and not one of them could tell me!” — Brianna
“It’s the gambling for me, plus animal cruelty for human pleasure and greed.” — Laura
“Gambling and how it creates more of a divide between the have and the have-nots.” — Pamela
“Gambling, alcoholism, animal cruelty, fast fashion, trash ending up in the river — what’s not to hate?” — Maddie
“Entitled white people getting trashy wasted.” — Phoebe
As we expected, y’all hate horse racing.
