Category Archives: Event Photography
Closest Melbourne Cup in history
Closest Melbourne Cup in history
In all of the splendour, colour and excitement of the Melbourne Cup Carnival 2011, I was photographing corporate clients in five different facilities. Each day brought it’s own special flavour and carried on with Flemington fashions and traditions.
A highlight for me was deciding to photograph the finish of only one race – that was the Emirates Melbourne Cup.
Just before 3 o’clock as the jockeys and horses made their way to the starting line, you could feel the tension and excitement in the air, for the race that stops a nation. When the horses lined up before the start there was a hush over the entire crowd. Then finally over the public address system those famous words were uttered: “And there off in the 2011 Emirates Melbourne Cup”. Spontaneously 106,000 people let out a huge roar. The air was electrified and the crowd screamed for their favourite horse to win this world famous race. Many hoping to collect on their once a year bet.
As the horses thundered down the home straight everyone went wild as the leading horses were neck and neck. Dunaden and Red Cadeaux were so close that no-one could tell who would win. Then suddenly the Melbourne Cup was finished. The noisy crowd fell silent. The large display screens and televisions around Flemington announced that this was a photo finish.
There was an eerie silence that fell all over Flemington. This lasted for what seemed to be an eternity. People were fixated on the screens and waited anxiously – it was a very surreal experience, like everyone was on pause. Then after nearly 3 minutes the photo was displayed on the screens and the winner was announced as Dunaden. It was practically impossible to tell who actually won; the winning gap was less than a nostril apart! Everyone was stunned for a moment.
Again the crowd erupted. This time, not just those who had won their bets but the entire crowd, who realised that they had witnessed history in the making. It was the closest Melbourne Cup win in 151 years.
