Glam Up For Cup - Metro Hotel Ipswich International Melbourne Cup Fashion Glipse

THE Metro Hotel Ipswich International might be two states away from Flemington Racecourse but that won't stop them dressing for the occasion.

As part of the Metro's annual Melbourne Cup celebrations, the hotel will be running a fashion parade with clothes from Ipswich store House of Amy.

The event, which is already sold out, will be raising money for the Ipswich Hospital Foundation.

Metro Hotel guest relations manager Fran Edney said the hotel's Melbourne Cup lunch was becoming a tradition for some locals.

"This is the third year we've held it and the second we've sold out, but this time we've sold out much earlier than before," she said.

"People just love it though.

"It always gets a really good rap."

While this year's event won't have the popular guinea pig races of last year, Ms Edney promised some other entertainment that was still under wraps.

"We'll have some great entertainment, not everything has been decided yet but there are some big plans."

Even though fashion parades have always been part of the Metro's Melbourne Cup festivities, this is the first year they've showed off the clothes of House of Amy.

"I went in there and just fell in love with everything," Ms Edney said.

House of Amy owner Amy Winks is an award-winning designer and studied in Paris on a scholarship from the Australian Student Awards.

The parade will be showing some of the store's latest fashions, including '60s-inspired skirts, tassels and the many hats and fascinators stocked.

The festivities will kick off at noon and run until 3pm on Tuesday November 1.

The Metro Hotel Ipswich International is far from the only venue hosting an event, with celebrations occurring throughout Ipswich.

The Ipswich RSL Services Club will be hosting a smorgasbord along with food and entertainment, while Brothers Leagues Club will be hosting a luncheon with prizes and entertainment as will the Ipswich Golf Club.

The Ipswich Turf Club will host a gourmet buffet with big screens to watch the race, while Jets Leagues Club will host a burlesque show along with a multi-course meal.

Glory of the Cup

- With a prize packet of $6 million, the Melbourne Cup is one of the richest horse races in the world.
- Last year Americain became the first French-trained horse to win the Cup in the race's 150th year.
- Despite an influx of foreign trained horses, Australian trained horses have won five of the past 10 Cups, with Makybe Diva winning three straight.

I Admit it, I've Got a Melbourne Cup Addiction

IT feels like only yesterday that I came to my first Melbourne Cup and that was five years ago in 2006.

It has now become such a regular fixture of my year that I couldn't imagine not coming.

In fact it has become the highlight of my year.

Like a lot of Europeans, I had not realised quite what a huge event the Melbourne Cup was until I came the first time and, as you can tell, I have become a bit addicted, as has my whole family.

After two close seconds in the race with Purple Moon and Bauer, we have become more and more determined to win, and with a four-strong team this year, we are giving ourselves the best chance possible.

The evergreen Bauer is defying age and injury and is out to win a second Geelong Cup on Wednesday to secure a place in the Melbourne Cup.

Manighar and Drunken Sailor are going the Caulfield Cup route and Chilean newcomer Sahara Sun goes for the Bendigo Cup on Wednesday week after showing us in the Caulfield Stakes that he needs the 2400m and a galloping track.

With a record four internationals confirmed to run in Saturday's Caulfield Cup and 14 internationals entered in the Melbourne Cup, it seems we are not alone in our quest for the richest handicap prize in the world.

Of the main hopefuls for the Melbourne Cup, most are either international horses or locally trained imports such as Lucas Cranach, Midas Touch and December Draw.

The first two were top-class performers in Europe, but December Draw has been a revelation since he joined Mark Kavanagh's stable at Flemington.

Mark told me for a Herald Sun video interview I did with him yesterday that the horse was bought to win a Wagga Cup, not a Melbourne or Caulfield Cup.

Bauer is a case in point of how an international horse can come to Australia with moderate form and really improve. He went so close to winning a Melbourne Cup.

You look at Bauer and some of the others Aidan O'Brien has brought across and the results have been surprising, but your Cups are handicaps and some horses adjust better down here than others.

I had to laugh during yesterday's interview with Mark at his response when I asked what he thought had been the key to December Draw's improvement.

"A really nice carrot and some reindeer juice," he said.

He can afford to laugh because Mark has turned December Draw into a perfectly legitimate Caulfield Cup favourite.

• Francesca Cumani
• From: Herald Sun

This Year's Melbourne Cup - The International Influence

THIS year's Melbourne Cup will have an international influence like never before with more than half the 24-horse field likely to be overseastrained or raced horses.

Officials are predicting the international numbers for the $6.2 million race on November 1 are likely to be in "double digits". When factoring in the fully-qualified former overseas horses now trained in Australia and bought for the Cup, it seems certain there will be a record low number of local contenders.

At the release of weights last week, only seven Australian-bred stayers were estimated to be weighted high enough to make it into the field. While others can make it through qualifying races, only Absolutely (at five kilograms under the benchmark

weight), Dreamaway (5.5kg), Playing God (5.5kg), Once Were Wild (5.5kg), Alcopop (6kg) , linton (6kg) and Trusting (6.5kg) were the Austi'alianbreds with the right credentials.

As many as 16 hopefuls are in quarantine. The first plane-load has arrived last week while the second wave should arrive on October 15.

Highly rated hopefuls such as December Draw, Glass Harmonium, My Kingdom Of Fife, Hawk Island, and Lloyd WIlliams's team including Midas Touch and Mourayan, as well as the US horse Unusual Suspect, are recent arrivals to Australia after beginning their careers elsewhere.

The Godolphin stable will decide soon if Cavalryman (55kg) and Lost In The Moment (53kg) make the trip.

Her Majesty The Queen to attend the 2011 Melbourne Cup?

The latest royal news doing the rounds is that it is a distinct possibility that Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II may attend the 2011 Melbourne Cup.

The Queen, a renowned lover of thoroughbred racing, was widely expected to be the guest of honour last year at the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup this year.

In 2011, the Queen is expected to be present at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Perth. CHOGM is a biennial forum for government leaders from Commonwealth nations.

The Queen is yet to miss a CHOGM since they were first held in 1971, and Defence Minister Steven Smith says that she is likely to be in attendance.

The summit is to be held in Perth from October 28-30.

The 2011 Melbourne Cup is to be held just two days later on November 1. The Queen is believed to be keen to visit the Melbourne Cup at least once. She is a keen follower of racing and is a prolific owner in England.

In 1997, her horse Arabian Story contested the Melbourne Cup – the grey finishing 6th to Might and Power.

While royal visits are not uncommon – Prince Charles and Princess Diana attended the 1985 Melbourne Cup, while the Duchess of York Sarah Ferguson was present in 1990 – a visit by the monarch would represent another chapter in the great history of the Melbourne Cup.