‘Do you all think we’re stupid?’: The pattern with anti-Melbourne Cup stories

If you’ve been reading the major newspapers in recent weeks, you’ll have noticed a steady stream of opinion pieces pondering — and sometimes cheering for — the downfall of the Melbourne Cup.

On Sunday alone, readers were hit with headlines such as ‘Our race is run: Why the Melbourne Cup no longer stops the nation’ and ‘This year’s Melbourne Cup will be like no other’.

But Ross Stevenson has identified a clear pattern: Most such articles — all of those Ross read on Sunday — are written in Sydney and syndicated into Melbourne.

“Do you all think we’re stupid?” Ross mused.

“Do you think we don’t notice there’s a concerted effort from Sydney to bag our race, which has existed since 1861 and it will continue to thrive?”

Burnso: “And draw crowds four times the size they can at Randwick…”

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But of course, jealousy’s a curse and instead of creating something in parallel with Victoria’s spring carnival, Sydney has focused its attention on piggy-backing and undermining Melbourne’s success.

It’s not working. 80,000 people attended Derby Day despite miserable weather and on Tuesday another massive crowd will watch topline international horses and jockeys — the likes of which don’t bother with Sydney — fight for the Melbourne Cup.

Interestingly, Kolding won the inaugural running of the Golden Eagle on Saturday (Sydney’s latest very rich race aimed at stealing the horses away from Flemington, Caulfield and Moonee Valley) and after that victory, connections said Kolding was underrated among Australia’s best middle-distance horses.

That’s probably because he’s been chasing easy money instead of visiting Melbourne to test himself against the best, guys…

(Photo by Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)