Melbourne Cup

While my fellow New Yorkers have been swept up in World Series fever (all Phillies all day), I experienced my first ever Melbourne Cup this week. Horse racing is a gigantic sport in Australia... actually anything that involves gambling is immensely popular in this country. So in celebration, the country closes down every first Tuesday in November for a day of drinking and punting.

Although Melbourne Cup Day is actually only an official holiday in the state of Victoria, Australians everywhere treat it like Christmas. Offices and shops lock up and everyone heads to the pub to watch the race. We at Barons had a beautiful three course lunch and champagne celebration for the few hours leading up to the race, and then sat in anticipation for three minutes as the horses sped around the track. From there, all we could do was toast our winnings and drown our losses in icy cold pale ale's.

The winning horse was called Shocking, and I'm proud to report that I roped in some serious dough from my punt - a whopping $16.50! Hey, a win is a win, right?