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 Buy now | Sale Price $49.95 |
| Product Information | |||
| Date published | July 2010 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Pages | 300+ pages | ||
| Format | Hardback with a full gloss dust jacket. | ||
| Size | 34mm x 250mm x 320mm | ||
| Weight | 2358 g | ||
| ISBN | 978 -0 -9805973-6-3 | ||
 Download High Resolution Cover |
The Story Of The Melbourne Cup
Stephen Howell
- Overview
- The Author
- Media
Overview
The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Greatest Race celebrates the remarkable history of a wonderful horse race – one of the world’s most famous and enduring tests of a thoroughbred.
This is a story of the risk takers and planners who have made a race into a cultural phenomenon; toffs and battlers; the genius trainers Cummings, de Mestre and Freedman; the marvellous riding skills of Lewis, White and Boss; the obsessives, the families, and the flukes; the dominance of the Kiwis and the sudden surge of northern invaders; and how the Melbourne Cup has evolved through boom times, wars and depression. The concept of a handicap race as a nation’s greatest event is unique to Australia and the Melbourne Cup. It represents so much about its host nation – a chance for all no matter the circumstances of birth or opportunity.
The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Greatest Race is as much a story about that growing nation as it is about its most famous event.
About the editor
Stephen Howell
Stephen Howell has been a racing editor at The Slattery Media Group since 2008. For 40 years before that he was a newspaper journalist, working in different sections on different papers (The Examiner and The Mercury in Tasmania, The Daily Mirror in Sydney, and The Sun, The Herald, The Sunday Age and The Age in Melbourne), but always returned to sport, both as a writer and editor.
He has covered football, tennis, athletics and cycling, but has concentrated basketball, and on his first sporting love, racing. For 20 years he covered the men’s and women’s national basketball leagues and followed Australia’s international campaigns, reporting at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000, the 1998 men’s world championships in Athens, and the women’s world championship in Adelaide and Sydney in 1994. From the mid-1990s until after the 2008 Melbourne Cup carnival, he wrote racing features for The Sunday Age and The Age, and for several years edited The Age’s tabloid liftout formguide.
Look inside
The Australian, Saturday, October 30
The doyen of Australian race writing, Les Carlyon, rates The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia’s Greatest Race, as perhaps the best book written in 150 years about the Cup.
Herald Sun, Friday, October 29
The Herald Sun preview the Greatest Cup Never Run field, which originated from The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race, in advance of Tuesday's digitally simulated race.
Sport 927, Tuesday, August 3
The Slattery Media Groups Stephen Howell, editor of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, speaks with Sport 927's Andrew Kuuse about the commemorative coffee-table book. The two discuss how the book came about, and some of the grat stories covered in the 300-plus pages.
Herald Sun, Monday, July 26
Geoff Slattery provides a complete picture of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race, as a part of Matt Stewart's double-page reflection on moments in the Cup's history.
The Story of the Melbourne Cup, television commercial
The official television commercial for The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race.
SEN1116, Hungry for Sport, July 28
Greg Carpenter, Racing Victoria chief handicapper, discusses at length, the process of selecting the Greatest Cup Never Run with SEN's Kevin Bartlett.
SEN1116, Morning Glory, July 28
Tim Watson and Andy Maher, Morning Glory, chat to Bruce McAvaney about the significance of the Melbourne Cup to Australia, and the runners in the Greatest Cup Never Run, on the morning of the launch of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race.
3AW, Sports Today, July 28
Bruce McAvaney speaks with Sports Today's Dwayne Russell and Gerard Healy on the night of the official launch of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race. Bruce, one of the 22 experts on the panel who have selected the outcome of the Greatest Cup Never Run, explains how the difficult task 'drove him mad.'
Sky Sports Radio, July 28
VRC chairman, Rod Fitzroy, speaks with Sky Sports Radio immediately after the official launch of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race where the Greatest Cup Never Run was announced.
The Age, Sunday, August 1
The Age's Bruce Eva notes how 'a new book launched this week, The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race is a significant addition to this nation's sporting literature'
The Age, Thursday, July 29
Andrew Garvey, The Age, reports on Greg Carpenter's process in selecting the runners in the Greatest Cup Never Run. The field is displayed, along with weights, barriers and other relevant information, under the title – 'Field of Dreams.'
The Daily Telegraph, Thursday, July 29
The Daily Telegraph's Ray Thomas reports on the Greatest Cup Never Run
Inside Racing, August 2010 edition
The Cup, the characters & the glory, Stephen Howell, editor of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race, tells how the book ruled his life for more than a year. And, why the finished product was worth every minute.
Herald Sun, Sport Confidential, Thursday, July 29
....and more from the Cup book launch – a piece from Herald Sun's Sport Confidential team
Herald Sun, Thursday, July 29
Tim Habel speaks with Jim Johnson and Mick Robbins at the launch of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race
Herald Sun, Thursday, July 29
The Herald Sun's Adrian Dunn reports on the runners in the Greatest Cup Never Run
Seven News, July 28
Bruce McAvaney joins The Hon. John Brumby, Premier of Victoria, and triple Melbourne Cup winning jockey, Glen Boss, in providing their predictions for who will win the Greatest Cup Never Run at the official launch of The Story of the Melbourne Cup, Australia's Greatest Race.