Champions Champions

Each year we crown new champions - jockeys, trainers and those that make this
place so unique.

The Jockeys

The ‘silks’ worn by jockeys create much of the colourful spectacle of races. The jockeys are the athletes responsible for guiding the racehorses to the finish line.

Jockeys must adhere to very controlled diets to maintain their weight and build their strength. Jockeys are weighed prior to commencing the Melbourne Cup race together with their saddles, and it is very important that their weight after the race is the same.

The winning jockeys are weighed at the end of the race, and if the weight is accurate, ‘correct weight’ is declared and the winners announced.

The Trainers 

An enormous amount of determination and passion. It's a 24/7 business.

Trainers have their own unique style and routine for training a horse and will customise a program based on the horse’s breeding, experience, body type and character.

Training may include swimming, sand rolls, grass and turf racing, jumping and muscle strengthening activities.

Australia boasts many of the world’s leading trainers including Bart Cummings, Lee Freedman, Gai Waterhouse, David Hall and David Hayes, as well as renowned trainers from the past including Colin Hayes, Tommy Smith, James Scobie and, in the 1800s, Etienne de Mestre and Walter Hickenbotham.

The Race Callers

Race callers describe the events of the race in detail, including the position of the horses, the stage of the race and the distance the horses have travelled.

They also describe sudden moves, position changes in the race and when horses overtake each other.

Race callers are required not only to memorise the horses in the race but the horses that have been scratched (withdrawn), and the names of the jockeys, the colours of their silks and other interesting facts about each entrant.

It is amazing to listen to a good race caller and hear the speed at which the caller
describes the events of a race.