Geelong Cup Geelong Cup The Geelong Cup is a Geelong Racing Club Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race, held under handicap conditions for over a distance of 2400 metres at the Geelong Racecourse, Geelong, Victoria, Australia on a Wednesday in late October The prize money for the race is A$300,000, and the race is considered one of the most reliable guides to the result of the Melbourne Cup. The race is run thirteen days before the Melbourne Cup (which is always on the first Tuesday in November). The race has been run on this day since 1947. The day of the race is
Melbourne Cup injuries saw the horse not race for another 20 months. Efficient, the previous year's VRC Derby winner, won the race. In 2013, Damien Oliver returned from an eight-month ban, after betting against his own mount at a previous race meet, to win his 3rd Melbourne cup. Melbourne Cup day is a public holiday for all working within metropolitan Melbourne and some parts of regional Victoria, but not for some country Victorian cities and towns which hold their own spring carnivals. For federal public servants it is also observed as a holiday in the entire state of Victoria, and from 2007