Melbourne Cup 31 October 1873 announced that the following Thursday (Cup Day) be observed as a bank and civil (public) service holiday. The Melbourne Cup was first run on a Tuesday in 1875, the first Tuesday in that month. On 7 November 1876, the three-year-old filly, Briseis, owned and trained by James Wilson Snr., won in a time of 3.36.25. Briseis then went on to create a record that is never likely to be equalled, winning the VRC Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks in the space of six days. She was ridden in the Melbourne Cup by the tiny
Horse racing in Scotland records of King James IV's personal expenditure. There are only four references to horse racing, all in 1503-4, including a payment made in 1504 to a jockey, ‘the boy that ran the King’s horse’ at Leith. Relative to James' other sporting interests such as falconry and golf this is very few. A well-known annual race, with a bell for a prize, was instituted at Haddington in 1552, but reference to this in royal records is restricted to a single entry. It is not until the reign of James VI that racing truly emerges. Races were held at Peebles and Dumfries