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 of the first Melbourne Cup in 1861 received a gold watch. The first Melbourne Cup trophy was awarded in 1865 and was an elaborate silver bowl on a stand that had been manufactured in England. The first existing and un-altered Melbourne Cup is from 1866, presented to the owners of The Barb; as of 2013, it is in the National Museum of Australia. The silver trophy presented in 1867, now also in the National Museum of Australia, was also made in England but jewellers in Victoria complained to the Victorian Racing Club that the trophy should have been made locally.