Last year's winning rider Mark Zahra with the Melbourne Cup© Photo Healy Racing
The Lexus Melbourne Cup trophy will be on display at Naas on Bank Holiday Monday, August 5 as the track hosts its richest raceday featuring the Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes.
The Melbourne Cup stops off at Naas as part of its global tour incorporating 39 different locations and the racecourse also plans to mark the legacy of Robert Cooper Bagot, a Kildare man whose contributions helped shape one of the world’s greatest races and the experience of the Melbourne Cup.
Robert Cooper Bagot was born in Fontstown in 1827 and after emigrating to Australia in 1849, he became the first Secretary of the Victoria Racing Club in 1864.
His innovative redesign of the Flemington racecourse and successful lobbying for a Melbourne Cup Day half-holiday expanded the race’s appeal. Naas Racecourse will name a race in his honour on this special day.
The €300,000 Irish EBF Ballyhane Stakes is the highlight of a valuable day’s racing at Naas which will also include the Treo Eile ex-racehorse parade featuring Max Dynamite who was placed twice in the Melbourne Cup.
This year marks the 164th running of "The Race that Stops a Nation" with a prizefund of $AUD8.4 million and a trophy valued at $AUD750,000.
