2020’s coronavirus has stopped a lot of activity for a lot of us, but thankfully it hasn’t stopped ‘The Race That Stops A Nation’: The Melbourne Cup.
The traditions of the Melbourne Cup count among Australia’s favourites – up there with weekend BBQs, a 40 degree Christmas Day, and the famous summer beach holiday. It’s a great Australian tradition to run a Melbourne Cup ‘sweep’.
What is a sweep?
A sweep is a game of luck. The sweep’s participants pay to purchase a ticket, each representing a horse, and the tickets are given out randomly. Each ticket costs the same, there is no skill element involved, and the horses’ odds (its chance of winning, calculated by professional gamblers called ‘bookies’) are ignored completely. The prize pool is the total of the ticket receipts, and it is awarded to winning ticket holders.
The ASBA Melbourne Cup Sweep – it’s free!
This year ASBA is running its inaugural ASBA Melbourne Cup Sweep, and all members are invited to join the sweep. The rules of the sweep will be a little unusual – and you don’t need to pay any money. This year ASBA will donate the cost of a €10 ticket for each member that joins the sweep. A Melbourne Cup runs 24 horses, so the prize pool for sharing among winning tickets is €240.
The rules of the sweep are:
- The ASBA Secretary is administering the sweep.
- Only ASBA members may enter the sweep (members must be current for 2020 – ie: membership must be fully paid).
- To enter the sweep you must send an email to secretary@australiaspain.org AND communication@australiaspain.org indicating that you want to enter the sweep.
- The winning tickets will be: the holder of The Cup’s winning horse will win €150. The holder of The Cup’s second place-winning horse will win €75. The holder of The Cup’s last-place running horse will win €15.
- ASBA will discuss payment of any winnings with each winning ticket holder, and we note that our winner’s amounts align with our excellent-value annual membership rates (€150 continues to be our great-value Corporate membership rate, and €75 is our great-value Individual membership rate).
- If the ASBA Secretary receives less entry applications than necessary to complete a sweep (24 entries are required) he will allocate the remaining tickets to unticketed members, in the order in which they paid their 2020 membership fees, until the sweep is full (and we again thank all members for continuing to support ASBA and our activities).
- If the ASBA Secretary receives more entry applications than are necessary to complete a sweep (greater than 24 emails requesting a ticket) he will allocate the tickets in the order in which he received the emails to enter the sweep. If the sweep is very popular then the Secretary, in his absolute discretion, may run a second sweep in accordance with the rules described above.
- The drawing of the sweep will be advised to ticket holders before The Cup is run, and winners will be advised by email.
- The drawing of the sweep will be random, and conducted by the Secretary (the Secretary is not a participant in the sweep).
- The Secretary will use the full-colour sweep lift-out published in Melbourne’s The Age newspaper to draw the sweep.
How to enter
To enter the ASBA Melbourne Cup sweep you must send an email to secretary@australiaspain.org AND to communication@australiaspain.org indicating that you want to enter the sweep. ASBA will record your entry in a list of entrants and allocate tickets before Monday 2 November. The sweep draw will be advised to members and ticket holders on Monday 2 November.
About the Melbourne Cup – celebrating ‘The Lucky Country’
The Melbourne Cup is Australia’s famous annual thoroughbred horse race. It is a 3200 metre race for horses aged three-years-old and over, and conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne during the Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest two-mile handicap in the world and, by tradition, the event ‘jumps’ at 3:00pm on the first Tuesday of November. It is known as “the race that stops the nation”.
The Melbourne Cup has a long tradition, with the first race held in 1861. The present record holder is the 1990 winner ‘Kingston Rule’ who completed the race in a time of 3 minutes and 16.3 seconds. Since Australia’s first official race meeting in 1842 horse racing has embedded into Australian culture, with thousands of races taking place each year. From the local town handicaps to the world-renowned Melbourne Cup, racing fans across the country are enthralled with the drama, excitement and passion associated with horse racing. Horse racing is emblematic of Australia – it’s a celebration of ‘The Lucky Country’.
Good luck!