Australian Horse Racing

Oaks Day is a mega Australian horse racing event within the Melbourne Cup Carnival. It started back in 1861 as "an event after the Melbourne Cup Day", on the Thursday after the Tuesday. One hundreds years later the Victorian Racing Club came up with a novel idea to introduce fashion to horse racing. The move to get women onto the race tracks was a stroke of genius and it set off a huge women's fashion movement. Most recently the Oaks Day, also known as the Ladies Oaks Day, equaled the number of spectators of that on the Melbourne Cup Day.

The ladies have now taken over the carnival and the amount of exuberance that the Oaks Day lends to the whole Cup Carnival has to be seen to be believed. Women gather in their thousands dressed in gorgeous outfits and magnificent hats, all made and dressed up. A designer hat is a must, a handbag and a glass of champagne are also mandatory accessories.

The ladies have also taken on the Oaks Day betting scene despite the fact that are at least a few who wouldn't know the front end of a horse from its rear if they bumped into one! The bookies of course love this as the ladies make 'sentimental bets'.

The Melbourne Cup Day has been held since 1861 every year without fail and is the wealthiest horse racing handicap anywhere in the world with the total value of the cup now worth $5 million dollars. Legendary horse have won the Melbourne Cup, including Phar Lap, Carbine, Tulloch, and Rain Lover and Makybe Diva a record breaking three times in a row.

Learn more about the Melbourne Cup, the Oaks Day, the entire Spring Carnival and Australian horse racing in general.