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Friday, 18th April 2008 (1503 views)

A gold trophy awarded to the winner of the 1934 Melbourne Cup is to go on display following its acquisition by the National Museum of Australia, theage.com reports.

According to the site, the three-handled cup - which was won by a horse named Peter Pan, making it one of only five to record double victories - had been kept in a bank vault for 30 years by the family of the horse's owner.

Peter Pan had previously won the race in 1932 but missed the 1933 race after contracting a near-fatal virus that had ravaged many of Sydney's racing stables. It became a "household name", the site says, when the following year it overturned odds of 14-1 to win the race again.

Museum curator Laina Hall told the news source that the 1934 cup represents a "very special period" in Australian horse racing.

"Melbourne Cups don't come up for offer very often, it's such an honour to have won one that people tend to hold onto them," she commented.

The Melbourne Cup, which has been dubbed "the race that stops a nation", is Australia's biggest annual thoroughbred race.

It was first run in 1861, when 17 horses competed and the first prize consisted of £170 cash and a gold watch.

 

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