The race that stops the nation

Yeah, you read right.

Every year, in Australia, everybody stops working for half an hour. If you live in Victoria, you actually get the whole day off.
For a horse race.

Oh yeah. It's a BIG deal. It's the Melbourne Cup.

The day where men place bets while women decide what to wear. Cause this is like the Oscars. No, it's bigger than the oscars here. In that it's not about what's happening, who is actually in the race, let alone who wins. NO. It's all about who wears what.
Oh yeah, and the women really get into it. It's all about the shoes, the dresses and such, but most of all, it's about he HATS. Hats with feathers, with little dingly dangly ribbons and lace and crap. It's absolutely rediculous. It's so important, that a big celeb supermodel or whatever, some years ago, actually went to the races WITHOUT A HAT!!! And it caused an absolute SCANDAL.
I think that is just pathetic.

I was working at my new job and there was over a hundred people there, and when the race came on, the place just went wild. A horse, called Makaybe Diva has won this race last year and the year before. If she won it this year, the horse would go down in history as being the only horse to have won the Melbourne Cup three times in a row.
And she did. It was incredible. I have witnessed an important moment in Australian History, so it seems.