Melbourne Cup docks in Queenscliff

THE prize for winning the race that stops a nation has made a stop on the Bellarine Peninsula for the second year in a row.

This year’s Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour took in several locations across Queenscliff on Tuesday this week with support from children’s charity Cottage by the Sea.

The celebrations started at 7.30am with Breakfast on Swan Bay with the Cup, held at the Queenscliff Lonsdale Yacht Club.

The Cup – which visited Portarlington in 2022 – was then transported by pilot boat and transferred to the Searoad Ferries service from Sorrento that docked in Queenscliff at about 10.30am.

Borough of Queenscliffe mayor Isabelle Tolhurst was on hand to greet the cup, which was accompanied by Melbourne Cup Tour ambassador and legendary sports caller Greg Miles; New Zealand racehorse Efficient, which won the Melbourne Cup in 2007; and Irish racehorse and 2020 Melbourne Cup winner Twilight Payment.

The arrival officially started the Grand Parade at the Searoad Ferries Terminal, with the Melbourne Cup on public display until 1pm.

Later that day, the upstairs Whisky Bar at Queenscliff Brewhouse ran Happy Hour with the Cup, the Bellarine Railway ran a special service to show off the trophy, and Suma Park Homestead in Marcus Hill hosted the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour Cocktail Party.

As a destination on the tour, Queenscliff is part of the Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep, which gives the 24 rural and regional Cup Tour destinations across Australia the opportunity to be allocated a barrier for the 2023 Melbourne Cup on November 7.

Destination representatives will be transported to Melbourne to watch the Melbourne Cup live on track at Flemington, with the town that draws the barrier of the Cup-winning horse presented with a cash prize of $50,000 to put towards a community charity of their choice.