The First Tuesday in November

The first Tuesday in November is almost upon us and being an even numbered year means there are two horse races to watch.

The annual event is the horse race that stops a nation. At 3pm next Tuesday (1 pm for those in the Philippines) for 3 minutes Australia will come to a stand still as all eyes are turned to the Melbourne Cup. Now in its 145th consecutive year “The Cup” is one of the world’s riches horse races with a prize pool in excess of $5 million AU dollars. The city of Melbourne has a public holiday and at the cups home, Flemington Race Course, the champagne, huge hats and fashions in the field create a carnival to keep gossip columns alive for weeks.

On the other side of the Pacific the red and the blue will do battle in the 2 horse race known as the Mid Term elections. For some time now the candidates for either side have been calling each other names and belittling their opponent’s policies. If the red team wins it will be business as usual, should the blue team win it will come as no great surprise if the US President was on the blower to Gloria seeking impeachment defense strategies.

When the dust settles on the gallopers in these 2 events the honest winner will have four legs the rest will be politicians.