Blog Back
‎English (US)‎ ‎English (UK)‎ ‎English (Australia)‎ ‎English (Canada)‎ ‎English (India)‎ ‎日本語‎ ‎Français‎ ‎Português‎ ‎한국어‎ ‎Bahasa Indonesia‎ ‎Español - España‎ ‎Español - América Latina‎ العربيّة ‎English (MENA)‎ ‎English (Southeast Asia)‎
‎English (US)‎ ‎English (UK)‎ ‎English (Australia)‎ ‎English (Canada)‎ ‎English (India)‎ ‎日本語‎ ‎Français‎ ‎Português‎ ‎한국어‎ ‎Bahasa Indonesia‎ ‎Español - España‎ ‎Español - América Latina‎ العربيّة ‎English (MENA)‎ ‎English (Southeast Asia)‎

The 2014 #MelbourneCup

By
Tuesday, 4 November 2014

It’s called the race that stops a nation, but today the 154th #MelbourneCup saw records tumble as fans around the country flocked to Twitter to celebrate one of the great days on the national sporting calendar.

With a 66% increase of Tweets sent between 3pm to 4pm (compared to 2013), and a 64% increase in the Tweets-Per-Minute peak (as Protectionist past the post), it’s the biggest #MelbourneCup Twitter has witnessed.

Protectionist won the 2014 #MelbourneCup, entering equine immortality as the first German horse to take home the Cup, along with the biggest winning margin since 1995.


For the very first time, fans on Twitter could watch the full race replay within minutes thanks to The Racing Network (@TVNTVN) and Twitter’s SnappyTV technology.

Not only could fans watch the entire race via Twitter, they were provided the best insider access from trainers, jockeys, celebrities and official racing accounts.



Even Aussie politicians took to Twitter, with Denis Napthine (@Vic_Premier) and Daniel Andrews (@DanielAndrewsMP) using Twitter Video for the very first time:


The #MelbourneCup is not only an Aussie obsession.

According to iTrended, the official hashtag was trending around the world including the United Kingdom and New Zealand, including 11 cities from Adelaide to Stoke-on-Trent. It was the Number 1 Twitter trend in Australia, Darwin, Melbourne, New Zealand and Sydney.

Australian brands joined in the #MelbourneCup fun sending a selection of clever, timely and entertaining Tweets:

The VRC (@FlemingtonVRC) had a Twitter Mirror on course and took photos of celebrities enjoying the luxury and sophistication of The Birdcage:

Not to be outdone, celebrities from around the world flocked to Twitter to share their #MelbourneCup experiences:

But perhaps one Tweet, from @Melbourne, summed up the entire day with two simple words:

While the #MelbourneCup comes to a close, Aussies have a massive summer of sport to look forward to. @CricketAUS are ready and raring to go, our love affair of all things @AustralianOpen will continue early next year, and we have the huge @CricketWorldCup on home soil in February.

Sport and Twitter… you’ve gotta love it!