The Melbourne Cup is truly “the race that stops a nation”.
Since it’s inception, great stories have emerged from this famous horse race, run each year on the first Tuesday in November, but none had a more extraordinary effect on the entire nation than the running of the 2002 Melbourne Cup.
In the wake of the Bali bombings less than three weeks earlier, Australians were seeking refuge in their most cherished tradition – The Cup. But a grieving jockey’s courage in the face of his own loss, gave his countrymen far more than just a great race.
The final thrilling moments of this story will be forever etched in Australian folklore.
The Cup is not just a story about horse racing, it’s about triumph over adversity and that inner courage inside all of us.
“The Cup” is more than just the story of a horse race.
It is the story of triumph over adversity.
Probably no horse race had a more extraordinary effect on a nation than the running of Australia’s 2002 Melbourne Cup.
At the heart of this true story is Damien Oliver, (Stephen Curry), a young jockey who loses his only brother in a tragic racing accident just days before the Melbourne Cup. The race fall hauntingly reflecting of the way their father died 27 years earlier. After suffering through a series of discouraging defeats, Damien teams with Irish trainer Dermot Weld, (Brendan Gleeson) and triumphs at the 2002 Melbourne Cup in one of the most thrilling finales in sporting history.
Multi award winning Director Simon Wincer, (who also co-wrote and produced The Cup) is well known for telling stories with strong inspirational threads such as Free Willy, Lonesome Dove, Phar Lap and The Man From Snowy River, and is well experienced at taking audiences with him on emotional journeys.
His credits also include such titles as The Phantom, Crocodile Dundee in Los Angeles, Lightning Jack, and Walt Disney Pictures adventure movie Operation Dumbo Drop.
Wincer’s films can be relied on to deliver a quality experience for the audience, and The Cup is no exception.