Champions compete in the Greatest Cup Never Run
Tuesday, 23 November 2010
To celebrate the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup, Australia Post is releasing two souvenir stamp sheets. The Greatest Cup Never Run sheet shows the results of a fictitious Melbourne Cup race and the second sheet celebrates the win of this year's Emirates Melbourne Cup by Americain.
Australia Post Philatelic Manager, Mr Michael Zsolt, said: "As well as to honour the magnificent win of Americain in this year's Melbourne Cup, we wanted to produce a special stamp sheet for the 150th running of the race. To acknowledge the latter, Australia Post has created a souvenir stamp sheet that records the result of a fictitious Melbourne Cup race that sees some of the best thoroughbred champions pitched against each other in the "Greatest Cup Never Run". The two souvenir stamp sheets capture the excitement and passion of this international event, and will resonate with horse-racing enthusiasts and collectors alike."
The Greatest Cup Never Run souvenir stamp sheet includes 10 x 60c Southern Cross stamps, with an image of the Melbourne Cup trophy in each stamp tab and features images of previous Melbourne Cup champions based on the artwork of Brian Clinton. The field of this fictitious race was assembled by Racing Victoria Limited Chief Handicapper, Greg Carpenter, to mark the 150th running of the Melbourne Cup.
The race result was determined by a panel of 22 experts, based on the known variables of weight, barrier, jockey and track condition. Each panel member was asked to place the horses from first to 24th, based on a points system. The winning horse received the most points and the horse finishing 24th received the least.
The 2010 Emirates Melbourne Cup souvenir stamp sheet includes 10 x 60c Southern Cross stamps, with an image of the Melbourne Cup trophy in each stamp tab. The sheet also includes on the selvedge area an image of Americain in full gallop and a post-celebratory image of this year's winning horse with jockey - Gerald Mosse.
These two souvenir stamp sheets will be available for purchase at participating Australia Post retail outlets, via mail order on 1800 331 794 and online at auspost.com.au/stamps from 15 November while stocks last.
Australia Post is also producing a number of limited-edition collector items that are available by mail order while stocks last. For more details on these products, go to stamps.com.au/impressions.
