1875 Melbourne Cup
The 1875 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 9 November 1875.
This year was the fifteenth running of the Melbourne Cup. This would be the first year of the race being held on a Tuesday. The day was a declared public holiday in Victoria in recognition of the 34th birthday of the then Prince of Wales Edward.
There were 29 runners that had declared to run in the race, with Imperial and Kingsborough the favoured horses in early betting. The top-weighted horse was John Tait's Goldsborough, who had finished seventh the previous year. 1874 Melbourne Cup winner Haricot was expected to run well again, although stable-mate Nimrod was more fancied. Following its win in the Victoria Derby, John Tait's horse Melbourne was the subject of many bets, more so than the horse it defeated in heavy conditions in that race, Richmond.
A total of 20 runners made their way to the start after a number of horses were withdrawn on race day, including two nameless colts owned by Etienne de Mestre. The weather for the race day was overcast and windy, and showers began as the field made their way to the start. Goldsborough and Nimrod had the best of the start, with Polidori racing to the front before the first turn. Down the back straight, Nimrod bolted interfering with Sterling, and by the time the horses approached the mile marker Polidori had ran its race and started to drop backwards. Goldsborough led the field for a time, but it was Coquette that would lead at the final turn. On the Flemington straight, Coquette wasn't able to hold off Goldsborough, but it was Wollomai that galloped clear to win by two lengths, Richmond rushed home past tiring runners to claim second place by some distance from Goldsborough in third. Bringing up the rear of the field were Calumny, Mohican and Calaba.
Wollomai was a surprise winner, having not been featured in much of the pre-race chatter, with observers suggesting the horse was "too fat" and lacking fitness to cover the two miles. Trainer Stephen Moon had taken over the preparation of the horse just months before the Cup after the horse was transferred from William Lang. Wollomai was owned by John Cleeland who operated the Albion Hotel on Bourke Street, the hub of operations for Cobb & Co coaches. Cleeland at the time raced his horses under the alias Mr H. Sharpe. He had previously won the Australian Cup with Shenandoah in 1868. Cleeland would later name his homestead on Phillip Island after the horse. Before its win in the Melbourne Cup, Wollomai had won the 1875 Midsummer Handicap on New Year's Day at Flemington and won two races at Warrnambool including the 1875 Warrnambool Cup.
The winning jockey was Scottish-born Robert Batty who was 20-years-old when he won the Melbourne Cup, having won the inaugural Newmarket Handicap on board Maid of Avenel in 1874.
It was estimated that there were 100,000 spectators at Flemington Racecourse, far exceeding the number from previous years, although a notable absentee for the time was the Acting-Governor of Victoria, Sir William Stawell.
Full results
This is the list of placegetters for the 1875 Melbourne Cup.| Place | Horse | Age Gender | Jockey | Weight | Trainer | Owner | Odds | Margin |
| 1 | Wollomai | 6y h | Robert Batty | Sam Harding | John Cleeland | 16/1 | 2 lengths | |
| 2 | Richmond | 3y c | George Williams | Eli Jellett | 16/1 | 4 lengths | ||
| 3 | Goldsborough | 5y h | Jimmy Ashworth | John Tait | John Tait | 10/1 | - | |
| 4 | Loquacity | 3y f | John Kilduff | Tom Jordan | Gabriel Bennett | 50/1 | - | |
| 5 | Coquette | 4y m | W. Howard | Mr W. McKenzie | 33/1 | - | ||
| 6 | Imperial | 6y g | Joe Morrison | William Samuel Cox | 3/1 | - | ||
| 7 | Dilke | 4y h | Sam Cracknell | Mr G. Atkinson | 10/1 | - | ||
| 8 | Kingsborough | 4y h | William Yeomans | Hercules Robinson | 5/1 | - | ||
| 9 | Kincrachnie | Aged m | W. McLeod | Mr D. McLellan | 14/1 | - | ||
| Sterling | 4y h | M. Bryan | Thomas Ivory | 16/1 | - | |||
| Melbourne | 4y h | H. Grubb | John Tait | John Tait | 20/1 | - | ||
| Haricot | 5y g | Lynch | Thomas Chirnside & Andrew Chirnside | 14/1 | - | |||
| Scanmag | 4y h | McInnes | Mr G. Livingstone | 20/1 | - | |||
| Nimrod | 6y g | Green | Thomas Chirnside & Andrew Chirnside | 20/1 | - | |||
| West Australian | 5y h | Cleary | Thomas Ivory | 20/1 | - | |||
| Kingfisher | Aged g | Ridley | Andrew Town | 7/1 | - | |||
| Polidori | 4y h | Hummerston | James Edward Warby | 20/1 | - | |||
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