In Australia, it’s called ‘the race that stops a nation’.

The Melbourne Cup has been held since 1861 and for the thousands that don’t make it trackside, we enjoy feeling part of the race by dressing up as if we’re there at Flemington Racecourse, laying bets, and sipping champagne with friends in front of massive TV screens.

Want to keep up with the Melbourne Cup on social media?

There seems to be a battle of the hashtags on Twitter right now, but I’m predicting #melbcup will win out because it’s memorable and easy. The official Melbourne Cup Twitter account seems conflicted, as it’s using #melbcup but it has #melbcupcarnival in its bio. (It’s easy for us to forget what we put in our bio – often months or years beforehand – so let’s forgive them, shall we?) #MelbourneCup seems to be winning out on Trendsmap right now, but when things get hurried, shorter hashtags often win out.

The Flemington Racecourse has a good Facebook page bubbling along, and you can keep up with news on the official YouTube channel. See the barrier draw video below:

There are a heck of a lot of unofficial Twitter accounts, including @themelbournecup  and @melbournecupnws. Sportsbet has listed 11 horse racing experts to follow on Twitter, which is mighty handy of them.

I enjoyed this tweet from Tom Ballard (currently most popular for #melbournecup on Twitter.com):

Of course, the Melbourne Cup is also about trackside fashions, and what better place to share fashion coverage than Instagram? Search #melbournecup or #derbyday on Instagram now for some inspiration, if you need it … There are also some Melbourne Cup pins on Pinterest, but for more helpful pins perhaps search terms such as ‘fascinator’ which gave me the results below:

Good luck everyone. I’ve got my fascinator ready and I’m looking forward to the afternoon off. I might even post a photograph or two.