Big days in any sport - but particularly horse racing - build on themselves. The Melbourne Cup has always been the Melbourne Cup, but it has got more magnificent in scope in each of the past 10 years, both in Australia and New Zealand.
And that will be the next opportunity to experience Ellerslie at its best - the first Tuesday in November.
There is something special about Melbourne Cup day that cannot be replicated. It used to be the race that stopped its own nation, then it stopped two - Australia and New Zealand. Now it stops much of Europe, through England, Ireland, France and Germany.
Horses from those countries swap hemispheres in increasing numbers each year in search of the world's most famous handicap race. There is now barely room for the top-line Aussies and Kiwis in the race.
Four years ago I met an Englishman at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day and he looked a bit lost. He told me that on the same day 12 months earlier he had been on a train between Brisbane and Cairns.
"In the middle of the afternoon the train suddenly stopped in the middle of nowhere and when I asked I was told they were about to run the Melbourne Cup, which I'd never heard of," he said. "I thought, well, if there's a horse race that can stop a train from 1000 miles away I guess I'd better see it, which is why I've flown out from England again."
You need to be at Ellerslie on November 4 to experience racing on both sides of the Tasman at its best. Unquestionably, the magnificence and beauty that is Ellerslie has been underutilised, certainly by comparison to major Australian tracks such as Flemington, Moonee Valley, Randwick and Rosehill. That was significantly addressed in 2006 when the ARC launched Auckland Cup/Derby week in early March - essentially a three-day carnival created by poaching the Derby and Auckland Cup from the Christmas/New Year meeting.
Two of the greatest advantages were that by running the Derby a little more than two months after Boxing Day, 3-year-olds attracted to the race were more mature.
"The other," says Auckland Racing Club CEO Cameron George, "is that it allowed us to tap into the corporate market, which wasn't available over the New Year period."
George points out that early March is still summer in Auckland and partying is popular. "Auckland can well handle two carnivals and both have their attractions. It's a win-win situation for the club, for racing and the public."
Visitors to Ellerslie marvel at the beauty of the course and its surrounds. Greg Radley, of Sky's racing show Off the Rails hosted the enormously popular Australian racing show at Ellerslie earlier this year and declared the course the most beautiful he has visited. That's not the first time that comment has been made. France's Longchamp is one of the few to rival Ellerslie's beauty.
The trees in the back parade ring are magnificent, providing for each race a perfect backdrop to what is about to happen out on the strip of green they call the racetrack.
And Ellerslie is as famous in that area as much as any course you can imagine.
All New Zealand's champions have at some stage graced Ellerslie through their glittering racetrack careers. The Derby, run in early March, has an honours board that misses very few of our former champions.
But before that noted classic is run again, Ellerslie will host magnificent thoroughbred action over Boxing Day, New Year's Day and Karaka Million night, in addition to the pair of Christmas-themed race days and ancillary meetings, including the six-race champagne late afternoon/early evening affair, so popular with Auckland's young set.
Melbourne Cup day at Ellerslie is party time, with live racing - and Karaka Million night adds even more froth with the running of New Zealand's richest horse race, the $1 million Karaka Million for graduates of the previous year's New Zealand Bloodstock Karaka yearling sales.
Much of the buying at the Karaka sale is geared towards this one race and on race night the excitement of the connections of those who believe they have come close to lifting the massive prize is there for all to see.
It creates an enormous amount of the party atmosphere.
Few of us are going to be lucky enough to be in that position, but simply backing a winner at Ellerslie is thrill enough.
Get the look
Photos / Michael Craig
Look 1: Derby Day (black & white look)
Natalie: hat, dress and gloves by Natalie Chan; sunglasses, bag and bracelet from Louis Vuitton; shoes from Mi Piaci. Michiko: shoes, bag, sunglasses, bracelet/cuff and ring from Louis Vuitton; hat by Claire Hahn; jacket from Kookai; dress from Forever New; earrings by Zoe & Morgan; belt - BCBG Max Azria from Glamour Boutique.
Look 2: Carnival (colourful look)
Natalie: hat and dress by Natalie Chan; bag and rings from Louis Vuitton; belt - from Glamour Boutique.Michiko: dress by Trelise Cooper; hat by Dolly Vardin; earrings by Karen Walker; rings by Zoe & Morgan; bag - Marc by Marc Jacobs from Workshop.
Photo / Michael Craig
Look 3: Ladies Day (Pastels/floral lady-like look)
Natalie: hat and dress by Natalie Chan; rings by Zoe & Morgan and Karen Walker; belt from Forever New; bag by Mimco. Michiko: dress from Ted Baker; hat by Claire Hahn; sunglasses and bag from Louis Vuitton; earrings from Karen Walker; ring by Zoe & Morgan.
Models/stylists: Natalie Chan and Michiko Hylands. Makeup: Michiko Hylands, michikohylands@gmail.com
Mike Dillon is the chief racing writer for the New Zealand Herald.
