By Grant Holloway
CNN Sydney

For many, the Melbourne Cup is a wonderful excuse to dress up in their best clothes and have a party

Story Tools

MELBOURNE, Australia (CNN) -- Irish horse Media Puzzle has triumphed over a star-studded international field to win the 142nd Melbourne Cup.

Media Puzzle, one of the favorites for the $2 million event, was trained by Dermot Weld and ridden by Australian jockey Damien Oliver.

It is only the second time a Northern Hemisphere horse has won the prestigious race. The last time was in 1993 when Vintage Crop, also trained by Weld, became the first non-Australasian horse to lift the trophy.

The win was a bitter-sweet victory for jockey Oliver however, who last week lost his brother, Jason, to a horse-racing accident and will attend his funeral on Wednesday.

Speaking immediately after he won Tuesday's race, Oliver said he would swap any Melbourne Cup victory to have his brother back.

Media Puzzle won the 3,200 meter race by two lengths from Australia's Mr Prudent and Beekeeper from the Emirates-backed Godolphin stables. The time was a fast 3 minutes and 16.9 seconds.

Trainer Weld told media it was a special moment to win with a horse which had travelled 12,000 miles to be at the race and had to recover from a fractured pelvis several years ago.

"Today was Media Puzzle's day," Weld said.

Weld's other entrant, early favorite Vinnie Roe, finished fourth.

The Melbourne Cup is known internationally as the "race that stops a nation". Across Australia, all work ceased at 3.10 pm (AEDT) Tuesday while the 23 horses battled it out for one of the thoroughbred racing world's richest purses.

Restaurants, hotels and betting agencies were jam-packed as Australians flocked to Melbourne Cup lunches and celebrations, which provided much more of an excuse to have a party than to study the equine form.

A record $80 million ($150 million) was wagered by Australians alone in this year's Cup, which was, as always, held on the first Tuesday of November at the Flemington race track in the southern city of Melbourne.

It is estimated that more than 70 percent of adult Australians placed a bet on the race, albeit many of those via the ubiquitous office sweepstakes.

Public holiday

For many of those, the wager was the one and only they will make on a horse race until the next year's Melbourne Cup.

For others, it was more a chance to dress up in their best clothes -- or their most ridiculous outfits -- and play their part in a long and revered Australian tradition.

More than 120,000 people braved overcast weather to descend on the Flemington course and soak up the atmosphere -- the number swelled by the tradition of holding a public holiday in the State of Victoria for the Cup.

Interest in the Cup this year was spurred by a particularly open field with a large number of non-Australian entries making the form harder to read and the potential dividends all the greater.

More than one third of the 23 runner field were non-Australian horses, giving the race its most international feel yet.