Thousands of Australians miss the Melbourne Cup after making same mistake

Channel 7 is under fire over two missing words that saw Aussies all fall into the same trap on Melbourne Cup day.

Yep, it happened again.

Channel 7 is under fire after thousands of Aussies tuned in to watch the Melbourne Cup only to realise that the traditional racing network didn’t have the broadcast rights.

The network on Tuesday screened shots of other race events around the nation and it appears plenty of Australians missed “The Race That Stops the Nation” assuming the great 3200m race was back on the traditional broadcaster of the Cup.

Thousands of Aussies made the same stuff up last year with one fan saying he had “never felt so stupid” in his life for failing to realise the Cup was being covered by Channel 10.

But from 2024 until 2029, Channel 9 has the rights to the big race, with the best option to catch the action being the free livestream on 9Now.

By the time the traditional 3pm start time for the Melbourne Cup passed, plenty of fans couldn’t work out why it wasn’t on their television screens.

Brice McAvaney and Lizzie Jelfs fronted the Channel 7 coverage.

One Twitter user posted: “Been watching Channel 7 for three hours only to realise the bloody Melbourne Cup is on Channel 9. Missed the whole thing. Sums up the day really”.

Another posted: “It’s ‘The race that stops a nation’ (Until some of the nation realise too late they’ve been watching the wrong horse race meeting on Channel 7 instead of 9)”.

One user wrote: “I think Channel Seven should not be allowed to have a program called “Seven’s Horse Racing” on at the same time as the Melbourne Cup”.

Channel 7 viewers were instead treated to The Big Dance at Randwick.

Gringotts and champion jockey Tommy Berry pulled tactical masterpiece in the feature Sydney race on Cup Day.

Channel 7 viewers were instead treated to The Big Dance race day at Randwick Racecourse.

Wildest pics of Cup punters letting loose

VIEW GALLERY

Gringotts, trained by Ciaron Maher, came out of barrier 19 but began so brilliantly, Berry was able to glide across the front of the field, settle on speed and then seize control as the field thundered over the famous rise at the top of the Randwick straight.

“I hate being in front that far out, I was just trying to get him home,” Berry said.

“We spoke about how many seconds I have had in big races over the last 12 months so I just held my nerve and Gringotts got the job done.”

Originally published as Thousands of Australians miss the Melbourne Cup after making same mistake