Definitely a Diva

I try to often celebrate women's achievements on this blog, but today am moved to celebrate another female success - this time an equine one.

Makybe Diva, a seven-year-old mare, has just won her third Melbourne Cup in succession - a feat never accomplished before. If you're not Australian, it is hard to explain just what this means - this is a combination of fottball's European Cup and the American World Series in terms of its impact on the country - they say the country stops for the Cup, and that's very nearly true.

When I lived in Oz a flutter on the Cup was the one bet a year that I'd place - just for interest, and I always backed the mares (and did quite well out of it - albeit that serious horseracing types would tell me it was a silly strategy). Unfortunately I stopped the habit a few years ago!

Mares tend to be retired young - since the number of progeny is far more limited than stallions' - it is great that Maybe Diva has been allowed to recognise her full potential. And for those who like the compare human and animal athletic abilities to justify claims about men's "superiority", it is an interesting lesson. And she's even being compared to Phar Lap.