I call upon the Victorian Racing Club to immediately cease promoting the Melbourne Cup as 'the race that stops a nation' - I do not give you permission to use my citizenship to market an event about cruetly and greed.

I am a proud Australian - I love this country - yet I do not accept you attributing a horse race to me, my beliefs or my time:

• Promotion of an event that killed 2 horses this year, 1 horse last year and others in years before - not in my name;
• Promotion of an event where thousands of horses die behind the scenes - those that were believed to have 'potential' but were 'disappointments' and so killed - not in my name;
• Promotion of an event that uses whips to create fear and pain to drive horses to go faster - not in my name;
• Promotion of an event that is about greed and excess at the expense of animal and social welfare - not in my name;

I know the race will continue to be run - at least for the forseeable future, but after seeing so many people speak out across social and news media today, I realised that for so many of us, the promotional line 'the race that stops a nation' is unfairly implying that we support it.  It is saying that all Australians are right behind it,  when I suspect the reality is that many of us would prefer to see it confined to the pages of Australian history.

I call upon the Victorian Racing Club to immediately cease promoting the Melbourne Cup as 'the race that stops a nation' - I do not give you permission to use my citizenship to market an event about cruetly and greed.