Koroit, Port Fairy saddle up for 2023 Melbourne Cup tour

The towns are among 41 destinations for the $600,000, 18 carat-gold trophy's tour in the lead up to the race that stops the nation. The cup will travel across Australia and to six countries including Ireland, France, Japan and Hong Kong.

Both Koroit and Port Fairy will share a horse in the cup and if that runner wins, the towns will split $50,000 for community groups.

Port Fairy's Damien Gleeson and Paul 'Wally' Sheehan plus Koroit's Jim Madden mixed with high-profile racing identities including reigning Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Mark Zahra at Tuesday's announcement at Flemington racecourse.

Sheehan said Port Fairy born and raised Melbourne Cup-winning jockey Pat Hyland would be honoured at a function as part of the tour on Thursday, October 5.

"Pat won the 1985 Melbourne Cup on What A Nuisance," Sheehan said. "He's only one of a handful of jockeys who have won the four majors in the Melbourne Cup plus Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Golden Slipper. We'll be visiting Belfast and Moyneyana House plus the two primary schools in the town with the historic trophy."

Madden said Koroit had a long history in racing and would acknowledge the achievements of Melbourne Cup-winning trainer Ciaron Maher, who played junior footy in the town.

"Undoubtedly what Ciaron has done in racing is first and foremost in the minds of lots of people," Madden said.

"But we've got numerous other people from the area around Koroit who have had an impact in racing.

"We're thinking of having a street parade in the town before we have an event at the football ground to celebrate having the cup in town."

This year's tour begins on June 10 in Tokyo before reaching the south-west on October 5 and 6.

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