On Melbourne Cup day at an outback pub 3700 kilometres from Flemington, Top End punters are hoping to pick a winner but not lose a finger.
The first Tuesday in November may be a horse's day in Victoria, but baby crocodiles stole the spotlight at Berry Springs Tavern, 60km from Darwin, where around 100 people celebrated the race that stops the Northern Territory.
Half a dozen speedy young salties, each measuring up to 80cm long, raced along the pub's verandah in the third annual Croc Cup.
Odds-on favourite Croc of Ship, Lazy Bear and Ugly - all thankfully with jaws taped shut - took just seconds to clear the six-metre stretch despite a few false starts.
The animals were on loan for the day from Darwin tourist attraction Crocodylus Park, and handlers grasped three wriggling reptiles each - sometimes scrambling to retrieve runaways - before setting them loose on the hay bale track.
Plenty of people were having a flutter but much of the winnings were donated to charity, with bartenders hoping to raise $20,000 for the Leukemia Foundation.
At other watering holes across the Territory, people with Spring Carnival fever put their money on frog and crab racing, but Berry Springs Tavern owner Ian Sloan reckons his croc dash is the world's only event of its kind.
"It should be an Olympic sport, we should take it to that next level," he said.
Mr Sloan hopes the Croc Cup becomes a Territory tradition and wants to push politicians to make it a public holiday.
"Let's get rid of the Queen's birthday - maybe we can have a postal vote on it," he said.
A long way from the Birdcage, ladies frocked up in their race day finery for a Fashions in the Bush competition where shoes were optional.
The afternoon was capped with a race of cane toads, which were blown to the finish line by customers with straws as onlookers shrieked in the chaos.
Some keen gamblers gave their toads good luck kisses before the race, and with good reason - first prize was a case of beer.
While the salties would be going home at the end of the day, Mr Sloan said the fate of the toads was left up to the jockeys.
"They can freeze them, otherwise golf clubs are provided," he said.
