I believe it started around 20 years ago, when Charlie Chan Family Home Webmaster (and apparent Tycoon) Mr. Rush Glick started giving away a cash-prize each November during Australia’s Melbourne Cup Horse Race: the price of a bet…IT’S FREE!
Each year, the first Tuesday of November (November 7th this year) Australians gather for the Melbourne Cup–Australia’s most famous Thoroughbred Horse Race. Much beloved throughout the country its moniker is “the race that stops a nation!” The Monday evening preceding the race (November 6th in the U.S. this year) Mr. Glick will feature Charlie Chan at the Racetrack (1936) as the week’s film and online Chat. As part of the fun, each person logged into the chat room will be assigned against a horse running the race. And to the winner goes the Grand Prize, a 1936 U.S. half-dollar coin!
Now to realize the significance of that particular coin, watch the aforementioned film, Charlie Chan at the Race Track. Charlie uses an identical coin to place a $.50 bet on the race horse, Avalanche. He of course goes on to solve a murder, but for those in the chat room the fun lies in the chatter and that lucky draw of the “current year’s” Melbourne Cup winning horse!
Around 300-400 owners pay the $600 fee to enter their horse each year. However, the final field is limited down to only 24 starter positions! To find which horses made the grade and will run in 2023 visit: https://www.racenet.com.au/melbourne-cup/horses.
Of course, only one person visiting the chat room will win (except in the case of a dead heat, which has never occurred!) Bets are first come–first serve, so whomever is first assigned the winning horse for Tuesday’s race…gets the prize! Rush will announce the evening’s chat room winner on the site’s message board, usually the next day, and contact them for an address to send this most coveted prize.
“So you gotta ask yourself a question: “Do I feel lucky?’ Well do ya, punk?” (sorry, I couldn’t resist.) Then, come join the fun and sign into the Charlie Chan Chat Room, Monday, November 6th, starting at 7:30PM EDT (chat begins), but NLT 8:15PM (film begins) to try your luck as we place our bets and view, Charlie Chan at the Race Track (1936) starring Warner Oland and Key Luke.
“How true it is that dollars going into a gambling house are like criminals led to execution”
Keeper of The Keys (1932), Chapter 12
The Postman on Holiday 
WHO will win the coveted coin this year?
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Time will tell, Rush. I’d planned on being their to try my luck, but completely forgot I’ll be taking my first stab with the band at recording a song I wrote. Darn the luck! Good luck for a full house!
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