Gai Waterhouse celebrates with Damien Oliver. THE Melbourne Cup was accused on Twitter yesterday of being cruel to animals - but it seemed that many were watching the race anyway. There were 25,400 tweets about the race over the day, with the top tweet being TAB's congratulations to the victors. Tweets from JustHorseRacing, which provided racing news, results, tips and odds, were trending throughout the day. Another popular tweet, from @ausgrid, announced that electricity usage had dropped significantly at 3pm, suggesting that many looked away from their Twitter feeds to watch the action. In further evidence that the nation was busy watching, the number of tweets posted across Australia did not spike until after the race, rising from 3600 at 3pm to 4100 at 3.05pm. But accusations of animal abuse continued, with hundreds condemning the race after the French horse Verema was put down when it broke its leg at around the 2000 metre mark of the race. The most retweeted image was another play on the phrase "the race that stops the nation," displayed on a sign outside Gosford Anglican Church in New South Wales. Politicians, meanwhile, harnessed the celebratory mood, with Victorian Premier Denis Napthine spelling out some extra reasons to support the Cup. Tony Abbott was in the winning camp again almost two months to the day after his election victory, announcing early on that he was tipping Gai Waterhouse's horse. Lord Mayor of Melbourne Robert Doyle was less successful, tipping a horse that was to come 12th (and later echoing much of the country with the exclamation, "where's my money gone??"). New Zealand's Prime Minister John Key was almost there, splitting his bet between two horses. But Labor MP Andrew Leigh was more interested in a political analogy, sharing Greg Combet's speech from last year, in which he compared the Liberal leadership to the horse race. Source: Palantir Torch