Key posts
Some tips for Derby Day
Mahrajaan out of the Melbourne Cup
Chris Waller looks likely to have a quarter of the Melbourne Cup field on Tuesday after racing Victoria vets pulled Kiwi galloper Mahrajaan out of the race on Saturday morning.
Racing Victoria stewards announced in the lead-up to Derby Day at Flemington that Mahrajaan had failed a compulsory CT scan.
Vets ruled it was at “heightened risk of injury” if it took its place in the group 1 3200-metre staying test on Tuesday.
Mahrajaan.Credit: Getty Images
Mahrajaan, trained by Kiwi duo Shaune Ritchie and Colm Murray, won this year’s group 2 Auckland Cup but finished 13th of 15 in the group 2 Herbert Power last month.
The scratching elevates Waller’s Manzoice into the top 24, should he choose to start when final acceptances close at 4.30pm on Saturday.
Waller already has Buckaroo, Land Legend, Kovalica, Valiant King and Saint George entered in the Cup.
He also has the next two horses in the order of entry – UK import Kenesiology and Francesco Guardi.
Three other horses were withdrawn from the field this week after failing strict Racing Victoria scans – Aidan O’Brien’s Jan Brueghel and the Trent Busuttin-Nat Young-trained pair Muramasa and Brayden Star.
Behind the seams
I’ve been covering the races for a decade, and I think this is the first time I have taken note of the uniforms worn by the marquee staff.
Under the watchful eye of design director Brahman Perera, Lexus has opted for two Australian designers to dress the hosts and hospitality staff.
Interior Designer of the Lexus marquee Brahman Perera wth staff wearing Henne uniforms on Derby Day at Flemington.Credit: Penny Stephens
Rebecca Vallance, who recently launched a collection with hotel heiress and designer Nicky Hilton Rothschild (who will be a guest at the Melbourne Cup on Tuesday), will be worn by the marquee hostesses, while the hospitality staff will wear Henne, the brand co-owned by Nadia Bartel.
Perera, who is wearing a spin on the Henne look for Derby Day, says the uniforms were a key part of the overall look and feel of this year’s marquee, as opposed to an afterthought.
“It was important we considered every aspect as part of the interior vision,” he says.
The Birdcage gets underway
With a scandal over airline upgrades and private lounge memberships, expect to see fewer politicians running the gauntlet of public opprobrium to attend what many regard as their political birthright, the invite-only members enclave at Flemington known as the Birdcage.
Add to that the fact that Melbourne Cup coincides with a parliamentary sitting week, making today’s Derby Day and next Saturday’s Stakes Day their only chance to make merry on someone else’s corporate marketing account.
Eddie McGuire.Credit: Nine
And the Tabcorp marquee, long the favourite of MPs, has banned politicians this year, until its own naming rights Tabcorp Stakes Day. We will monitor to see if any gatecrash.
Political creatures will be found in Furphy marquee, closest to the track, hosted by the beer brand’s owner, giant multinational Lion. While the glamour creatures vie to get into massive Landmark by Lexus marquee, front and centre of the Birdcage as only a naming rights sponsor can obtain.
It has several of the brand’s cars front and centre to greet guests, as well as a grand piano, and inside a fully catered restaurant with billowing white drapes designed by interior designer Brahman Perera.
Crown’s three story marquee will serve guests mini spanner crab sandwiches by chef Guillaume Brahimi, while South Yarra hairdresser Joey Scandizzo will operate a hair saloon for emergency touch ups. We intend to take full advantage.
Red-and-white champagne house G.H. Mumm has recreated the interior of a private jet inside its marquee, where luxury butcher Victor Churchill serving wagyu beef
steak frites after the champagne house sacked Reine & La Rue following restaurateur Alan Yazbek’s charge for displaying a Nazi symbol at a pro-Palestine.
Penfolds, which overlooks the parade ring and will favour selected guests with pours of Grange, with turn up the entertainment from DJ Yo! Mafia ”ya mum’s favourite DJ” and smoothie singer Mike Snell.
OUT: Not hosting a corporate marquee this year are Schweppes, which hosted a fun vibe marquee complete with bubble machine after just one carnival, and racing stalwart Herald Sun, who are the print media VRC partners, and have made more lower key hospitality arrangements away from the Birdcage.
IN: New broadcast partner Nine, with a two story edifice, complete with Melbourne sporting media Eddie McGuire and a gallery of famed historic photos of the carnival from the Age’s famed photographic archive.
Influencers, reporters and assorted fame junkies will eagerly await unexpected celebrity arrival, hoping it matches the Nicole Kidman Derby Day appearance in 2012, where she replicated the iconic black and white racewear of Audrey Hepburn as Eliza Doolittle in My Fair Lady.
Fingers crossed for something matching Matt Damon’s surprise appearance last year in the Lexus Pavilion via a helicopter, masterminded by his good friend, KIIS and now Nova breakfast announcer Lauren Philips.
Keep your eyes peeled.
The horses that will win the Derby and Coolmore sprint
By Danny Russell and Tim Habel
A master trainer of his generation, Chris Waller is out to stamp an unprecedented dominance on the Coolmore Stud Stakes at Flemington by winning the $2 million sprint for the sixth time across 12 years.
Waller believes he has the colt, Switzerland, to deliver him a neat half dozen.
The Chris Waller-trained Switzerland is one of the favourites for the group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes.Credit: Getty Images
The Sydney-based trainer first won the group 1 Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) in 2013 with Zoustar and followed it up with Brazen Beau (2014), Japonisme (2015), September Run (2020) and Home Affairs (2021).
Fresh off Via Sistina’s Cox Plate blitz, Waller told a crowded media conference on Friday that the $1.5 million Coolmore-owned colt Switzerland had come to Melbourne in “really good form”.
“He trialled up the straight last Friday, which is always a good guide for us,” Waller said. “James McDonald was aboard, and he had a smile from ear to ear.”
A gold rush
WAGS could be outnumbered in the Birdcage this year as our Olympic and Paralympic heroes put down their medals and prepare to pick up a glass of chilled champagne.
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Ariarne Titmus leads the charge out of the pool and into the Melbourne Cup carnival.
Michelle Payne, Ariarne Titmus and Jamie Kah launch the Melbourne Cup Carnival.Credit: Eddie Jim
“I have shared in the ownership of some beautiful racehorses and have seen firsthand the love that people who work in racing have for these incredible animals,” Titmus said.
“I’m thrilled to be a part of the family again as a 2024 Melbourne Cup Carnival Ambassador.”
For new VRC chief executive Kylie Rogers, the sporting gold dust adds welcome sparkle to the event.
“It’s fantastic to once again host a number of Olympians and Paralympians who inspired the nation, including our queen of the pool Ariarne Titmus, gold medal superstar Jessica Fox and equestrian legends Shane Rose and Emma Booth,” Rogers said.
“We know our sports stars are passionate about high-performance sport, and they love watching the world’s best equine athletes and jockeys compete over four great days of racing. We also know racegoers love the chance to meet and mingle with their sporting heroes and Australian sporting icons.”
The mingling comes easily to our most decorated Olympian Emma McKeon, but the traditional hats of Derby Day are a bigger challenge.
“I’m much more comfortable in a swimming cap,” she says.
In pictures: Our Derby Day gallery
Our photographers are already out and about as Derby Day begins in bright sunshine at Flemington.
Click here to see the gallery.
Racegoers arrive for Penfolds Victoria Derby Day at the Flemington racecourse.Credit: Eddie Jim
Some tips for Derby Day
Good morning, racing fans
G’day everyone. I’m Roy Ward and welcome to our Derby Day live blog as the Melbourne Cup carnival officially gets underway with VRC Derby Day in beautiful conditions at Flemington.
We will have all the fashion and race results from the day plus tonight’s Melbourne Cup barrier draw ahead of Tuesday’s race that stops the nation.
Please enjoy the hours to come.
