Glammed-up punters trade fascinators for face masks at Flemington for Derby Day in Melbourne

Thousands of punters have flocked to the races for Melbourne’s Derby Day and Sydney’s Golden Eagle.

Glamorous punters matched fascinators with face masks at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday, with a capped Covid-safe crowd of 5,500 spectators in Victoria to mark the start of the four-day Melbourne Cup carnival.

The main event on the program is the Group One Victoria Derby over 2500 metres at 3.45pm, with jockey Jye McNeil riding the $5 favourite Gunstock.

In Sydney, there is plenty of buzz surrounding the Golden Eagle, where up to 10,000 double-vaccinated spectators are tipped to flock to Rosehill  Gardens in Sydney’s west. 

Exclusively set aside for four-year-old horses, the Golden Eagle is Australia’s third richest race, with the event boasting a total prize pool of $7.5 million.

Racing hasn’t missed a beat during the pandemic, but there have been close calls that could have easily shut down the sport when its audience is traditionally at its highest.

As one of Australia’s best jockeys found out the hard way, protocol breaches have been dealt with in a swift and harsh manner.

Victoria’s champion rider Jamie Kah was banned for the spring carnival and beyond for her part in a COVID-19 breach that also led to the suspension of four other jockeys.

NSW authorities have also handed out punishment to offending trainers and jockeys.

But as racing is learning to live with COVID-19, there is also an industry acceptance it can no longer tolerate animal welfare issues on the same level it once did.

Melbourne Cup deaths have left a stain on Australia’s greatest race, leading to a Racing Victoria review after the demise of Irish horse Anthony Van Dyck in 2020.

The review made 44 recommendations of which 41 have been adopted, including mandatory CT scans for the 60 horses left chasing Melbourne Cup glory after the latest acceptance stage.

Horses have to be scanned no later than five days before the Cup and the process will complement independent veterinary analysis in the countdown to the $8 million race.

It has come at a cost to the race’s international representation, with overseas entries well down. 

But racing fans such as Victoria’s sport minister Martin Pakula say it is a small price to pay.

‘There are lots and lots of people who for 364 days of the year don’t watch racing but the one race they watch is the Melbourne Cup,’ he told industry-backed network Racing.com.

‘Anything that happens in the Melbourne Cup is going to be absolutely magnified.

‘So for those who are badly motivated towards racing, it’s magnetic. It gives them an example of why the industry should lose its social licence.

‘For those of us who are custodians of the industry … we’ve got to ensure the Melbourne Cup is viewed in the best light.’

Pakula is convinced the beefed up protocols create a win-win for the Cup: more Australian-trained horses getting a start and additional confidence surrounding the well-being of the internationals.

‘If you’ve got greater assurance that the horses coming out from the UK and Ireland and elsewhere are sound and they’re less likely to break down, that’s got to be a good thing for the Cup,’ he said.

‘We’ve had a particular problem with international runners in the Melbourne Cup and I think RV were absolutely right to want to do something about that.’ 

The Melbourne Cup is the centrepiece of the Flemington carnival and while it has always been a race that has stopped a nation, this year it will be one where an industry will hold its breath.