After soaring with Golden Eagle, punters to continue party with the Big Dance
After scores of young punters watched Cieren Fallon ride Lake Forest to victory in the $10 million Golden Eagle, all eyes will turn to Royal Randwick on Tuesday for The Big Dance.
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Western Sydney’s race day party at Rosehill Gardens saw scores of young punters watch on as British jockey Cieren Fallon rode Lake Forest to victory in the $10 million Golden Eagle – and now all eyes turn to Royal Randwick as the party continues on Tuesday with The Big Dance.
Saturday’s win for the four-year-old English stallion means Raiders coach Ricky Stuart’s foundation will receive a generous $525,000 donation to support people with autism and their families.
One of the features of the Golden Eagle is that each horse in the field is linked to a charity, with the charity receiving 10 per cent of the prize money.
Speaking to The Sunday Telegraph as he watched The Golden Eagle from a Canberra pub with his mates, a shocked Stuart said the win resulted in “an afternoon we’ll never forget”.
“I seriously can’t believe it,’’ Stuart said. “We’ll use this extraordinary donation wisely from NSW Racing, which I can’t praise enough for what they’ve done.”
The Australian Turf Club (ATC) said almost 10,500 spectators were at Rosehill to witness Lake Forest’s victory.
Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys said The Golden Eagle’s charitable status gave it a special touch.
“Today $1m of the $10m prize money will go to charity … we have so many good charities here from support for dementia, to the Children’s Hospital … that’s what is special to me,” he said.
Mr V’landys said The Golden Eagle had secured its place as one of the country’s wealthiest races, catching the attention of international competitors.
“It attracted one of the best fields with horses from Japan, England, and France,” he said. “Not only is it a great international event, but the charity element just adds that extra spark to it.”
The buzz around The Sydney Everest Carnival is expected to carry over to The Big Dance at Randwick on Tuesday. To qualify for the $3m race, horses have to win one of the 25 regional cups across NSW throughout the year.
ATC commercial boss Donna Forbes told The Sunday Telegraph thousands of punters had almost snapped up all of the hospitality packages for The Big Dance, with the fashion stakes focused on “spring florals”.
Ms Forbes said 25 per cent of the 20,000 people expected at Royal Randwick were expected to be flying in from Queensland and Victoria.
“(This is) the last day to enjoy the Peacock Lounge this spring, free with your general admission ticket,” she said.
Speaking about his highlight of the carnival so far, Mr V’landys admitted he was still buzzing from the world’s richest race on turf, The Everest, at Royal Randwick Racecourse.
“The atmosphere during The Everest was unbelievable,” he said. “I have never seen anything like it at a sporting event. When they sang Sweet Caroline and the gates opened ... It was the biggest crowd in Randwick for the last 50 to 60 years.”
Mr V’landys said Racing NSW had developed a team of young people to work behind the scenes to attract a younger audience to the Sydney Spring Racing Carnival, promoting the glamour of racing through TikTok and Instagram.
“They understand that demographic,” he said, championing the group behind the scenes. “We have a team here that are all under 25 – and 65 per cent of our audience at The Everest was under the age of 35.”
For best friends Georgia Bailey and Molly Banton, it would take more than rain to stop a good day at the races at Rosehill.
“We are here just to have fun and have some drinks with friends,” Ms Bailey, 23, said.
“Rain, hail or shine we will be here,” Ms Banton said.
Those who made the trip were rewarded with front-row views of the race, live music and free gelato.
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