A testosterone fuelled Derby Day launch luncheon left Gerard Whateley wanting more

Gerard Whateley has lamented the lack of reality stars and “godforsaken influencers” at a Derby Day launch event, but should be careful what he wishes for.

Model Bambi Northwood-Blyth gets ready for Derby Day. Picture: Kate and Co

“How we longed for the sight of men dressed as nuns on the front lawn, or some borderline Hollywood celebrity or reality TV star pointing around the Birdcage, we would have even settled for one of those godforsaken influencers in fascinators.”

Fighting words from Gerard Whateley opening the Derby Day Eve annual Carbine Club luncheon with 260 odd punters and a whole lot of testosterone in the room at Crown’s Palladium on Friday.

One premiership player, okay it was Campbell Brown, described the room to Page 13 as BDE (look it up). Whateley will get what he was longing for with guests galloping to the Birdcage menagerie after a two year hiatus.

Influencer Rozalia Russian in the Lexus marquee. Picture: Jake Nowakowski.

Influencer Rozalia Russian says she is “pumped” to attend the upgraded Landmark by Lexus marquee alongside Chris Hemsworth’s wife Elsa Pataky on Saturday.

Model Bambi Northwood Blyth will be all legs in Penfolds alongside Grand Final hero Joel Selwood while the TAB marquee, usually the home of federal pollies and sporting heroes will have Michael Clarke and Brian Lara attending throughout the carnival.

Ann Peacock’s winning story on Phar Lap Cup ‘vase’

Melbourne’s unofficial mayor, Ann Peacock, was on a winner when she regaled the audience at the Carbine Club’s Derby Eve lunch with the story of how her mother kept roses in Phar Lap’s missing Melbourne Cup.

The Melbourne Cup mystery started with Phar Lap’s 1930 trophy being returned to the Victoria Racing Club before being recycled in 1953 when Wodalla won the great race.

“The VRC was a little bit short of money,” Peacock told Gerard Whateley at yesterday’s lunch.

“I’m trying to be polite here, Neil,” she said with a nod towards VRC chairman Neil Wilson.

“They said they had another gold Cup in the cupboard but didn’t realise it was Phar Lap’s cup.”

Lady Susan Renouf (then Sangster) in 1980 with the trophy won by Beldale Ball.

When Robert Sangster won with Beldale Ball in 1980, the Phar Lap Cup was recycled for the second time.

Ann Peacock’s mother, who was married to Sangster, later used it to hold the roses from her Toorak garden.

Phar Lap’s whereabouts have been as big a mystery.

The Melbourne Museum owns his hide. Te Papa Museum in New Zealand owns his skeleton and the National Museum of Australia in Canberra has his heart.

Lady Renouf, as she was to become, took the 1980 Melbourne Cup home with her, where it became the world’s most expensive rose vase.

What fabulous fun but it was. The Sangsters and it seemed everyone else drank champagne from the cup at Flemington and then later, much later at dinner and a grand party at famous Melbourne restaurant, Maxim’s.

Phar Lap’s win in the 1930 Melbourne Cup during the Great Depression enshrined Big Red in racing folklore.

Sacred Oath run brings back memories of Warnie

Shane Warne didn’t mind a wander and flutter in the Birdcage over the Flemington carnival and fittingly the last horse he owned will be running next week.

While it won’t be at Headquarters, Sacred Oath will be going around Ipswich in Warnie’s honour on Oaks Day.

Other prominent owners include Hawthorn premiership player Campbell Brown, Channel 7 host Hamish McLachlan and actor Shane Jacobson.

The late Shane Warne in the Emirates marquee on Melbourne Cup Day in 2014.

It was a game of poker that had sowed the seeds for Warne to join the ownership of Sacred Oath with his mate Brown.

The David Vandyke trained four-year-old gelding has had one win from four career starts.

Sacred Oath made national headlines back in March when in its first race following Warnie’s tragic death the jockey was sensationally dumped after another horse forced it into the running rail.

What made it even more eerie was Sacred Oath had taken 23 strides in the race before the incident. The relevance? 23 was Warnie’s favourite number.

What Herald Sun curse?

Steer clear of wearing green, it’s bad luck. Grey horses for muddy courses. Don’t let a mate buy your race form. Don’t cash your winnings until the end of the day. And whatever you do avoid the early crow.

The racetrack is full of omens and superstitions.

But perhaps the silliest, supposedly down to radio king Ross Stevenson, is the so-called “model” curse.

Stevenson told That’s Racing with Hamish McLachlan this week to “scrap the snap” where models photographed with horses lead to a poor performance.

Nevertheless, Stevenson put up his own horse, the Danny O’Brien-trained Wyclif, to be photographed with a model because at a $151 chance in Saturday’s Lexus Archer Stakes it has Buckley’s of winning.

The VRC begs to differ, saying Stevenson’s curse has it all wrong.

The Herald Sun is in fierce agreement, noting Mr Maestro’s performance since being photographed for the paper on October 1.

The colt has since won the Super Impose Stakes and the Norman Robinson Stakes and is now a leading chance in the Penfolds Victoria Derby.

Page 13 decided to take Stevenson up on his offer, picturing Wyclif with this year’s Myer Fashions on the Field host Bree Laughlin on Friday, (because, well, you just never know).

Laughlin will host the first best-dressed and best-suited categories in The Park enclosure, with the top three going through to the grand final on Kennedy Oaks Day.

Laughlin will have partner and professional golfer Geoff Ogilvy with her at the carnival and, yes, she will have a small flutter on Wyclif to “reverse the curse”.