All’s laissez-faire in love and war

Lion chief executive Stuart Irvine pours a beer in the company’s Boag’s marquee at Flemington yesterday. Picture: Stuart McEvoy

THE verdict is in: our business elite are pro-Protectionist. The horse, not the ideology.

Those punting on the Cup winner included Tabcorp’s top bookie David Attenborough, Treasury Wine Estates head sommelier Michael Clarke and BHP’s major miner, Andrew Mackenzie.

“I had to put aside my principles to back that because I’m so in favour of free markets,” said Mackenzie, who was last seen heading for the exit clutching his winnings.

Clarke, who was hosting guests in the Penfolds yurt fresh from seeing off not one but two private equity challengers, said he had decided to back Protectionist because he got the tip from two jockeys the other night. He used to live down the road from Royal Ascot, so knows a thing or two about the races.

Luckily Treasury Wine CFO Tony Reeves was on hand to make sure Clarke didn’t punt the company’s cash reserves at the Cup — but given he picked the winner maybe he should have. Reeves was backing Fawkner.

Myer’s chief cashier, Bernie Brookes, was overheard to say that rival retailer Gerry Harvey would be upset with the German horse winning.

Awkward chatter

TWO worlds collided in the Emirates marquee when disgraced medical entrepreneur Geoffrey Edelsten and his brand new fiancee, model Gabi Grecko, met Foreign Minister Julie Bishop and her partner, David ­Panton.

Under the glare of TV lights, the two couples chatted awkwardly about topics including Edelsten’s proposal, just moments previously, to Grecko.

Shortly before entering the Emirates marquee, Edelsten, resplendent in a bright yellow suit, dropped to one knee to ask Grecko, wearing a clown-covered corset, a feather headpiece and skirt and body paint, for her hand in marriage.

As cameras clicked, Edelsten presented his much younger bride to be with a gigantic ring festooned with a giant clear rock that appeared to be diamond.

“She said yes,” Edelsten told Margin Call.

No trouble for Edelsten

STILL half-blinded by the glittering engagement rock, Margin Call asked Edelsten if he expected trouble from his American creditors, who have pursued the former doctor into bankruptcy after they fell out over, among other things, a fashion label favoured by his former wife, Brynne, called House of Nurielle, a luxury jet and two slum apartment complexes.

“Not at all,” Edelsten said.

He said creditors had accepted a compromise and he expected to be discharged from the US bankruptcy within the month.

Seeker of the ring

LATER on, the ring fell off Grecko’s finger. Edelsten had to hunt it up, getting on his hands and knees to look for the sparkler under the Emirates couches.

Finding Olivia

UNION heavyweight turned KPMG consultant Paul Howes was on the Emirates balcony looking for his wife, Olivia Wirth, who does more spin for Qantas than the propellers on a Dash 8.

“She’s wearing a beautiful hat,” he told Margin Call.

The pair were backing up from Derby Day, where they’d been hanging out in the Lexus marquee with human ponytail Neil Perry and tan man Richard Wilkins.

Dunlop takes off

IF Red Cadeaux trainer Ed Dunlop meant what he said, he’s already left the country.

The nine-year-old British gelding had come second twice, and Dunlop, relaxing in the Tabcorp pavilion, was hoping for a win this year. Red Cadeaux’s fourth stab at the trophy had “never been done with a European horse”, Dunlop told Margin Call.

“It probably never will be again,” he said. “History says we won’t (win) but we’re trying to break history. And I’m on a plane tonight — unless we win.”

The horse came second, once again.

But at least it will be going home, unlike Japanese favourite Admire Rakti, which ran last and promptly dropped dead.

Ahead of the game

ALSO a guest of gambling giant Tabcorp was the man who used to crunch numbers for mortal enemy Tattersalls, Ray Gunston.

Gunston, who was until recently helping to clean up the mess at scandal-plagued AFL team Essendon as interim chief executive, is the dad of Hawthorn forward Jack and sits on the boards of Sigma Pharmaceuticals and Hotel Property Investments.

HPI, which floated in December, owns about 50 pubs and ­bottle-os leased to Coles.

“We beat the prospectus forecast, which is always nice,” Gunston said.

Brother backs third

YOU are now passing another Fox: billionaire trucking magnate Lindsay Fox, who was inspecting the vintage James Boag’s delivery truck plonked outside the faux brick wigwam belonging to the beer brand’s owner, Japanese drinks group Lion.

Fox, who collects elderly cars, was sticking his head in the passenger side window.

Asked who he liked in the Cup he shrugged his shoulders and said “ask my brother”.

His brother was backing Who Shot The Barman, which came in third.

Warnie’s rare moment

ALSO spotted mooching around the Birdcage: Crown CEO Rowen Craigie, who was miles away from the gambling den’s haven for high-rollers, up the other end of the course; maverick Victorian state MP Geoff Shaw; and spin king Shane Warne, who was momentarily left behind by the cameraman who was following him around.

Irvine reigns and pours

LION boss Stuart Irvine was having way too much fun, slipping behind the Boag’s bar to pull a pint. He was backing Irish horse My Ambivalent in an each-way bet because he argued the Irish can be a bit wild and could go either way at the finish line.

Local Diageo head Tim Salt was the host with the most in the Johnnie Walker teepee, one of the most popular marquees, and he wowed the crowd by free pouring a bottle of Johnnie Walker without spilling a drop.

Naturally, he was backing Don’t Shoot The Barman.

A lesson for Navitas

NOT only is the Melbourne Cup the race that stops a nation — it also stops AGM season, as education group Navitas found out the hard way.

It was forced to bring forward its annual general meeting by a couple of hours to avoid a clash with the great race.

When the initial notice of meeting went out in early September, the scheduled time would have had the shareholder Q&A kicking off just as the horses moved into the starting gate.

Realising that the appeal of voting on the remuneration report probably didn’t compare to the excitement of the Cup, Navitas shifted the meeting to an earlier timeslot.

Navitas chief and founder Rod Jones said a clash had never even occurred to him when the meeting was originally scheduled.

Judging by his comments, despite making a fortune from Navitas he hasn’t followed the well-worn path of the business elite and proceeded to blow a portion of his fortune on the nags.

“I know that one end of the horse is the head and the other is the tail, that’s about it,” he said.

Telstra’s top tipster

TELSTRA’S cost-cutting king Robert Nason has one of the hardest jobs at the telco giant, but Melbourne Cup day is a particularly stressful time of the year for the former Tabcorp executive and Racing Victoria CEO.

That’s because it’s the one time of the year he’s bombarded with requests for his top picks in the big race.

He told a bunch of Telstra execs at a strategy meeting back in August that Signoff was going to win this year. Nason got on at 34-1 at the time. Yesterday, Signoff finished fourth.

Let’s hope Telstra boss David Thodey didn’t bet the house on that one.