Billionaires, rock stars, business leaders, actors and politicians loosen the reins
Well, the Melbourne Cup can be fun after all! Even without Gillon McLachlan.
The Tabcorp boss had already put his stamp on this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival by banning politicians – and (horror!) journalists – from the Tabcorp marquee.
But even he seemed to lighten up on Tuesday when the sun shone at Flemington and racegoers enjoyed a big day out in the warm conditions.
The lesser spotted McLachlan (who we know won’t read this anyway) was seen everywhere on track, and probably – given his role as a bookie these days – would have enjoyed the 81 to 1 outsider Knight’s Choice winning the big race.
We saw McLachlan early on in the day in the mounting yard, and then he actually strolled down to the Bird Cage, to the fortress otherwise known as the Tabcorp marquee. Later on he was also seen in the Committee Room.
Otherwise, there really was no bad news for the Melbourne Cup as the Reserve Bank kept interest rates on hold, the bookies made good after race favourites failed to deliver, and Melbourne put on a perfect day for the races. Forget cost of living pressures. We had ageing rock stars, ageing billionaires (and some young ones), ageing models and ageing movie stars. Who said racing isn’t an old person’s game!
But it was a lot of fun all the same.
Sir Bob Geldof was the starring attraction of the event, chatting affably to the punters at Crown’s marquee as its other guests flocked around for selfies, with Elizabeth Hurley bringing a touch of class to Flemington on her return to the races with son Damian. Billionaire Adrian Portelli – one of the youngest people in the Bird Cage, who surely needed an ID check – returned for his second visit to the track in a week, this time spotted at GH Mumm, along with online TV salesman Ruslan Kogan and his wife Anastasia.
Not a single federal politician in sight through the day, with none seemingly having chosen to defy the orders of the party whips to not attend the Cup during a sitting week – a decision that caused more than a little irritation across party lines among Victorian MPs and senators.
But so certain were the orders that Margin Call hears that most of the major sponsors didn’t even bother to issue invitations to federal pollies, knowing the temptation would need to be refused.
No such edict applied to state MPs, however, with Victorian Liberal and former tennis player Sam Groth – and mooted leadership contender – doing the rounds of Crown’s pavilion, which also hosted Victorian Labor MP Luba Grigorovitch and husband Ben Gray, founder of BGH Capital.
Also spotted chatting in Crown were former boss Ciaran Carruthers and Crown Melbourne boss Mike Volkert, no doubt reminiscing about a tough couple of shared years at the casino company.
Carruthers only stepped down as Crown chief executive in August after a punishing couple of years rehabilitating the casino group’s corporate reputation after two royal commissions found the group had breached anti-money-laundering laws. He was replaced by David Tsai, whose first public appearance since his permanent appointment to the top job came at Saturday’s Derby Day. Superstar chef Guillaume Brahimi was also in attendance, spotting celebrities with us and – he said – if the going got tough, he could always hide out the back in the kitchen. That’s where he does his best work!
At Furphy, Lion Australia boss James Brindley even took a turn playing doorman as the brewer hosted its biggest customers and special guests. Billionaire Heloise Pratt and her billionaire sister Fiona Geminder returned to the Lion-run pavilion, where AFL chief executive Andrew Dillon led the line for the footballing world, along with Hawthorn president Andy Gowers and St Kilda coach Ross Lyon.
Lyon also took a trip into the mounting yard, alongside Nick Williams – son of Melbourne property developer Lloyd Williams, long a major figure in thoroughbred racing, who sadly didn’t have a runner in the Cup this year.
BHP corporate affairs boss James Agar was far from the highest-profile guest at the Lexus marquee, but as the former global procurement chieftain at the mining major he was probably the company’s biggest customer. BHP wouldn’t buy a lot of Lexus cars, to be fair, but is a massive buyer of utes and four-wheel drives from parent company Toyota.
Otherwise, Tom Waterhouse was holding court with several young punting identities in the mounting yard just before the big race, after putting in an appearance with wife Hoda at GM Humm.
His training legend mother Gai Waterhouse was also there in the thick of the racing action, of course, and we spotted her in the mounting yard with billionaire Richard Smith of PFD Foods game.
Caravan king Gerry Ryan was also seen around the traps, as was Tabcorp director and former rugby league and soccer boss David Gallop, looking resplendent in his morning suit.
It was a good day for Gallop and his gang, who got a respite – like the rest of the country – from their troubles, including a sagging share price. But that was a matter for another day.
Melbourne didn’t have all the fun. Spotted at Randwick was former Nine boss Mike Sneesby, enjoying the day after lying low since exiting the embattled media company.
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