Melbourne Cup revellers still go the social distance
COVID-19 may have scuppered race day plans at Flemington, but that won’t stop the city’s top social circles from raising a toast.
Premier Dan Andrews’initial COVID-safe limits have pushed several in the hospitality sector to make plans outdoors, including Crown Resorts, quite the change from the dark depths of its usual gaming floors.
While the focus remains on progress at Crown’s $4.4bn Barangaroo development (with the clock ticking on the Sydney casino’s slated December 14 opening date), socially distanced revellers are set to fill its rooftop Aviary bar and new smaller “riverside activation” dubbed Petanque Social in Melbourne.
After a grilling before Patricia Bergin’scasino inquiry, we hear the group’s executives will be laying low for Cup Day, leaving the socialising at the new “St Tropez-inspired” space to the city’s influencer talent, the likes of Bec Judd and Nadia Bartel, among others.
Meanwhile, down the road in St Kilda, word is Heloise Pratt and crooner boyfriend Jon Stevens will be making an appearance at the new venue of local hospitality king Bruce Keebaugh — who swaps his trademark flair at the Birdcage for his new outdoor site, The Commons.
No word, though, on how brother Anthony Pratt or sister Fiona Geminder will be celebrating, though we hope the famed socks with Pratt’s own face on them make another appearance.
It will be a marked change for Keebaugh and partner Chyka (better known for her appearance on Real Housewives of Melbourne), whose hospitality empire in The Big Group has been the catering and design powerhouse behind the Birdcage and similar members events for the past 20 years.
Instead, this year they will be hosting only 70 guests — 50 in the garden and 10 each in two indoor rooms — so here’s hoping the weather man’s right with his forecast of a mostly sunny day with a maximum of 29C.
While the stands of Flemington remain empty, a rare few have been granted trackside access as Network 10 and hosts Gorgi Coghlan and Stephen Quartermain attempt to beam the excitement into the country’s living rooms.
Victoria Racing Club chairman Amanda Elliott will be on hand to present the Melbourne Cup itself, alongside most of the VRC board who will doll out the rest of the trophies across the race day.
Naming sponsor Lexus, meanwhile, will be decidedly more low-key — directing its attention to its virtual hub set to “electrify your senses”.
Blue-blood battles
When it comes to the race itself, there’s plenty of blue blood in the line-up, including the likes of Dubai royalty Sheik Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum.
The sheik’s Godolphin Stables will be looking to snag its second Melbourne Cup in three years after the 2018 victory of Cross Counter, hoping that the racing royalty in Bart Cummings’ grandson James as trainer of Avilius will make for a winning team. Adding to Avilius’s top pedigree is the junior Cummings’ marriage to billionaire Philippines racing identity Eduardo Cojuangco’sgranddaughter Monica Berrera.
Across the rest of the field, rich-lister and original Crown casino founder Lloyd Williams will be looking for a win from any of his three entries — Master of Reality, Twilight Payment or King of Leogrance.
The usually quiet owner, said by some to be one of the most successful in Melbourne Cup history, usually prefers to stay away from the action at Flemington, so the conditions this year no doubt will suit him perfectly.
Reece plumbing heir Bruce Wilson will be looking for a win with Persan, alongside fellow owners Paul and Robert McClure, while Kiwi multi-millionaire Sir Owen Glenn will be rooting for his Dashing Willoughby.
Holgate signs off
It has taken a while, but it appears Australia Post boss Christine Holgate has finally read the room.
Handing in her resignation on Monday, with immediate effect, Holgate admitted the gifting of Cartier watches to the national postal services’ top ranks “didn’t pass the pub test for many”.
But it wasn’t all conciliatory. While Holgate said she regretted that the decision to reward execs had “caused so much debate and distraction”, she said she “still believed firmly” that those staff deserved recognition.
Still, those in Holgate’s camp — a growing brood if last week’s defence from former deputy PM Julie Bishop or long-time mentor Marcus Blackmore is any indication — maintain the postal service had no means to stand her down.
AustralianSuper’s Ian Silk also came to her defence last week — coincidentally, it was his fund that last year became the default super account for AusPost’s 50,000 workforce.
With her exit from the top job, a bigger question now looms — the fate of the infamous POSTY1 personalised plates.
Sydney northern beaches locals reportedly have spotted Holgate’s electric blue Range Rover — said to be a gift from Downer director husband Michael Harding — in the area without the flashy plates, but whether she has cashed them in is a whole other question.
Margin Call would like to think she’s keeping them reserved for her successor — though they might not be of much use to current acting chief Rodney Boys.
The company’s CFO, who’s elevation to the top job has very much been a case of right place, right time, is said to be quite the opposite when it comes to matters of money. While Holgate faces a probe on her luxury hotel stays and chauffeur rides, word is Boys prefers a simpler life, most days making his commute to the group’s Bourke Street headquarters via tram and leaving his assigned car space empty.
Holgate is the second to leave Australia Post amid scrutiny on pay — let us not forget her predecessor Ahmed Fahour — so here’s hoping the next boss can take Boys’ thrifty lead.
Toorak on sale
The end of Melbourne’s long COVID-19 lockdown has afforded plenty of time and space for Melbourne’s wealthy to consider their financial futures.
Recent days have seen a rash of expensive residential real estate hit the market in downtown Toorak as homeowners start re-engineering their portfolios.
Millionaire property developer and one-time Carlton Football Club director Colin Delutis, who has investments across the city and Mornington Peninsula, is looking for a buyer of his $20m-plus mansion set on the suburb’s prestigious Clendon Road.
The six-bedroom home on 2360sq m is directly opposite the Myer family’s historic Cranlana home and just a couple doors up from millionaire Paul Little and investment banker wife Jane Hansen’s Coonac.
Delutis, who is a great mate of Collingwood Football Club president and Nine talent Eddie McGuire, paid $7.8m for the home in 2018 to businessman Sam Hayward and now wants $18.5m-$20.35m for the 1926 pile.
Interestingly, the 65-year-old Delutis remortgaged the home to one of his own many corporate vehicles, Strongvault Pty Ltd, last month. It appears the home is an idle asset for Delutis, who lives a few doors up the road in another mansion that he paid $11.5m for in 2013.
We guess that’s what you call a champagne problem.
Cup fans go the social distance
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