The Victorian Racing Club is confident that owners will be allowed on course during the four day Melbourne Cup Carnival after Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews announced some easing of restrictions on Sunday.
“I think there’ll be some connections [for the Melbourne Cup], some from an employment point of view, but I have no announcement to make, the Racing Minister [Martin Pakula] will have something to say about that soon,’’ Andrews said.
There has been no announcement as to how many patrons will be allowed on course but it is likely to be in the hundreds not thousands with discussions between clubs, Racing Victoria and the State Government ongoing.
VRC CEO Neil Wilson has previously said the club submitted a proposal to have 10,000 people including staff on course, for each of the 4 days of the Melbourne Cup Carnival however that is unlikely with a number closer to 1,000 more probable.
“We’ve got 127 hectares, lots of space, three grandstands, lots of areas to put people,” Wilson said.
“We can manage those in different COVID requirements, density requirements of 2m-4m, caps of 300-500 per venue. We have mapped all of that out.
“We are ready to go.”