Victoria Racing Club chairman Amanda Elliott made a swipe at Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys during a press conference in which she announced that the Melbourne Cup would now carry a prize pool of $8 million.
During her press conference the VRC Chairman Amanda Elliott took a swipe at Racing NSW chief executive Peter V’landys, calling him “a silly little man making silly decisions” over the introduction of big money races in Sydney which clash with the Melbourne spring carnival.
Racing NSW has announced the introduction of big money races that coincide with Melbourne’s feature carnival including the $14m Everest and the $7.5m Golden Eagle.
“It is in no way a reaction,” Elliott said.
“That was ratified at a board meeting a month ago but we’ve been thinking about that, we actually thought about it last year as well.
“But we then thought, ‘why wouldn’t we make that announcement in the 100th year of the beautiful Melbourne Cup trophy? So that’s been on the cards for a long time.”
This year is the 159th Cup and marks the 100th anniversary of the three-handled Cup design.
The Melbourne Cup is the richest handicap in the world and the richest staying race.
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