Officials ‘really focussed’ on being able to stage Melbourne Cup

PA Sport Reporters
April 2, 2020 12:51 pm

Big race could still go ahead behind closed doors if needed.

Officials at the Victoria Racing Club remain hopeful of staging this year’s Melbourne Cup.

The ‘race that stops a nation’ is due to be held on the first Saturday in November, although like many other sports, racing around the world is being significantly disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Racing in Australia is no different, but unlike Britain and Europe, it is still taking place behind closed doors

Neil Wilson, chief executive of the VRC, told Racing.com: “I think our worst outcome would be not running it at all. We have done a little bit of planning for that, but we’re really focused on running an event and if it’s behind closed doors then it will be behind closed doors.

“But we are really focused on having an event because we think we can surround the event in a digital way to give it as much presence as we possibly can. And let’s not forget it has a global reach of over 750 million people and those people don’t attend anyway.

“We are working on the basis that we expect to have a (spring) carnival. That’s what we are working on, subject to the current COVID-19 situation making that not possible, we will have a carnival.

“We are absolutely focused on trying to have the first Tuesday of November being the Melbourne Cup this year.”