Crowds gather at Flemington Racecourse for 163rd running

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Crowds have flocked to Flemington racecourse for the 163rd running of the Melbourne Cup today

Transcript

00:00 Last year, of course, you remember I was almost blown away doing a Mary Poppins impersonation.

00:08 And this year, well, the wind's blowing, at least there's no hail, though.

00:11 It's actually very warm down here today.

00:14 And you can see blue skies still.

00:17 Everybody is very excited that it's going in.

00:20 And we've actually, not that long ago, saw the connections of one of the favorites here.

00:26 So that was Rich from Vauban.

00:30 He's one of the Irish contenders in the field.

00:34 And so it's pretty exciting times.

00:36 It's not that long until the Melbourne Cup race itself will be run.

00:40 But what we have seen is, even before the horses took to the field, a race of a human

00:45 variety and part-- excuse the wind that's now blowing me away.

00:50 But the human variety, when the gates opened at 8.30, it was an absolute race.

00:56 And all of the punters to get to those coveted positions in the grandstand and also certainly

01:03 undercover in the bars, because there is stormy weather ahead, just to make sure that she

01:07 got a better chance at success.

01:09 This is what she had to say.

01:11 Basically, just run.

01:13 Run.

01:14 And I've got my back up here today, so I don't have to do all the hard work.

01:17 I've been doing it on my own for a long, long time.

01:19 But yes, everyone just runs.

01:22 And do you think your daughter will outpace you?

01:23 I hope so.

01:24 You've got your running shoes on at the moment.

01:27 Yes, I've learnt my lesson many times.

01:29 I've fallen up those escalators, so I've got the runners on today.

01:32 We are expecting a little bit of a storm to hit, maybe just on the big race.

01:37 That's all good.

01:38 Rain didn't hurt anyone.

01:39 Bought the brollies, so we're going to be all good.

01:42 So you've got the brollies and you're ready for all four seasons of Melbourne.

01:46 True.

01:47 Been proud Narungga woman.

01:48 I'm a saltwater mob, so bring on the rain.

01:51 Love to see the Melbourne Cup.

01:52 Iconic race.

01:54 I love to look at the fashion, so hopefully it's a great day.

02:00 So we are obviously going to be seeing people with those fashion accessories of sunscreen

02:05 and brollies as well.

02:07 And for the gents, they can wear shorts as well for the first time this year too.

02:11 And we spoke with one man who was going all out in a gold sequin jacket, Brent Adams.

02:17 He's come down from Queensland.

02:19 He says that the gold jacket will match his tip for the cup, which is gold trip.

02:24 And he says that he doesn't mind at all about those storm clouds approaching.

02:29 Gold trip wants a bit of soft ground, so it'll be a help.

02:32 So we're hoping maybe just before the race a little bit of rain will be great.

02:36 Your sequins might get a bit soggy though.

02:38 I've got to stay out of the view of the horses.

02:41 I might put them on.

02:42 Yeah, you don't want to have glare on them.

02:45 No, that's right.

02:46 So yeah, that's what we're here for.

02:48 So let's go and get into it.

02:51 So Steph, you talked about that stormy weather that's forecast.

02:54 What are the chances that it may hit in what, just under three hours time?

02:58 Yeah, so there's a 60% chance of rain.

03:03 And so that could bring with it quite heavy thunderstorms as well.

03:06 So watch this space.

03:09 And also as well, apart from that, we've got a warning about thunderstorm asthma.

03:15 There's a moderate warning for that at the moment.

03:17 So it's not just the potential storms.

03:19 It's also the chance of hay fever.

03:22 If you are prone to that, then get some antihistamines into you because it won't just be the feathers

03:27 on the fascinators tickling you and tickling your nose.

03:30 It's going to be this very high extreme levels of pollen, particularly the grass seeds out

03:36 here today.

03:37 And with the wind that's been blowing, you can see why that's the case.

03:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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