In the spirit of Melbourne Cup week, Zardozi steers towards victory in Victorian Racing Club Oaks

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Leading jockey James McDonald has scored another Melbourne Cup week win... steering Zardozi to victory... in the V-R-C Oaks. Close to 47-thousand racegoers turned out to Flemington... for the penultimate day on Melbourne's spring racing calendar.

Transcript

00:00 On Oakes Day, imagination runs wild.

00:06 I've got a chiropractor's appointment with General Oakes, so all good.

00:10 And a champagne really helps.

00:12 Richie Rich believes he's best dressed, but the fashion show judges beg to differ.

00:18 I got piffed at the post.

00:20 What happened?

00:21 But every day's a winner.

00:22 Yeah.

00:23 I'm a ledge.

00:24 Racing fashion is changing, and competition is now gender neutral.

00:29 Fashion knows no bounds.

00:30 It shouldn't be limited by your gender identity.

00:33 It's about the clothes, it's about the garments.

00:35 Crowd numbers today for Oakes Day are set to be almost identical to last year,

00:39 but Cup Day this year was bigger than last year,

00:42 and organisers expect there to be a small uptick in total attendance

00:46 across the four main race days.

00:48 The Cup Day crowd was our largest since 2017, that 84,000 mark.

00:53 And if we get around about 60,000 people on our last day,

00:57 that'll take us over 260,000 people in four days.

01:00 While everyone's budget is being constrained about the cost of living,

01:03 I think this is one thing that people are willing to spend on.

01:06 I'd rather spend more on this day than the Melbourne Cup Day.

01:09 I think the weather was a lot better this year.

01:11 Last year was freezing cold.

01:13 Cup Week crowds, though, have diminished over time.

01:17 70,000 more turned out just a decade ago.

01:21 [BLANK_AUDIO]

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