Thousands crowd Melbourne’s Flemington racecourse ahead of the Melbourne Cup

More than 90-thousand people are expected at Flemington racecourse, to witness the 164th running of the Melbourne Cup.

Transcript

00:00It's buzzing here at Flemington. 90,000 people expected, as you said. Lots of people here

00:08early but still a very steady stream of race goers coming in this afternoon. The main race

00:14of course isn't until three o'clock and following that off the track for anyone not too keen

00:19on the horses, Sophie Ellis-Bexter is performing as well. So something for everyone here at

00:24Flemington. It's a beautiful day. We're expecting a top of 26 degrees and there's just a lot

00:29of light breeze around so a lovely day for racing. A very big day on Melbourne's sporting

00:35calendar of course and earlier this morning I did catch up with some of those very keen

00:41punters who were here just as gates opened. Tell me, how special is the Melbourne Cup?

00:47Very special. I come from Ireland to visit the Cup.

00:51You've come over just for the Cup today?

00:52I want to stay with my family.

00:55What do you like about it?

00:57Just seeing the noise of the track and just everything.

01:03How special is the Melbourne Cup today? Why do you like coming?

01:08We like to enjoy and we'll see everything, excited more.

01:12Every year we always celebrate the Melbourne Cup.

01:16How's the field looking, Erin?

01:18We are down to 23 horses. Arthur Baskin was scratched last night by the Racing Victoria

01:25stewards conducting their pre-race checks ensuring the health of all the horses is right up to scratch

01:31but unfortunately for that horse they detected an irregular heartbeat and weren't happy to allow

01:37the horse to race today. The owners not pleased with that result at all and they are taking it up

01:43with Racing Victoria. Their vets did clear the horse to run so there's a bit of disagreement

01:49there but that decision has already been made. In terms of the favourites today Buckaroo,

01:54the Chris Waller trained horse is right up there. Chris Waller of course has five runners in the

02:00Melbourne Cup, an incredible effort from his stables. Vauban, an international horse trained

02:06by the Irishman Willie Mullins as well is highly favoured in this race. Having another crack this

02:12year, didn't go so well last year but has had a different build up this time around and eyes will

02:18definitely be on that seven-year-old. James Cummings as well, the grandson of Bart Cummings,

02:26of course Bart won 12 Melbourne Cups. James has Zardozi in today's race. It would be a wonderful

02:34fairy tale if he's able to claim his first Melbourne Cup. He's got a long way to go to

02:39claim 12 like his grandfather but that would be a lovely story if he's able to continue that success

02:45today at the Melbourne Cup.

02:48you