Victoria Derby

Better get back to sport.

And there was a jockey who fractured his collarbone last weekend in the, what race was that? Victoria Derby Day.

His name was Harry Coffey.

He broke his collarbone on the Saturday, underwent immediate surgery to have a plate inserted.

And 89

was a Derby Day, I think it was.

Yeah, just

superb.

Yeah, I'm normally always there with all the horse racing.

Yeah, Derby Day, Melbourne Cup.

Oh,

you've been to Melbourne Cups? Yeah.

Fantastic.

Derby day was a great success.

Today has been a really competitive day with a big crowd.

Good hopes winner.

You need to be in the right part of the straight too.

There's been some straight races, certainly on Derby Day, where if you were on the inside part of the pack of horses coming up the straight, it was very difficult to be competitive, whereas those outside horses had a big advantage.

Yeah, I think luck in running is going to play a big part, and I think that's why Hedwell drawn six.

Ethan Brown will have some options there to be able to follow the horses that he thinks are taking him right into the race at the right time.

Everyone's had a great week here in Melbourne and we've enjoyed every moment of it.

52,000 there at Flemington yesterday.

We had, I think it was 96 or 7 on Cup Day and 88 on Derby Day.

So crowds have been fantastic.

We're in front of this massive club stand that was a big project that finished in 2018, led by Amanda Elliott, the then chairman when I was CEO.

And that had to finish on time for Derby Day in 2018.

And then we hit COVID with an enormous mortgage on that club stand.

And it sounds a bit strange to be talking about a sense of pride or achievement about a dark time like COVID.

We provide lots of different aspects to a younger member and different functions and we want to build that community and The numbers we look at is how many times they come for the 20-odd races a year and then how many times they come during the carnival.

How can we give them the experience so they come a little bit more and enjoy their membership and the general public enjoy coming along? Because they are different days.

The sophistication of all group racing, very racing-focused day of Derby Day, Howard and Victoria Derby Day, then to It's Alexis Melbourne Cup Day, which is more of a people's day.

Everyone comes from everywhere.

We're in front of this massive club stand that was a big project that finished in 2018, led by Amanda Elliott, the then chairman when I was CEO.

And that had to finish on time for Derby Day in 2018.

And then we hit COVID with an enormous mortgage on that club stand.

And it sounds a bit strange to be talking about a sense of pride or achievement about a dark time like COVID, but we had zero attendance in 2020 and a 10,000 patron cap through 2021.

And it's interesting.

We do a lot of work on numbers of people and how many times they come.

the membership's a great guide we've seen a really high proportion of our last sort of phase of membership over the last couple of years has really been heavily leaning towards a younger generation they want to be part of something they want to be part of a community we provide you know lots of different aspects to a younger member and different functions and we want to build that community and the numbers we look at is to how many times they come for the you know the 20 odd races a year and then how many times they come during the carnival and you know how can we give them the experience so they come a little bit more and enjoy their membership and then the general public enjoy coming along because they are different days you know the sophistication of all group racing very racing focused day of derby day howard and victoria derby day then to It's Alexis Melbourne Cup Day, which is more of a people's day.

Everyone comes from everywhere.

Yeah, a bit of everything.

I mean, it started with an incredible Derby day for James McDonald and Chris Waller and, you know, a Golden Eagle that was both brilliant in one way and frustrating in another for she's a Malabar.

And then, you know, a big dance that sort of had a dramatic climax.

But I think a Melbourne Cup for the age is both pre-race and during the race and then what we might look forward to.

Look, we always, when we're doing the Cup, the last day, you need a black caviar to get a crowd, a huge crowd.

So it was always a challenge.

They've robbed Derby Day slightly, even though it was a great Derby Day this year with all the favourites winning.

It's not quite the meeting it was, but they've loaded up on the last day and it makes complete sense.

Well, I was keen on Jimmy Ricard, so that's a bit of a blow to my confidence.

I thought he should have won on Derby Day, Jimmy.

He was good.

He was much better on the backup.