Emirates Melbourne Cup fever mounts

While the ” will she or won’t she run” saga continues, the Mole thought it might be timely to pass on a bit of advice for those travellers heading to Melbourne for the big day.

The Victoria Racing Club (VRC) is encouraging racegoers to catch the train to this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival. With 1,500 less public car parking spaces available this year due to redevelopment work at Flemington and the usual long traffic queues expected, the VRC says train travel will be the quickest and most convenient way to access Flemington during the four days of the carnival.

VRC Chief Executive Dale Monteith said a detailed Traffic Management Plan was in place to ensure local residents were inconvenienced as little as possible during the carnival.

“We have consulted widely with all the relevant authorities to ensure vehicular traffic flows as smoothly as possible given the large volume of traffic which will be heading to Flemington during the carnival.

‘We are encouraging as many racegoers as possible to use the train as their preferred mode of transport as it will be the quickest and easiest way to get to and from the racecourse,” Mr Monteith said.

Victoria Police today said it would have a massive presence at the four-day event, with undercover and uniformed police patrolling the racecourse and drug and booze buses surrounding the venue.

Organisers are expecting up to 400,000 people to attend the carnival, with about 100,000 people on Cup Day alone.

From a security point of view, Flemington Racecourse had been in lockdown since Monday to ensure control over the area.

If you can’t make it to Flemington, the place to be is the Cup Carnival Live Site at Federation Square to enjoy all the excitement of the Melbourne Cup Carnival.

Make sure you have your Cup bets on well before you get to Flemington, even the Mole can’t get to the counter in time once the crowds roll in, particularly the once a year gamblers who want to have a lengthy discussion over a $2 flutter.

Better still, load up the sportsTab account and take the mobile.

A quick scan of wotif.com showed plenty of affordable accommodation still available for Tuesday. Surprisingly, the Mole was also able to grab a Frequent Flyer ticket on QF on Tuesday morning, returning Thursday. Looks like a lazy day Wednesday.

For the fashion conscious, the 2005 Melbourne Cup is a return to some old favourites.

Free-flowing dresses, wedge-heeled shoes and broad-brimmed hats will be sure starters. Fascinators are out, beads and sunglasses are in. For the blokes, just put on your best suit and shades, and no, the horse suit is not cool.

And don’t think all the spending is done on the course. Last year, visitors to the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne spent more than $15.7 million on fashion,  according to the Victorian Racing Club’s economic benefit statement.

Enjoy the day.

The Mole