Let me entertain you: The real winners of this year’s spring racing carnival

Champion Stakes Day could not have been a more perfect name for the final day of the social marathon that is Melbourne Cup week.

After all, it has been a week of champions. Champion stayers of the equine variety and champion campaigners on the social scene have risen to the fore, along with flocks of fabulous nobodies, a smattering of high-quality names from the worlds of celebrity and business, and a boutique Birdcage that still manages to impress despite slowly constricting budgets.

But the true stand-out stars of the Cup carnival were galloper Point Of Law, Robbie Williams and King Charles III.

It is pretty hard to top a Cup winner trained by Ciaron Maher, with a wide Aussie ownership group that included John O’Neill, Chris and Bec Judd, Steven and Michelle Greene, Kerry Good, Rupert Legh and John Wylie, and the breeder of the Point of Law being his royal highness.

Meanwhile, having UK pop great Williams perform a medley of four of his biggest hits in the mounting yard on Cup Day during the countdown to the big race was a genius move by the VRC.

It was a bold play that totally reimagined what pre-race entertainment at Flemington could be, and his 90-minute set after the last race of the day was icing on the cake.

Williams even obliged when Maher asked if he could meet him after his post-race set.

When the two came together backstage, Williams described Maher as “the Michael Jordan of horse racing”. Nice touch.

VRC chief executive Kylie Rogers told CBD earlier in the week that Williams was the obvious choice for the ambitious Super Bowl-like show.

“When we were thinking about upping the ante with our entertainment, we thought, the greatest entertainer in the world is Robbie Williams, this is the greatest race in the world – so we asked him,” Rogers told us.

“I think talks started around February of this year … We were just delighted when he said yes.”

While no one has even whispered what he might have been paid to rock Flemington, perhaps a hint lies in documents that came to light when the promoter of Williams’ concert at the 2020 Australian F1 race, which was cancelled because of the COVID pandemic, sued the Australian Grand Prix Corporation.

Documents filed in the legal stoush revealed the singer’s fee for that engagement was $1.94 million.

The challenge for the VRC now is: how do you top this year’s pre-race show next year?

It is a good problem to have. Williams has set a very high bar.

We’re the generation that has to be heard

Moving from the mounting yard to the Birdcage, there is no getting away from the fact the famed corporate enclosure is in a transitional stage.

There are just a handful of mega marquees in there these days – Lexus, Crown, Mumm, TAB, Asahi, Nine (owner of this masthead) and Don Julio – meaning fewer invitations are available – quelle horreur for celebrity types at the lower end of the pecking order.

There were also fewer corporate heavyweights and rich listers, and no billionaires that we could spot in the Birdcage on Derby, Cup and Oaks days.

Interestingly, there were members of that very high-end slice of society at Flemington during Cup week, but they were elsewhere on track, which says something.

The political class was thin on the ground for various reasons, not the least being that a state election campaign is under way in Victoria.

Former foreign affairs minister now United Nations special envoy Julie Bishop was a dash of class in the Birdcage on Cup Day, while American ambassador to Australia David Brat added some diplomatic clout when he dropped in to Crown after lunching with the VRC committee and watching the big race with pop star Williams.

The visiting celebrity VIP category of Birdcage guests numbered five.

International model Helena Christensen turned heads when she arrived with frock designer Rebecca Vallance on Derby Day; American actor Jamie Foxx danced for his dollars at the Birdcage’s tequila tent on Cup Day; US singer Ashanti got the Crown marquee excited on Oaks Day (although more than a few people were doing a sly Google search to remind themselves who she was in the minutes before she arrived); lauded production designer Catherine Martin was also in the Birdcage on Oaks Day; and DJ Fisher held court in TAB on Stakes Day. Fisher brought no fewer than 30 mates with him – talk about a travelling party.

“Are we in 2004?” one local TV star knowingly quipped after clocking that Ashanti, Williams and Foxx were at career peaks that year. We can confirm he was right because we remember ’04 oh too well.

Look me up in the Yellow Pages

The category that has grown enormously in the Birdcage is that of the “who?” Insta-famous and reality TV contestants.

They looked fabulous, no question, but name tags would have helped.

Mumm put its racing chips into the soap opera that is the breakdown of the marriage of AFL footballer Lachie Neale and newly minted influencer Jules Neale.

Lachie and his girlfriend Emma Field were guests of the champagne house on Derby Day, while Jules turned up on Cup Day.

Another footy scandal spiced up Oaks Day, with Swans forward Tom Papley being scratched as a guest of the TAB marquee after news broke that he had earlier in the week returned a positive drug test when undergoing a roadside licence check by NSW police and was also found to be driving on a suspended licence.

Speaking of footballers, current and ex-players were naturally out in force across the week – footy is, after all, a currency in this town.

The Judds, Marc and Jessie Murphy and Dan and Ana Gorringe should be on all lists – they lift any room.

In terms of putting on a show, Crown aced the Birdcage. Its marquee ticked all the boxes, the invitation list was well curated and the hosting and management of guests and media was seamless. Having a local PR team really makes a difference.

Robbie Williams’ starring role in the Cup festivities ensured his hit Let Me Entertain You would be the soundtrack of the week. Flemington certainly delivered on that this year.