Latest Sydney Swans scandal means marquee name a late scratching

The latest scandal to beset the Sydney Swans meant high-profile forward Tom Papley was a late scratching from Flemington’s Birdcage party patch on Oaks Day.

Papley was set to be a key guest in Tabcorp’s pub-themed marquee in the famed enclosure on Thursday, with his name circulated to media as a confirmed guest on Wednesday night.

That was before the Swans confirmed Papley had earlier this week returned a positive roadside drug test when undergoing a roadside licence check by NSW police.

Authorities said Papley had returned a positive result for methylamphetamine, with a secondary sample of oral fluid taken for further analysis.

His name was off the list by Oaks morning.

While the latest headache for the Swans, and by extension the AFL, was playing out, AFL boss Andrew Dillon was at the races.

Dillon was a guest of the Victoria Racing Club committee for lunch before venturing into the Birdcage around 4pm – scandal be damned!

Not all heroes wear capes, some wear giant hats

Meanwhile, an unlikely hero emerged in the Birdcage this week as seams split, sauce was spilled, blisters popped and corsets trapped their strapped-in wearers.

On Oaks Day, when US R’n’B singer Ashanti rocked the Crown marquee, a sprinkling of Daicos family members dazzled and Oscar winner Catherine Martin graced the Lexus marquee, the most in-demand guest in the enclosure was Melbourne’s original celebrity stylist, Lana Wilkinson.

Wilkinson was the celebrity set’s saviour when fashion emergencies hit.

“I have been called on a couple of times, one to accompany someone to the toilet because they could not get their corset undone, and then there was the split dress emergency,” Wilkinson told CBD.

“I found a needle and thread and sewed the split back together in the back of a bathroom for the lady.

“The other one was at Crown on Derby Day when I helped Brit Selwood get tomato sauce off the top of her white outfit. I had a crowd around me, everyone was watching to see if we could save the outfit. We defied the odds. We got it all off, and she came back into the marquee looking brand-spanking new.

“So there you go, being a dry cleaner’s daughter has served me well.”

These days, Wilkinson rarely slips back into styling mode, rather she is focused on expanding her namesake shoe company into international markets.

The marquee set

The Birdcage on Thursday was a more relaxed offering than Derby and Cup days, with many of the heavyweight corporate guests having departed after two days at the track.

However, holding court as usual at TAB was chief executive Gill McLachlan, who started the day at the betting marquee – fun fact: it is reportedly inspired by his favourite Melbourne pub, the Orrong Hotel in Armadale – before lunching with the VRC committee.

Taking the opposite tack was chair of Crown Martin Pakula who began his day in the Committee Room with Crown Resorts boss David Tsai and Crown Melbourne chief Ed Domingo before landing in the Birdcage about 3pm.

Liberal senator Jane Hume was enjoying good luck at the Crown marquee, having backed Harry’s Yacht, winner of race 3 on the card, when we caught up with her.

Across the room, former cricketing great Ricky Ponting and his wife, Rianna, chair of the Million-Dollar Lunch fundraising committee, chatted with Rachel Holland and her partner, Pattersons InsureBuild managing director Stuart Patterson. Jackie Antas, senior vice president of communications for Live Nation, was also spotted.

Annalise Dalins, who is soon to marry Collingwood footballer Josh Daicos, was mingling nearby with her fiance’s mother, Colleen, and sister, Maddie.

Jaggad co-founder Michelle Greene, a part-owner of Melbourne Cup winner Point Of Law, was still coming to terms with the victory in Australia’s greatest race.

“It is still sinking in. It has been the most thrilling experience, and we are still in shock,” Greene told us.

“We are back at Flemington today, where it all happened. It is a little bit more relaxed today.”

On a day devoted to fashion, leading trainer Gai Waterhouse as always stood out, with her style getting the tick of approval from UK pop star Robbie Williams on Cup Day.

“He admired my outfit,” Waterhouse told us. “He said, ‘I love your outfit’, and I said, ‘I love your show’.

“I thought his show was outstanding. It was like being in Las Vegas at Flemington.”

Crimes against fashion

Over at the Nine marquee, winners of this year’s series of The Block, Courtney Kain and Sevilay Keser – who shared in $1.35 million in winnings – were figuring out what to do with their newfound wealth.

“We went to have a bet, but we don’t have any cash,” Kain lamented.

In Lexus, Bruce Keebaugh, founder of leviathan corporate catering company The Big Group, and his wife, Chyka, set the standard for Birdcage sartorial elegance.

But Keebaugh, who has been a Flemington stalwart for more than 40 carnivals, was unimpressed with the after-dark trend that permeated the cage this year.

“To my great horror, I have seen ballgowns in the Birdcage,” he told us.

“There is a time and a place for ballgowns, and there is a time and a place for appropriate female racewear. Ballgowns are banned in the Birdcage.”

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