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Turf Deli Spring Racing Carnival - Oaks Day 2002 Preview
Oaks Day  2002 - Preview - Melbourne Cup to be run at Sandown. 12/11/02

TURF DELI EXCLUSIVE : Melbourne Cup to be run at Sandown.

The VRC today officially confirmed that they intended to run the Melbourne Cup at Sandown from next year.

"It seems the logical thing to do " VRC spokesman Greg Toohey-New-Carlton-Draught commented


"The horses just take up so much room, and most of them are not house trained - it can get a bit unpleasant. Besides, it now means we can set up marquees on all that under utilised space down the straight - we'll just keep the crowds at Flemington and run the horses at Sandown. "


"We do have sponsors to please and we just found that actually having the horses on course detracted from the party atmosphere - a lot of patrons were complaining that they were losing money betting that they could otherwise have spent on alcohol. Our market research indicates that customers mainly come for the beer, the girls, and the fashion - I don't think many will notice that the horses are missing - they can just watch them on the TV monitors anyway. "


" It really came down to a choice between the pyrotechnics and fireworks display and the horses - and those creatures are just so flighty - you know what they say about working with animals - we were pretty sick of all the whingeing about the noise and the crowd - if the horses don't fit in then they will just have to go. Besides, we mainly run the race now for the Overseas Horses and if we race them at Sandown then they won't have to travel again - I mean coming half way around the world is one thing - but Sandown to Flemington - now that's a long way."




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