Derby Day
jumps out of the gates for huge Melbourne Cup Carnival on Seven
The Melbourne Cup Carnival starts
this Saturday with the finest day of thoroughbred racing for the purists, Derby
Day, LIVE on Channel 7.
This year the $1.5m Victoria Derby (2500m) has
become a very open race with many contenders after the favourites Savvy Nature
and Complacent drew wide barriers.
Polanski, bought for only $4000 as a yearling,
has drawn a rails barrier and will be a popular and romantic winner if he can
follow up his recent win at Caulfield.
The Victoria Derby, Crown Oaks, Emirates Stakes
and, of course, the 153rd running of the Melbourne Cup are the feature races over the
four days of the Carnival that once again promises to deliver agony, ecstasy
and all the emotions in between for punters, trainers, jockeys, owners and all
of the colourful characters from in and around the world of racing, fashion and
entertainment.
Seven’s coverage will be hosted by Bruce McAvaney alongside Francesca Cumani, Richard Freedman and
Simon Marshall.
Giaan Rooney, Rebecca Maddern, Neil
Kearney and Edwina Bartholomew will keep viewers up to date with all the news and festivities from
around the track while Seven’s horseback interviewer John
Letts saddles up with Banjo again – for what marks the
20th anniversary
of their first Melbourne Cup together, when Vintage Crop was the first foreign
raider to win the Cup in 1993.
Also joining the team for the Carnival broadcast
will be Hamish McLachlan, Peter Donegan in the mounting yard, Pat Welsh in the betting ring, Joh Griggs in the Emirates Marquee, as
well as Rachael Finch, Melanie Vallejo and Scherri-Lee Biggs.
Australia’s premier racecaller Greg Miles will again be in the tower calling all the
action. TVN’s Richie Callander will
also join the coverage as guest expert throughout the carnival.
They are the public faces of what is a huge
production unit, involving hundreds of personnel and up to 50 cameras – around
the courses, in tracking vehicles, in the air, in the jockeys’ and stewards’
rooms and also at times mounted on a jockey’s helmet to drop viewers into the
saddle during the race itself.
