Today as a few hundred thousand racegoers descend upon Flemington racecourse for the Melbourne Cup we've provided a handy form guide for the fillies and their jockeys to look out for in the Birdcage, Member's Stand and the private marquees (hover around the Emirates for the real action)
Starting with the richest :
Billionaire James Packer and wife Erica (be nice to them and they may invite you back to James' private bar at the Crown Casino for their karaoke night) and Richard Branson.
Celeb receiving the most for showing up (about 200 grand) Sarah Jessica Parker.
Lovebirds Shane Warne and Elizabeth Hurley. Burlesque queen Dita Von Teese, Kim Kardashian Rebecca Judd and the real star of the day who should not missed (easy to do as she's so tiny) Joan Collins. And there is bound to be a few surprises like Leo DiCaprio and Tobey McGuire
Mumm champagne, Moet & Chandon, Bollinger will all be hosting marquees and in "Millionaire's Row", the Emirates marquee is styled on St
Petersburg's Catherine Palace with the Zhivago restaurant and powder
room for ladies, and a Jo Malone perfume stylist demonstrating how to
"accessorise" with 23 fragrances.
Myer's have their "Butterfly House" with Jennifer Hawkins complete with fluttering laser-cut butterflies, as the PR sheet wittily says..'to show off the social butterflies".
Garden guru Jamie Durie has flown back from the USA where he hosts a cable TV show to create a "vertical garden installation" in a three-level marquee and VIPs will be chauffeured to and from the track in luxury Lexus vehicles.
Irreverent / Irrelevant Facts : The first Melbourne Cup in 1861 was filmed and this was the very first movie to be screened commercially.
The first prize in 1861 for owners of the winning horse-a nice watch while today's prize purse will be $3.5M. The Shuttle's favourite horse name of all time : Whykickamoocow.
