Hot stuff at Royal Randwick

If you have any sense on Saturday you should be heading out to the Royal Randwick

Racecourse  for The Championships Day 2 Longines Queen Elizabeth Stakes, one of the racing calender's premier dates.
The gees gees will be competing for mega prizes :
$1 million James Boag’s Premium Australian Oaks and the Group 1 $2 million Schweppes Sydney Cup. Wow! 
And look at the weather..it's going to be a glorious day. And we have a hot tip for punters, No not a race tip but if you keep your eyes peeled you may catch a glimpse of the latest Hollywood hunk to come out of this country- JAI COURTNEY.
OK Jai will be  wearing a tad more clothing than what he has on in our snap. After all they have a dress code at Randwick, collared shirt, tie and jacket but that's just part of the fun. And you can always imagine can't you?

Also at Randwick tomorrow will be Michelle Payne who made history last year as the first woman to win the Melbourne Cup. Have they made a movie of her life yet? They should. 
The gates open at 10.45am so I'd be early. Jai is expected to arrive around mid-day and there will heaps of other celebrities to gaze at. 

And that's what the races are all about.The chance to win some cash and thrill as the horses race as the excitement and tension builds up, and sip some champagne while star spotting. 
And anyone who hasn't yet checked out Randwick's magnificent new stand is really missing something

It's All Go at Royal Randwick

It's that time of the year again for the 2017 Sydney Carnival, a six week program of world-class racing entertainment from 11 March to 15 April 2017 at Rosehill Gardens and Royal Randwick.

The Sydney Turf Club invited some of Australia’s most respected racing figures to a small shindig at Randwick to celebrate the event and Whisper's spy disguised as a Colorful Racing Identity slipped in to check out the evening. Among the guests : racing, trainer Gai Waterhouse, NSW leading Provincial trainer Kris Lees, and champion jockey Hugh Bowman joined actress and AACTA Award winner, Elizabeth Debicki, actor and member of Swing On This, Ben Mingay, 800 Words star, Melina Vidler, model Montana Cox, Ginger & Smart designers, Alexandra and Genevieve Smart and radio hosts, Ryan Fitzgerald and Michael Wipfli were named as Sydney Carnival ambassadors for 2017.

Wow! And many of them are there in our beautiful snaps from the evening. And what glorious weather it should be. Not too hot nor cold and lovely blue skies. Rosehill is perfect if you hail from west Sydney, located right near Parramatta and Whisper's course of choice Royal Randwick is so handy for the Eastern Suburbs with plenty of parking. There are always lots of things happening at the racecourse during this carnival so get there early. You can check on the Turf Club's website for activities here.

Arrivals

 

Oh the glamour. Pictured is model Adam Williams arriving at Royal Randwick for the races on Monday. Saturday's races were cancelled because of the unseasonable heat with horses being regularly hosed down  to prevent heat stress.

And that's how hot it actually was : for Aussies to abandon the chance of a day betting on the gee gees is unheard of.
Back to Adam. The amazingly sculptured Adam, an ex-boyfriend of celebrity hairdresser Joh Bailey is a model, dancer, choreographer and event compere and he's extremely popular throughout Asia where he is a role model for 1000s of young men who, well want to look just like him. And that gleaming auto is a special edition of a BMW. Everything sparkles! Isn't life so grand at times?

Another fantastic day of racing at Royal Randwick

Check out details at the Sydney Turf Club's website

Saturday : another great day of fun, fashion and racing at Royal Randwick

For more information go to the Australian Turf Club website here

Saddle Up !

George and Thomas Burgess, a couple of GGs & their jockeys

It's that time of the year - Spring which means the Spring Summer racing season at Royal Randwick is upon us. Race days are like a melting pot of society where all manner of colourful characters, celebrities, socialites, sport's stars and fashion names gather to mingle, socialise and gamble on the horses.
Highlights of the season will be the Star Epsom Day and the Moet & Chandon Spring Champion Stakes Day with pop-up champer's bars, disc jockeys and a good reason to dress up for the day, the Myer Fashions in The Field. Randwick threw a shindig to launch the season and here are some of our snaps from the event.  

Tommy Berry * Gai Waterhouse,                                Edwina McCann             Maddison Kerry  *  Cloudia Ingall

worth the price of admission alone : Myer ambassador Jodi Anasta

Eliza Grant * Roy Billing * Nerida Winter                         Jodi Anasta* Kate Waterhouse * Anna Bamford

Royal Randwick

There is every chance Prince William and Princess Kate (or Katie as the kids are calling her) will attend the Easter Carnival today at Royal Randwick.
This is the first chance the public will have to see the amazing new $150M pavilion that dwarfs the old Member's Stand.

On show for the young and hip is The Stables, a private member's club that should be a much sought after venue. Membership is rumoured to be $2000 a year but this is one of the nicest clubs we have been in as we discovered at a recent launch party. Lots of expensive paneled walls, billiard rooms and private booths and rooms, a Moet & Chandon Bar and 2 sensational balconies, one looking over the mounting ring and one with a sensational view of the race track. The Stables is the brainchild of bar and restaurant mogul John Duncan - pictured right with wife Angela - (he's the nephew of the actress Carmen Duncan) and ex-partner of Fraser Short. Together they opened some of Sydney's smartest nite spots like Surry Hill's Winery before going their separate ways last year
Looks like a winner to us.

The world's most glamorous bookie Tom Waterhouse left joined other glam guests

Bar heaven- chilled Moet

view of the race course and below the mounting ring

"Invasion Of The Super Yachts"

The UK's Daily Mail has published a  feature on the many fabulous gin palaces that have invaded the Thames & London for the Olympics. It's deja vu time and just like a re-run of the Sydney 2000 Olympics when basically the same boats arrived in Sydney and lined up at the wharf in Blackwattle Bay, the only place large enough to host a billion dollars worth of luxury boating.

Hopefully those flogging luxury goods in London will not make the same mistake as several did at Blackwattle and set up stores nearby. A 3 star restaurant opened hoping to cater to yacht owners and several luxury goods purveyors like the South Australian Pearl jeweler who flew in a million dollars worth of gems and built a small boutique from the ground up for the  2 weeks of games. All went broke after the fortnight. Most of the boat owners flew in and stayed at hotels while the only people onboard their boats were staff.

Illona at Canary Wharf

the Murdochs at the Lowy dinner

Frank Lowy

One luxury ship in London is Frank Lowy's  Ilona that is moored at Canary Wharf, not far from his good friend Rupert Murdoch's News Corp.HQ. Lowy owns the giant Westfield Shopping Centres. Rupert & Wendi Murdoch flew to Sydney from New York in 2008 to attend a dinner in honour of Lowy at the Royal Randwick Racecourse as the Shuttle's exclusive pic shows.

Lowy fled Czechoslavakia to France in 1946 but was arrested by British troops and incarcerated at a detention camp in Cyprus, eventually making it to Israel and joining the Haganah. He arrived in Australia in 1953 and partnered with Hungarian immigrant John Saunders to create Westfield, now the largest shopping centre owners in the world. The Shuttle attended a breakfast at the Regent Hotel in Sydney for Henry Kissinger (see pic below with Ros Packer) in 1998. When Kissinger left the stage he was mobbed by the many politicians there but brushed them aside, making his way to Lowy's table where the 2 remained in deep conversation.

Put The Union Jack Out

Today begins four days of celebrations for the diamond jubilee of HRH Queen Elizabeth 11 of Australia (and other places). We expect to see the streets of Sydney lined with Union Jack bunting. Yesterday Her Maj went to the races at Epsom for the Derby with mezzo-soprano Katherine Jenkins singing the national anthem. The only time the Shuttle has encountered The Queen at the races was at Royal Randwick when she visited in 2001 and the royal party arrived by coach and horses to parade down the track in front of a few hundred thousand punters. As the crowd were stopped  from crossing the track (including us) to allow the procession to pass, a crusty old pensioner oblivious to the who the VIPs were, moaned to the policeman holding us back saying :"I don't care if the bloody Queen of England's coming, I need to place a bet!"
PS: The little couple at the back waving excitedly from the commoner's enclosure are John & Jeanette Howard. Johnny was at the Palace this week to get a shiny bauble for ensuring Australia remained a British colony.
Here is an exclusive message from Her Majesty for Shuttle readers on this special occasion :

The Sport of Kings and queens

Mark down Friday 26th February as a Day at The Races not to be missed.

Royal Randwick Racecourse will hold the world’s first gay and lesbian race day.

The Pink Stiletto Race Day will be the ultimate social event in the lead up to the 2010 Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras.

Randwick normally attracts it's fair share of "colourful racing identities " (old gangster slang for a person of no fixed employment but loaded with cash) but this should bring thousands of racegoers, gay and straight, who will be‘coming out’ to Royal Randwick on the eve of Sydney’s Mardi Gras parade.

And the colour,the frocks,the stilettos !. It will give the jockey silks a run for their money and any race day at Randwick is like a fashion contest between well heeled gals trying to outdo each other but expect drag like you've never seen before.

Expect to see most of Sydney's best known drag stars-they'll be there-Kitty Glitter, Minnie Cooper, Miss Understood, Courtney Act, Sarah Pax.

Even our favourite neighbour Carmen should be there-pictured here at the funeral of the late Sydney King's Cross identity Abe Saffron.

Top horse trainer Gae Waterhouse ( centre below) is giving her support.

She's pictured with a couple of blokes in frocks and an escort who looks suspiciously like society hairdresser Joh Bailey's boyfriend Adam Williams. It's all for a good cause-the Bobby Goldsmith Fund which provides support for people living with HIV.

The Pink Stiletto, Royal Randwick Racecourse on Friday, February 26. Gates open at 11am. Tickets $15 from bgf.org.au.

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Stars lined up for 2010 Gay & Lesbian Mardi Gras party so far include Whitney Huston. But don't forget you read it here first-George Michael will put in an appearance also.