Legendary caller Bruce McAvaney makes sad admission about Melbourne Cup
Legendary Channel 7 sports commentator Bruce McAvaney has made a sad admission about the $8 million Melbourne Cup.
Speaking to racing website The Straight, McAvaney says the famous Flemington race is not what it used to be ... and its aura as a shining Australian event has “greatly diminished”.
According to McAvaney the iconic nickname — or the six famous words long associated with the race (you know the ones) — is also no more.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.“The Melbourne Cup will always be the greatest prize ... but it no longer stops the nation,” McAvaney sadly admitted.
He said it was once the No.1 sporting event in the country but now it did not even “come close to the AFL grand final”.
McAvaney — who still has fond memories of his mother running their Cup sweep and himself as a child collecting the names and the money — says the annual rituals are no longer there.
“It was a huge thing ... it was about suburbs and neighbourhoods, and it was for one race. It was by far the biggest sporting event in the nation. It had a big margin on the (then) VFL (now AFL) grand final,” McAvaney recalled.
“(But) my gut feeling is that within the racing community the Melbourne Cup has diminished a little but for those who are not racegoers, or are once-a-year-racegoers, it has diminished greatly.
“Years ago, people may not have been caught up in the magic of the Cup but they weren’t aggressively opposed to racing. Today, more people turn their back on the race.”
McAvaney also noted that the Cup’s status was now being challenged by other great days on the racing calendar, such as The Everest.
Despite The Everest only being launched in 2017, it is the richest turf race in the world and this year fans flocked to Randwick to celebrate the spectacular day.
The Everest was on the same day as the Caulfield Cup, and McAvaney said Caulfield had also “lost ground” as an event.
And he believed the diminished status of the Caulfield Cup “also weakened” the Melbourne Cup with the feature races “now separated”.
He said once upon a time the Cups double was a massive thing in racing but pointed out that this year’s Caulfield Cup winner (Duke De Sessa) had not even entered the Melbourne Cup.
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Originally published on 7NEWS Sport
