Victoria Racing Club chief executive Kylie Rogers has welcomed strong Melbourne Cup Carnival interest ahead of the season-opener at Flemington on Saturday.

The return of popular Australian DJ Fisher to headline Champions Day entertainment has triggered an avalanche of general admission sales, up 55 per cent year-on-year.

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Melbourne Cup Carnival ticket sales are up 16 per cent overall, with Oaks Day up 41 per cent.

Traditional drawcards, Derby and Cup days, naturally remain “very strong”.

“We’re ramping up really well for the carnival, our forward sales look really positive,” Rogers said going into her third Melbourne Cup Carnival at the helm.

“We’re ambitious enough to want 100,000 people every day, it’s not necessarily realistic and we live and die by the weather sometimes, but we are very confident with our strategy and our racing and entertainment offerings.”

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Flemington hosted 285,675 racegoers last year across the four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival, the biggest crowd since 303,587 attended in 2018.

More than 60,000 braved heavy rain and the coldest November day in more than a century to watch global megastar Fisher perform after the last on Champions Day.

“It felt like minus two all day with sideways rain,” Rogers said.

‘Let’s not get ahead of ourselves but if we get good weather we’re in the 70s, early 80s, if everything goes our way and that is our job to promote the racing schedule.”

Rogers confirmed the VRC is exploring a closing ceremony-style Fisher curtain-raiser to celebrate the Cup Carnival leading jockeys and trainers.

“It’s an unbelievable crescendo and this year we want to use that moment and live stage to celebrate the great jockeys and trainers … as a bit of a closing ceremony,” Rogers said.

“The most important thing is safe and world-class racing, with the best horses and jockeys in our races.”

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The VRC has dedicated its season-opening meeting on Saturday to the Phar Lap centenary celebrations.

The New Zealand-bred Australian sporting legend, born on October 4, 1926, won the 1930 Melbourne Cup.

A special Phar Lap exhibition has been installed at Flemington, inside Gate 1, near the iconic Makybe Diva statue, including rare memorabilia.

“It is the new name for our opening raceday every season now, Phar Lap is a legend and certainly deserves that,” Rogers said.

“I don’t think (this memorabilia has) been shown together ever before, racing colours worn by (jockeys) Jim Pike and Billy Elliot, there’s a horse float believed to have carried Phar Lap before his 1930 Melbourne Cup win and lots of other items.”

The VRC has ticked off on a Makybe Diva exhibition set to join existing Black Caviar, Bart Cummings and Harry White collections.

“We’re really trying to create a destination for people to learn about the history of our races and the champions of our sport,” Rogers said.

“We’re going to do more and more of that.”

The annual Victorian Jockeys’ Association blessing of the track, wishing al riders a safe passage in the new season, will be held before the Group 3 Aurie’s Star Handicap (1200m) on Saturday at Flemington.

Originally published as Melbourne Cup Carnival ticket sales surge as DJ Fisher fuels demand

Read related topics:Melbourne