Melbourne Cup felt ‘funereal’

Journalist and columnist for the Herald Sun Patrick Carlyon says the 2020 Melbourne Cup race did not feature the buzz or hype which it is so famous for as the grounds were virtually empty.

The Melbourne Cup was run before empty stands for the first time in its whole 160 year history on Tuesday, as the city gradually comes out of its second COVID-19 wave.

“You had the green suedes of the grass there, you had no litter of bodies and cans … it was such a hushed sort of buildup,” Mr Carlyon told Sky News host Andrew Bolt.

“It was almost like people were too scared to actually speak loudly.”

Mr Carlyon said it was “unlike anything I’ve been to," as he has previously been to “probably a dozen cups”.

“There was no cheers, no hype, there was no buzz that the Melbourne Cup is famous four,” he said.

“It was sort of funereal if you like.”