18 OCTOBER 2023 | ISSUE 535 | FREE
GOULBURN RIVER & RANGES
LEXUS MELBOURNE CUP TOUR For two decades, the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour has been an important Victoria Racing Club initiative during which the famed trophy tours Australia and the globe before landing in Melbourne prior to “the race that stops a nation”. It has travelled more than 900,000km to about 600 destinations, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities along the way and on October 10th the 2023 Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour raced into town visiting various locations in Strathbogie, Avenel, Seymour and Nagambie. Go Nagambie have hosted the Melbourne Cup Tour on 5 occasions and it remains a favourite on the events calendar. “It is always a delight to welcome the team from the VRC to Nagambie, we have developed a close working relationship that we value greatly,” said Go Nagambie volunteer Chrissy Beresford. “The visits to Nagambie are always well supported by the business community, the residents and the thoroughbred industry,” added Chrissy.
“It is an event that brings so much joy to our community. The smiles on faces when they hold the ‘Cup’ and the appreciation of the charities or local priorities that we have raised money for along the way make it even more special,” said Chrissy. The Nagambie leg of LMCT started at the community celebration of the newly constructed boardwalk at Elloura Beach. Rosie and Ian Metherall joined the tour party with a show pony and many locals took the opportunity to be photographed with the iconic trophy. Next stop was Mount Wombat at Strathbogie with the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour taking in spectacular views from the lookout. The Avenel Equine Hospital welcomed the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour with an afternoon tea and a tour of the facility where veterinary staff listened to tour ambassador Greg Miles reminisce on his time as the race caller of the ‘race that stops the nation.’ In 2002 Greg Miles was the race caller for the Melbourne Cup and he spoke of the Media Puzzle win. “Jockey Damien Oliver’s brother Jason was killed in a training accident the week leading up to the 2002 Melbourne Cup placing Damien's involvement in the Flemington spring carnival at risk. “Damien went on to ride on the Saturday in the Derby and there was discussion over if he should ride in the cup. “We all know that he rode Media Puzzle to victory in the Cup but it was when he returned to scale, I've never seen anything like it, from
the broadcast box down to the sea of people, they were all crying, I struggled to find the words to welcome Damien back,” said Greg. “We have an enjoyable task of reconnecting with many communities and personalities sharing our stories of the ‘great race’ and it is a touching experience,” ended Greg. It was almost 12 months to the day that the Mitchelton Gallery of Aboriginal Fine Art was inundated by flood waters when the Goulburn River burst its banks creating devastation to whatever lay in its path. Twelve months on, we met with gallery curator Adam Knight who was excited to welcome the 2023 Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour but was also haunted by the flood event of October 2022. Adam took the LMCT party on a tour of the gallery, adding meaning and telling the stories behind each piece of art. Adam spoke of the devastation and trauma of the October 2022 floods beginning with the anxiety of not being able to access the winery due to the flooding waters. “The only way in to Mitchelton was via helicopter and even that was challenging to organise,” said Adam. It’s hard to imagine that the flood waters filled the cellar in which we were standing, and more frightening to think that Adam and his son were attempting to salvage the artwork when the wall of the gallery gave way and came within metres of crushing his son.
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