Rowdy punters cause Flemington chaos after Melbourne Cup
After the big race things at Flemington really began to degenerate. Photo: Getty
Almost 100,000 punters packed Flemington on Tuesday to see Almandin win the 2016 Melbourne Cup, with many a troublesome bunch causing headaches for police.
And despite Melbourne’s weather switching from windy, to sunny, to rainy, to cloudy and then back to rainy, spirits did not fall at any point throughout the day.
Nine people were arrested, including one for drug trafficking, but a group of Victoria Police officers told The New Daily most of the crowd were well behaved.
Between police and security staff, 78 people were evicted from Flemington.
Pictures showed how the festivities got the better of some.
There was also this woman, who Channel Seven reporter Estelle Griepink handled with aplomb:
@sheppartonnews nice to see @EstelleGriepink maintained her composure today #shepplife pic.twitter.com/2iw6Idzps3
— Brad McMennemin 🇦🇺 (@bj_chips) November 1, 2016
But if you thought police had a tough job restraining the crowd, spare a thought for Flemington’s poor cleaners.
After the last race of the day at 5:15pm, thousands of people began to stream home.
They left behind a grim scene – hundreds and thousands of wrappers and bottles, enough foldable chairs to fill a theatre, shoes, hats and ponchos, plus plenty of disgusting food scraps.
One of the grimmest pictures was a dumped roast chicken carcass. Left on the ground half-eaten, thousands of seagulls then flocked to it for dinner.
The chicken, left behind by a group that wasn’t hungry enough. Photo: The New Daily
This is what happened to the chicken. Photo: The New Daily
More photos of the clean-up:
Aussies ‘looser’ than UK
Former English cricketer and notorious party boy Kevin Pietersen shared his thoughts about Australian racegoers with The New Daily.
Pietersen revealed his hangover cure. Photo: Getty
We asked him how the Melbourne Cup crowd compared to the stately surroundings of the United Kingdom’s most famous race track, Royal Ascot.
“Well I was at Royal Ascot a few years back and that I think was a little more civilised, this seems a bit looser,” he said.
Pietersen also shared his hangover cure: “Before I go to bed I have these special aspirin pills from Dubai. Two of them with a pint of water at night and I have them again when I wake up and I don’t get hangovers.”