Place your bets down for the Gold Coast
In the lead up to the 150th Melbourne Cup, I don’t know if it’s just me and the point of my life in which I am in, but it seems to me that the Melbourne Cup Carnival is getting bigger and more supported every year.
After experiencing it live in the flesh last year, it is a real eye opener to see how this horse race has had an effect on the city of Melbourne. The whole city is abuzz, and not just for the day of the Melbourne Cup, but the week leading up to it and the few days preceding it. Our beautiful weather here on the Gold Coast may leave Melbourne for dead, but it is events like this that get the whole city stirring that put Melbourne high on the people’s favourite city list.
So my question is why the Gold Coast can’t put on an event that sends our city abuzz for a week?
We have a major horse race here each year in January, being the Magic Millions Carnival that brings famous horses, riders and owners from all over the country, but we still have a lot of people on the Gold Coast that wouldn’t even know this is taking place.
Maybe it hasn’t been executed and marketed as well as it deserves, however one of the main factors that I think as to why we don’t get the reaction from this race compared to the Melbourne Cup is the local public holiday classification.
People may say that a horse race will only draw a crowd of limited profile and thus rendering it inappropriate to gain ‘public holiday status’, however when you compare the Magic Millions to our only other current local public holiday, the Gold Coast Show, I believe that a day at the races would be far more appealing to and attended by the general public on the Gold Coast.
The big misconception with a day at the track is that people think that you must be interested in gambling on horses to have a good time.
Wrong. There is a lot more to it than that. The fashion, the food and drink, the socialising and the fun of being surrounded by people enjoying themselves is what really makes a day at the races an event. I have attended prior race days with people who have not laid a bet all day, but still walk away satisfied from a great days entertainment.
Male or female, young or old, I believe that with the correct marketing and support from the local community, we here on the Gold Coast could turn our Annual Magic Millions carnival into an annual event that draws people from all around and creates an atmosphere similar to the Melbourne Cup.
It will be events such as this that will keep the Gold Coast progressing as a city and one in which will marry the Gold Coast and good times together.