Australia is the talk of the horse racing world with footage of Royal Randwick swirling across cyberspace following the running of The Everest on Saturday.
The race meet broke all records as 52,110 patrons turned up to watch the $20m Group 1 blockbuster.
Viewers at the track — and around the world — watched a massive boil over unfold as “the world’s best sprinter” Ka Ying Rising was beaten by Tempted.
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Watching the world’s highest-rated galloper’s 21-race unbeaten streak come to an end has created plenty of chatter — but it is nothing compared to the scenes from the stands at Randwick as punters partied hard.
One viral clip, with more than 500,000 views on X, of the crowd in front of the Winx Stand singing Neil Diamond’s immortal ‘Sweet Caroline’ ditty has become the envy of the racing world.
Horse racing analyst Rory Fitzgerald posted: “Timeline is filled this morning with people bemoaning the fact that racecourses in the UK & IRE don’t have this type of atmosphere & promotion.
“I can almost guarantee you that if this type of thing happened at Royal Ascot, Ebor meeting, Cheltenham etc, there’d be pitchforks out.”
American racing commentator Brad Weisbord also posted: “Take a look at the age demographic of the fans packed along the apron at Australia’s Everest Day.
“A young, energetic crowd that genuinely loves horse racing. That’s what a healthy, thriving sport looks like.”
One English fan wrote: “Absolutely amazing scenes at Randwick, look at the size of the crowd and the atmosphere, we just didn’t get that here.
“Racing isn’t as popular here, it’s a hard sell because we are so stuffy bogged down with class & traditions.”
Another wrote: “Racing in Australia is really something else.”
Local race figures were just as impressed by the scenes coming from Randwick.
Racing commentator Richard Callander was also blown away.
“I just get excited for the new generation of people that come and the beauty of it,” he said on Sky Sports Radio.
“The song, Sweet Caroline, you’ve got to think of a song, that the older, the middle and the younger generation can all sing at once and it nearly brings a tear to your eyes to see what it is and what the event has become.
“It’s absolutely humbling and it’s so exciting for racing.”
The world’s richest race on turf has exploded to become one of the marquee dates on the global racing calendar with the Caulfield Cup running on the same day in Melbourne.
As reported by racenet, crowds are up 56 per cent since former NSW Racing chief executive Peter V’landys started the event in 2017.
TV coverage hit 565 million viewers across 240 countries.
Almost 30 per cent of attendees at Randwick on Saturday were aged 18 to 24.
“It’s unbelievable, but the greatest thing about this is that it is a young person’s race. It’s a new generational race for people under the age of 30,” V’Landys said.
New Racing NSW CEO Graeme Hinton also told racenet: “To be selling out a race meeting three weeks ahead of schedule without putting any marketing into it is just unheard of … no-one anywhere on earth has done that.
“It’s disruptive in that it was intentionally different. We have the slot concept (where you buy the right to enter a horse, a left-field move paving the way for huge prizemoney).
“We called it the Everest when no race had ever had a name like that. I’m a big believer that the brand created is a big part of why the young generation embraced it. We put big-name musical acts on. Sweet Caroline has caught on with the crowd. It’s got all these elements no other race meeting historically has had.
“Together they’ve got the results. We also now have the fear of missing out factor, which is priceless.”
Of course, Sweet Caroline is not everyone’s cup of tee, but judging by Saturday’s emphatic response from racegoers, the tune is here to stay.
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