Sydney racing’s “Mr Big”,Racing NSW bossPeter V’landys,has thrown down the gauntlet,offering thoroughbred owners a $6 million bonus on top of the richest prize money in the country – nearly $66 million in total – in a thinly veiled campaign to keep star horses in Sydney and away from Melbourne.
V’landy’s is already furious that pop starBruno Mars is performing just a stone’s throw from Royal Randwick on the day of the Everest,October 15,at the sparkling new Allianz Stadium.
PS hears he’s ready to sign a fat cheque for a major international music act to perform at Randwick after the last race on Everest Day,but exactly who remains unclear. Organisers are tipping a crowd of more than 40,000 for Everest Day,which is less than half that expected at Melbourne’s biggest race days,the Derby and the Cup. However the Sydney carnival has the Victorian Racing Club feeling a little anxious.
The Victorians sent their bigwigs to Sydney this week to talk up the carnival enlisting the likes of Cup winners Chris Waller andGai Waterhouse,plus newly decorated singerDelta Goodrem,AM. They are most concerned about Sydney racegoers staying put and forgoing the traditional pilgrimage south to the Melbourne Cup carnival,which,over generations,has become the grandest social gathering in Australia.
Over the years a conga line of celebrity guests – many of them paid to be there – have appeared inside the feted Birdcage marquees,includingJoan Collins,Stevie Nicks,Nicole Kidman,Liza Minnelli,Elle Macpherson,Snoop Dogg,Paris andNicky Hilton,Sarah Jessica Parker,Liz Hurley,Naomi Campbell,Olivia Newton-John and many more.
It was also the scene of some great social moments,though many of the protagonists will be sorely missed,including the recently departed Shane Warne, Lillian Frank,Lady (Sonia) McMahon andLady (Susan) Renouf.
“But unless you are lucky enough to be in the same marquee as them,most people never got to see them,” explained Australian Turf Club director and Sydney racing’s grand doyenneAngela Belle McSweeney.
“In Sydney we offer something for everyone,from chicken sandwiches and champagne to meat pies and a cold beer – you can have any kind of experience you want. Our focus has been on creating entertainment that meets all markets,not just for the elite.”
The Victorians are pulling out all the stops with an enlarged Birdcage enclosure and the likes of Mumm champagne,Lexus,Network 10,jeweller Kennedy,Tabcorp,Lachlan Murdoch’s News Corp and newcomer Penfolds all pitching their tents.
“After the two-year hiatus,we are looking forward to welcoming a new generation of racegoers who will delight in everything that is on offer in this most aspirational location,as well as welcoming back our regular attendees who previously enjoyed their annual celebrations in these beloved areas,” Victoria Racing Club’s chief executiveSteve Rosich said.
Rough diamond,heart of gold
Liza Minnelli,Shirley Bassey,Cher,Kate Hepburn,Natalie Portman,Madonna … it was only a matter of time before one ofNicole Kidman’s characters inspired Sydney cabaret sensationTrevor Ashley.
And so comes Ashley’s latest over-the-top Christmas panto,Moulin Scrooge,playing at the Seymour Centre from December 1.
“This will be the latest in a line of ridiculous adult Christmas pantos. You might call them ‘camp riffs on popular shows’,” Ashley explained of his latest collaboration withPhil Scott.
“Black Swan was all the rage the year we didFatSwan.The Bodybag andThe Lyin’ Queen were very loosely based on the iconic moviesThe Bodyguard andThe Lion King/Jurassic Park.Moulin Scrooge is based entirely on the out-of-copyright Dickens novelA Christmas Carol.”
Set in Kings Cross in 1899 and a fictitious club called the Moulin Beige,Ashley stars as Satôn,“the one they call the rough diamond”.
As the greatest star of the “Beige”,she and the infamous club-owner Astrid Zeneca (played by the irrepressible former Les GirlCarlotta) would delight audiences with a heady mix of booze,pills and way too many medleys.
But the club is in financial dire straits. Colonial developers want to close it down and build apartment blocks.
“I play the tart with a heart of gold,Satôn,and instead of tuberculosis I have long COVID,” Ashley enthuses,adding,though,“it becomes harder each time to get into a new character,but luckily I know a seamstress who can let my costumes out. They are getting bigger and bigger!”
Tickets go on sale September 12.
Rocking the boat
Following last week’s item about US reality TV seriesBelow Deck Down Under not being welcomed back around Hamilton Island,comes news the owners of the superyacht featured in the series have been embroiled in a multimillion-dollar legal stoush over claims the vessel sustained $12.85 million worth of damage during production.
Queensland beef baronTrevor Lee’s company Keri Lee Charters called in the lawyers to recover the money from American film company Mountain View Productions for alleged damage to his charter company’s superyacht,the $25 million Keri Lee III,named after his Brisbane fashion designer wife,Keri Craig-Lee.
The Keri Lee III,which charters for $310,000 to $365,000 a week in Australia and the South Pacific,has a jacuzzi,beauty salon,movie theatre,luxury furnishings and watersport and gym equipment. It has accommodation for 12 guests in six cabins and for 12 crew.
It was renamed the Thalassa for its starring appearance in the fabulously trashyBelow Deck Down Under,which featured strippers and high jinks for its maiden Australian series.
Keri Craig-Lee declined to comment when PS called this week. The parties were due to undertake a three-week private arbitration in April,though it is unclear if any outcome was reached.
Casting net for new housewives?
What were those well-groomed ladies up to on Wednesday,huddled in deep conversation with television casting agents in Double Bay?
PS hears it’s a top-secret television project,which immediately has this column suspecting a new season of the guilty pleasure train-wreck show theReal Housewives of Sydney could soon be in the works.
But none of the ladies PS spotted were from the show’s original cast,so perhaps an entirely new batch is destined for small-screen fame in the not too distant future? Here’s hoping.
The Opinion newsletter is a weekly wrap of views that will challenge,champion and inform.