The Everest is due to attract more than 45,000 punters to Sydney‘s Randwick Racecourse next Saturday – and in a major win for the world’s richest race, more than half of them will be women.
Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys has been on a mission to attract a younger crowd to the event, which carries a staggering $20million purse this year, and the latest data on ticket sales shows he’s been successful.
An emphasis on new entertainment and food options appears to have helped do the trick, with women buying tickets in increased numbers this year.
The Australian Turf Club has also reported that there’s been a 74 per cent increase in the number of tickets bought by large groups of racegoers who want to take in the racing with their friends.
That figure has no doubt been boosted by ticket prices being reduced to $35 per person for groups who book in numbers of 10 or more.
‘We are seeing impressive trends in general admission ticket sales from a younger demographic, with over 50 per cent of general admission attendees aged 18 to 34,’ ATC commercial head Donna Forbes said.
The event on October 19 has also been given group 1 status in a major boost that gives it recognition as being among the biggest racing events in the world.
‘The Everest has deserved this,’ V’landys said.
The Everest keeps growing in popularity – especially with women, who are on track to make up more than half of the crowd at this year’s event (pictured, Everest racegoers in 2023)
Racing NSW boss Peter V’landys’ efforts to attract a younger crowd to the world’s richest race have proved a winner (pictured, Everest racegoers in 2023)
‘It has been the highest-rated sprint race in the world most years since it began, and the highest-rated race in Australia.
‘If group 1 status means anything, it had to be group 1.’
The upgrade was announced by Racing Australia on Wednesday after it was ratified by the Asian Racing Federation.
According to Forbes, the uptick in interest from younger punters has also been spurred along by the new Peacock Lounge at Randwick’s Winx Stand, which is open to anyone with a general admission ticket.
Last year around 45,000 racegoers were on hand to watch Think About It emerge the winner from I Wish I Win.
One of Australia’s richest men, advertising guru John Singleton, promised to buy every single one of them a drink if his nag Hawaii Five Oh got up in the main race.
Had that happened, he would have been on the hook for a bar tab of more than $300,000.
Singleton is no stranger to shouting the bar for punters and last year’s promise was a response to a similar move by the Australian Turf Club.
The ATC had put its hand up to buy its members a drink if Overpass, another of the leading contenders in the race, took the title.
‘Most of the committee are freeloaders anyway and they have lost the common touch if they are only going to shout the members,’ Singleton said last year.
More than 45,000 spectators are expected for this year’s race, which will feature a big-name attraction after the main event
The Everest ramps up the entertainment
Superstar UK DJ Joel Corry (pictured below) will be this year’s TAB Everest star attraction for punters keen to continue partying after the last race, Racing NSW has announced.
General admission tickets for Royal Randwick on the big day are just $35.
Ticketholders get to experience the newly opened Peacock Lounge with DJs, bars and roaming food, and of course Joel Corry.
The TAB Everest held on October 19 has transcended racing in Australia, attracting a young audience with more than half of the crowd aged under 35 in 2023.
Many women also love the event, with 43 per cent of bookings last year coming from females keen to have a fabulous day out.
‘If Hawaii Five Oh wins, of course I will shout the public. It will be a bit of fun.’
The famous ad man shouted the bar at a race meeting in Menangle, south-west of Sydney, last August.
He paid for spectators’ drinks for an hour between races three and five, saying, ‘Why should the people trackside have to wait without a drink?’
In 2014 he shouted the bar at Hawkesbury after his horse Strawberry Boy won the Ladies Day Cup, and he treated punters to drinks at 19 pubs stretching from Newcastle to Wyong on the NSW central coast in April 2008.
But his most famous act of generosity came at the 2000 Golden Slipper, when the horse he owned with former prime minister Bob Hawke, Belle du Jour, scored a memorable win.
