Million dollar Melbourne Cup

Press, 2 April 1985, Page 38

Million dollar Melbourne Cup

NZPA-AAP Melbourne The 2985 Melbourne Cup will be worth one million Australian dollars (SN , ZI.S3O.£KW) and wil have a name change. This year the premier horse racing event will be known as the Foster’s Melbourne Cup. thanks to sponsorship from the Melbournebased Carlton and United Breweries. In announcing the sponsorship deal yesterday, the Victoria Racing Club’s chairman. Mr Hilton Nicholas, said C.U.B. had entered into a five-year arrangement to sponsor the race. Mr Nicholas said the VJLC. had been faced with a dilemma in keeping the Cup as the greatest prize in Australian racing. He said it was recognised that to remain Australia’s top race the Melbourne Cup had to carry the top stake. “We vowed several years ago to keep the Cup the richest prize in Australia and last year we paid out a record sAusts2s.ooo to keep it the greatest and richest race," Mr Nicholas said. “Already that sum was eclipsed this year — last Saturday in the Golden Slipper Stakes.’’ Nfr Nicholas admitted that to some,' sponsorship of a Melbourne Cup might seem anathema. “But there is a limit to the funds the V.R.C. alone can put into one race without affecting prize money for lesser races," Mr Nicholas said. Details of the actual contribution made by C.U.B. were not disclosed but were described as “very substantial.’’ Mr Nicholas said tbere were a number of Australian and international companies which had expressed interest in sponsoring the Melbourne Cup. but. again. the details were not divulged. Prize money for last year’s Melbourne Cup was lifted to beat off the challenge of the Golden Slipper with the S.T.C. countering with last Saturdav’s ?Aust6oo,ooo (SNZ918.OOO) race.