Crowds have flocked to Flemington racecourse for the 163rd running of the Melbourne Cup today
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00:00 Last year, of course, you remember I was almost blown away doing a Mary Poppins impersonation.
00:08 And this year, well, the wind's blowing, at least there's no hail, though.
00:11 It's actually very warm down here today.
00:14 And you can see blue skies still.
00:17 Everybody is very excited that it's going in.
00:20 And we've actually, not that long ago, saw the connections of one of the favorites here.
00:26 So that was Rich from Vauban.
00:30 He's one of the Irish contenders in the field.
00:34 And so it's pretty exciting times.
00:36 It's not that long until the Melbourne Cup race itself will be run.
00:40 But what we have seen is, even before the horses took to the field, a race of a human
00:45 variety and part-- excuse the wind that's now blowing me away.
00:50 But the human variety, when the gates opened at 8.30, it was an absolute race.
00:56 And all of the punters to get to those coveted positions in the grandstand and also certainly
01:03 undercover in the bars, because there is stormy weather ahead, just to make sure that she
01:07 got a better chance at success.
01:09 This is what she had to say.
01:11 Basically, just run.
01:13 Run.
01:14 And I've got my back up here today, so I don't have to do all the hard work.
01:17 I've been doing it on my own for a long, long time.
01:19 But yes, everyone just runs.
01:22 And do you think your daughter will outpace you?
01:23 I hope so.
01:24 You've got your running shoes on at the moment.
01:27 Yes, I've learnt my lesson many times.
01:29 I've fallen up those escalators, so I've got the runners on today.
01:32 We are expecting a little bit of a storm to hit, maybe just on the big race.
01:37 That's all good.
01:38 Rain didn't hurt anyone.
01:39 Bought the brollies, so we're going to be all good.
01:42 So you've got the brollies and you're ready for all four seasons of Melbourne.
01:46 True.
01:47 Been proud Narungga woman.
01:48 I'm a saltwater mob, so bring on the rain.
01:51 Love to see the Melbourne Cup.
01:52 Iconic race.
01:54 I love to look at the fashion, so hopefully it's a great day.
02:00 So we are obviously going to be seeing people with those fashion accessories of sunscreen
02:05 and brollies as well.
02:07 And for the gents, they can wear shorts as well for the first time this year too.
02:11 And we spoke with one man who was going all out in a gold sequin jacket, Brent Adams.
02:17 He's come down from Queensland.
02:19 He says that the gold jacket will match his tip for the cup, which is gold trip.
02:24 And he says that he doesn't mind at all about those storm clouds approaching.
02:29 Gold trip wants a bit of soft ground, so it'll be a help.
02:32 So we're hoping maybe just before the race a little bit of rain will be great.
02:36 Your sequins might get a bit soggy though.
02:38 I've got to stay out of the view of the horses.
02:41 I might put them on.
02:42 Yeah, you don't want to have glare on them.
02:45 No, that's right.
02:46 So yeah, that's what we're here for.
02:48 So let's go and get into it.
02:51 So Steph, you talked about that stormy weather that's forecast.
02:54 What are the chances that it may hit in what, just under three hours time?
02:58 Yeah, so there's a 60% chance of rain.
03:03 And so that could bring with it quite heavy thunderstorms as well.
03:06 So watch this space.
03:09 And also as well, apart from that, we've got a warning about thunderstorm asthma.
03:15 There's a moderate warning for that at the moment.
03:17 So it's not just the potential storms.
03:19 It's also the chance of hay fever.
03:22 If you are prone to that, then get some antihistamines into you because it won't just be the feathers
03:27 on the fascinators tickling you and tickling your nose.
03:30 It's going to be this very high extreme levels of pollen, particularly the grass seeds out
03:36 here today.
03:37 And with the wind that's been blowing, you can see why that's the case.
03:40 [BLANK_AUDIO]