Jacket required, briefly
As an avid racegoer, owner and breeder for many years I have come across many instances where common sense has gone straight out the window.
However, what a friend of mine went through on Derby day at Flemington is over-officiating taken to a new level.
We were having a great day in the Rails carpark with a group of friends when we decided to visit some friends in the Nursery carpark. We both presented ourselves at the turnstile with the necessary accreditation to enter the Nursery when my friend was told that to enter he needed to have his jacket on. Yet as soon as he set one foot into the enclosure he could remove it!
In essence he needed his jacket on for the two steps it takes to get through the turnstile. Then he could have taken it off and left it off for the rest of the afternoon.
We both then calmly and respectfully retreated back to the Rails, where he entered without his jacket!
A young person standing behind us could not believe it and stated that it is this type of archaic, nonsensical rule that prevents many young people from wanting to become members.
This really had us scratching our heads, but it didn’t spoil a really good day.
Mind you, I did see quite a few members, with memberships clearly visible and obviously affected by alcohol, asleep on the grass within the racecourse perimeter. Luckily for them, all had their jackets on.
Newport (Vic)