Decline in crowd numbers for Cup carnival

A drop in crowd numbers at this year’s Melbourne Cup carnival has continued on the final day, with the Stakes Day attendance of 57,268 the lowest for 15 years.

With occasional showers during Saturday’s Stakes day program, the crowd figure was 10,000 less than last year and the lowest since 2004.

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The overall attendance for the four days of this year’s carnival was 276,186, the first time under 300,000 since 1999 and the lowest since 1997.

Last Saturday’s Derby Day program attracted 80,214 in wet conditions while 81,408 turned up for Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup meeting.

There was a later start to Thursday’s Oaks meeting, with the 57,296 crowd figure a drop of 4000 on the previous year.