Williams makes call for Cup emergencies

Six-time Melbourne Cup-winning owner Lloyd Williams has thrown his support behind declaring emergency acceptors for the Melbourne Cup.

The call for emergencies came up again after Who Shot Thebarman was withdrawn two days out from Tuesday’s Melbourne Cup, leaving a field of 23 to run.

Victoria Racing Club chairman Amanda Elliott said she was in ongoing discussions about introducing emergencies and Williams concurred.

“I think the Melbourne Cup desperately needs emergencies,” Williams said.

“As this race is internationalised it was unfortunate Chris Waller’s horse was scratched.

“We did the same thing with a horse called Mourayan on the Monday three or four years ago and someone else was denied a start.”

Williams said with the improvements in technology there should be no problems declaring a field of 24 with emergencies.

“Back in my day when I was deputy chairman at the TAB and on the board of the VRC the TAB used to say the computer couldn’t cope with more than 24 runners,” he said.

“In this modern age that is a ridiculous thing to say.

“They should be having at least four emergencies and technology should be able to take care of that today.”