Celebrating the Melbourne Cup | Immerse yourself

As we’re all well aware, COVID-19 is the ultimate in wet blankets, stopping all of us from jumping on a flight and heading to Flemington (or Ellerslie for that matter!) for the 2021 running of the Melbourne Cup.

But never fear, in recognition of this most unfortunate turn of events, our friends at Victoria Racing Club have created a new platform – accurately coined “VRC Immersive“.

It’s a world-leading innovation and will allow international (sorry Australia!) viewers to watch the race from multiple angles and select the views they wish to see live – and did we mention the best part? It’s FREE!

Immersive will allow you to watch the day of racing at Flemington your way – with nine different live camera angles to choose from as well as race replays, live radio from Flemington, 360 degree cameras and more. You can control what you watch or listen to, and when. In our opinion, it’s definitely the next best thing to being there (or here, at Ellerslie).

The platform will be launched for Lexus Melbourne Cup Day (Tuesday, 2 November) .

Still not convinced? Here’s a bit more info about VRC Immersive from Victoria Racing Club:

When is it available?

Immersive will go live on Tuesday, November 2, on the morning (Australian Eastern Standard Time) of the 2021 Melbourne Cup. It will also be available for the Kennedy Oaks meeting on Thursday, November 4 and the Paramount+ Stakes Day on November 6.

Is it really free and requires no registration?

Yes, as this is an entirely new concept, we wanted the world to enjoy it, explore it and hopefully love it, as a second screen highlight while watching the main race feed.

How do I navigate Immersive?

Once inside Immersive, you will be offered three regions to choose from: Racetrack, Mounting Yard and Entertainment. Within those three environments, you will have extra selections for camera angles, or features, including split-screen viewing. It’s designed to be easy to click and play, wherever you are.

What devices can I cast this to?

Immersive is a web application for use on any modern computing device, add to the home screen for iOS or simply jump in on Android.

Victoria Racing Club are keen to hear what you think of their new platform. Complete this short survey and you could be a lucky recipient of a $50 Prezzy Card!

While we’re no longer racing on 2 November here at Ellerslie, we’ve still got a lot of great Melbourne Cup content to come as Australasia leads up to the “great race”.

Keep checking back here on our blog for more.