KEY POINTS:
The starter is on his stand, the red light is flashing, they're off and racing.
Those are the usual words trumpeted by racecallers around the country whether it be on Melbourne Cup day or at any other race meeting.
But thanks to the equine influenza outbreak which has ravaged Queensland and NSW, there will be no thoroughbred races in southeast Queensland on the first Tuesday in November.
Instead, patrons who attend a phantom meeting at Eagle Farm today will watch three celebrity camel races, part of a series of promotional activities by the Queensland Turf Club to help draw a crowd.
Melbourne Cup Day is one of the busiest days on the QTC's racing calendar with up to 30,000 racegoers normally flocking through the gates.
But the EI scourge has ruined this year's Cup day for thousands of racegoers, many of whom only attend races once a year.
Unlike the 24-horse field which will thunder around in the Melbourne Cup at Flemington this afternoon, only three camels will lope down 200 metres of the Eagle Farm straight.
The camel races will feature jockeys Shane Scriven, Jim Byrne and Caryl Spry, as well as broadcast personalities from local FM radio stations.
Scriven, who has ridden in a similar promotional race, is well aware of the difference between riding camels and horses.
"I'd take a thoroughbred racehorse, as highly strung as they are, over a camel any day of the week," Scriven said.
- AAP
