How to sell a mugs game to normally intelligent people.
Start with a relatively easily rigged sport with a history of corruption and questionable treatment of animals. Populate the sport’s administration and participants with crooks and thugs.
Then get the crowd to spend thousands on clothes, tell them how glamorous, sexy and smart they are for being involved in the ‘sport of kings’.
Get the audience to give all their money to the crooks and thugs because once a year punters have watched breakfast television and are now experts on horse racing and can beat the crooks and thugs at their own game.
Finally, get everyone blind drunk so they throw up on those hideously expensive clothes before having to walk home because they don’t have any money left.
That’s the Melbourne Cup. It’s all about marketing.