Racing legend Guy Waterhouse has criticized “ill-educated” young Australians for coming to big events like the Melbourne Cup just to get drunk and party

The queen of Australian horse racing has called for radical changes in the industry to attract young people back to the sport, criticizing them for coming only to party and not the events on the track.

Renowned trainer Guy Waterhouse has been in the industry since 1992, with more than 145 Group 1 wins and amassed prize money in excess of $194 million.

She won seven trainers’ premierships in Sydney and was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2007.

In that time, Waterhouse has seen just about everything there is to see in racing, but the alarming drop in the number of young people attending the competition worries her.

Waterhouse is a stickler for tradition and has previously spoken out against Flemington’s new dress code, which allows men to wear shorts.

Now Waterhouse has warned that young people see race days as nothing more than a chance to drink with their mates and know nothing about the races themselves.

“I think (younger people) are not well educated and they’re not coming for that,” she told a Melbourne radio station. 3AW.

“They come to the party, but they don’t teach them about the horses or the pair.”

Her comments came after police arrested 24 people and ejected 30 others from the Caulfield Cup on October 19, as well as arresting scores of under-age drinkers.

Waterhouse said that while 26,000 people, mostly under 35s, turned out for the Caulfield Cup, most young people only attended one race meeting a year.

A racing elder said more needs to be done at membership level to encourage the next generation to attend several race days a year.

“It’s more that you want them to come back next week, and the week after, and the week after (this),” she said.

“I think the most important thing is to get them to become members of the club.

“I think membership should be very accessible to young people.

“You don’t have to pay when you go to the races. Because you don’t pay to go to the pub to watch the races. So why should you pay to go to Mooney Valley?

“I think on big days you should pay those who want to be members. But I believe that visiting public (areas) should be free.

“You should be able to go to a track, any track, and not pay.”

“Everything is too expensive, the drinks are too expensive, it’s not the real world,” she said.

“A lot of these places you can’t even take food in.”

Caulfield Cup organizers have made an effort to attract more young people this year, calling it “party day” and bringing in Australian DJ Tyson O’Brien to pump up the crowd.

Melbourne Racing Club boss Ashley Curnow said things were changing and young people were getting back into racing.

“About 15 to 20 years ago, the Caulfield Cup was definitely such a young crowd,” she said.

“Then it faltered, but now it’s definitely a resurgence and we have a lot of initiatives aimed at that younger group.

“So it’s certainly not a coincidence that that kind of audience is falling … we’re trying to get younger people on the track.”

In 2023, the Victorian Government also relaxed public drinking laws, meaning it is no longer a crime to be drunk on Melbourne Cup Day.

This means young people can have fun this year without fear of arrest or a $1,160 fine.