Protester dumps '1,000 litres of oily sludge' onto Melbourne Cup course

A self-confessed ‘problem gambler’ dumped ‘1,000 litres of oily sludge’ onto Flemington Racecourse just hours before the running of this year’s Melbourne Cup.

Video footage appeared to show two people running onto the racecourse in the early hours of Tuesday morning and releasing gallons of black liquid onto the course where horses would be running later that day.

The dark liquid has not been confirmed, but in a statement the protestor said it was an ‘oily’ substance that was being dumped because of an environmental row over the erection of a wall near the Maribyrnong river, which has been built to protect the racecourse from flood waters at the risk of diverting them towards nearby homes.

The Victoria Racing Club confirmed the incident took place on Tuesday morning and said that officials had cleaned an area of the course near the 1,500 metre mark to a sufficient level that it was safe for racing to go ahead.