Australian racing officials are raising eyebrows for organizing a dwarf racing event dubbed “Midget Cup” in Melbourne to hype Victoria state’s annual carnival.
The event held at the Cranbourne Cup this past Sunday had three men racing down a track with dwarfs adorned in jockey clothing riding piggyback. The stunt has been slammed by government officials and advocacy groups.
“Well look, there’s often a fine line between a bit of fun and a silly stunt and I think this falls into the latter category,” said Victorian racing minister Rob Hulls.
“I mean the Midget’s Cup for goodness sake. It’s certainly no way of promoting this great Spring Carnival right around the world, right around Australia and right throughout Victoria.”
Stuart Laing, a manager at Racing Victoria, stated that the dwarf race was meant to be “harmless fun,” but did end up apologizing and mentioned that the event would not see a repeat performance.
“We understand that you can’t please everyone and if anyone’s offended by the events of Sunday then we apologize to them,” he said.
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