It may not have been the party it is most years, but horses or no horses Sydney's finest still came out in force to celebrate the Melbourne Cup at Randwick racecourse.

However, instead of teeming with racegoers, the popular trackside grassy area was empty, in part due to the lack of horses but mostly due to the grey clouds which threatened to, and frequently did, dampen the day's proceedings.

Equine influenza has taken its toll on the NSW racing industry with all metropolitan meetings cancelled until December 1.

Even Melbourne's spring carnival was under threat but EI seemed to be turned away at the Victorian border.

So for race-deprived Sydneysiders what better excuse than to don their finery and step out to watch a large TV and drink champagne in a collective mass?

"We were never here for the horses in the first place," patron Cassandra Lucas said.

Some Randwick attendees said today's event meant for the first time they were concentrating more on the horses.

"Because it's raining and because of the lack of people there's not much else to do but watch the racing," Rachael Tunney from Sydney said.

"You can't help but concentrate on the horses."

Randwick head chef George Mullen said under a quarter of the usual crowd was present. Only 20,000 bottles of beer and 10,000 of sparkling wine were ordered for today's festivities, down from the usual 100,000 and 40,000 respectively.

"[Today's orders] are just a splash in the pond," Mr Mullen said.

Instead of the usual 800 kilograms of prawns, he had ordered under 200; when he would ordinarily order 1000 dozen oysters, he downsized to 300 dozen; and 250 kilograms of salmon was sufficient instead of the normal 750 kilograms.

And, most importantly, only a quarter of the average number of pies were ordered, 2500, down from 10,000.

But there seemed more than enough champers and pies to go around, and what's more, fewer queues than there have been in past years.

No queueing for the bar, ample food supplies, no lines for the toilets - and, instead of crowding around the TVs to watch the big race, people easily managed to get a view from one of the big screens.

Maybe they should consider racing-free Melbourne Cup Day at Randwick more often.

AAP