Taylor Swift is a late scratching from this year’s Melbourne Cup festivities.
The pop superstar’s reps announced on the weekend that scheduling changes to the Asian leg of her promotional tour meant she’ll no longer be able to perform on Melbourne Cup Day, set for Nov. 5 at Flemington Race Court.
“Regrettably, Taylor is no longer able to make it to this year’s Melbourne Cup,” comments Michael Gudinski, chairman of Mushroom Group, whose affiliated Mushroom Events company is organizing the race’s music program.
“Changes to her Asian promo schedule have made it logistically impossible for her to be here,” Gudinski adds. ”To all of Taylor’s fans, we hope to see Taylor in Australia in 2020.”
Neil Wilson, CEO of Victoria Racing Club, which conducts the famous race, said the situation “obviously… is disappointing for everyone. We understand how important the pre-Cup entertainment is and we look forward to providing an update shortly.”
The Melbourne Cup was to be Swift’s only public appearance in Australia this year, following the release of her seventh studio album, Lover, which flew to No. 1 on the ARIA Albums Chart earlier this month, her fifth chart leader in these parts.
The “Shake It Off” singer was set to perform two hits from the album in the mounting yard ahead of the annual event known Down Under as “the race that stops a nation.”
Lover is the single biggest selling album for 2019 in Australia, achieving the highest one-week sales since the release of her previous album, 2017’s Reputation.
TayTay visited Australia in November 2018 for her Reputation stadium tour, produced by Live Nation, and before that lapped the country in 2015 on her 1989 tour, promoted by Frontier Touring, a Mushroom Group company.