Elliott is the first female chair of the VRC, one of the world's most revered racing clubs, and the quotation is of special significance for a woman with the passion and drive to achieve success and prosperity for horse racing.

"Never was so much owed by so many to so few."

The link is Elliott's father, Ian Bayles, who left Australia in the late 1930s and, after studying law for a year at Cambridge, was co-opted into the air force, where he flew Spitfires in the Battle of Britain.

In between sorties over the English Channel, Bayles married his bride near the end of the Second World War and was decorated as one of the most distinguished flyers to go up against the Germans.

On the death of his father, Bayles arrived back in Australia with his new English bride and settled his family on a sprawling property on the banks of the Murray river at Seymour.

Elliott and her twin sister, born soon after they returned from England, were educated at an all-girls private school.

However, Elliott broke with the tradition of the times by studying politics and Asian languages at Melbourne University.

University for the young woman living on a farm at Seymour made her question policies and government decisions.

"My father, a right-wing Liberal, was mortified that his little daughter was a card-carrying socialist attending demonstrations against the sitting government," she said.

After graduating Elliott gained a position on former prime minister Gough Whitlam's team when he swept to power in the 1970s.

The Labor PM made an indelible mark on the young woman who recalled: "He was a man with a towering intellect and could debate anyone on any issue."

After script-writing and researching for Whitlam, Elliott was soon married and living in Scotland, but after a decade that relationship was faltering and her parents wrote inviting her to return to Australia for the 1985 Melbourne Cup.

"They said for the first time Fosters will be sponsoring the race, it's worth $1 million and Charles and Lady Di are going to present the cup and we think you need a break."

By the last race that day the then Amanda Bayles bumped into a brash businessman and within three years Amanda and John Elliott were one of the best-known couples in Australian society.

"But John [Elliott] was a dynamic businessman, always near or around acquisitions. Our life was quite amazing. He exuded passion for the Carlton Football Club, too. He worked tirelessly and never gave up. It was an insight on how we can embrace our sport," she said.

Elliott points to a letter she has just written to Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull asking if he could embrace Australia's greatest race by doing a small, short film clip when the Melbourne Cup travels to Canberra.

She is justly proud of the Melbourne Cup and pointed to Australian sporting success around the globe. "I've lived in a lot of parts of the world and I know Australians punch above their weight," she said.

Elliott maintains that the VRC has been wrongly labelled as having a "revolving door of CEOs" over the years.

"Dale Monteith was here for a decade. His successor within months tragically came down with a life-threatening illness but since then we've had Julian Sullivan and then Simon Love, who's decided to move on.

"He was specifically brought in for his strategic planning and all of those plans are now well under way, but he did a marvellous job."

She said talk of high-profile sponsors walking away from the four-day carnival were totally inaccurate.

"AAMI have re-signed, talks are on-going for the Melbourne Cup, and next month we've got to decide on three companies vying to become the sponsor of the Oaks."

Elliott acknowledges that crowds are down but said that "acknowledging it is not good enough, nor is it the VRC way".

She is determined to garner as much feedback from her huge membership as possible. She admits there are some brilliant minds out there and they must be canvassed.

She is also proud of her board. "We have a gender balance on the board, four women, four men, and the other three women are here on merit. Tokenism has never had, or will have, a place at our club.

"My father and men like him fought for the freedom that we enjoy in Australia. But, as he always said, even through two world wars prime ministers demanded that the race go ahead.

"It's never not been run. And those in the Middle East, New Guinea or flying above England or even in Iraq, the broadcast of the Melbourne Cup means so much to so many and aren't we just lucky to have it here in Melbourne."