Elliott, the VRC's first female chairman in its 153-year history after being elected unopposed last year, has made a boost to the purse for Australia's great race the main priority on her end-of-year wish-list.

The Melbourne Cup's total prizemoney has been stagnant at $6 million since 2010, losing its mantle as the country's richest race to the marketing machine that was last month's inaugural The Everest at Randwick.

The 1200-metre sprint also holds the tag as the world's richest race on turf.

But the Melbourne Cup is expected to have an inflated prize pool as the VRC put the finishing touches on a revamped race for 2018, but it is unlikely to match The Everest which could swell to $13 million for its second running.

"We haven't looked at it for years," Elliott told Fairfax Media. "Of course it needs addressing. But it's not in response to The Everest. It needs addressing any way.

"They've done a great job [with The Everest] and in its first year it's been a terrific success. Ours is a completely different event. It's a group 1 handicap race known all over the world where half the field is international.

"We were the first ones to pay down to 10th and we were the first ones to have the big $6.2 million race. It is a unique event and we should be celebrating it. Let's build on it and be proud of what we've got."

The VRC will unveil a new naming rights sponsor for next year's Melbourne Cup in 2018, global airline Emirates opting not to extend its association for another year after pouring tens of millions of dollars into the race.

They are still negotiating whether to keep the rights to Stakes Day, the final meeting of the four-day Cup carnival.

"Their brand is pretty mature in Australia and it has shot the lights out for them in terms of raising their profile in Australia," Elliott said.

"When they started with us I think they had five flights a week from here to London. They're now at some extraordinary number.

"Let me assure you there was no shortage of people who wanted [naming rights to the Melbourne Cup]. It's an amazing asset."

Jeweller Kennedy has swooped on the branding rights to the Victoria Oaks, vacated by Crown this year.

Elliott's ambitious blueprint for the VRC will include the official unveiling of the new $120 million grandstand for the 2018 spring carnival, its redevelopment only slightly stifling the crowd for Derby day on Saturday.

The VRC is still hoping for 100,000 people to roll through the gates for the Melbourne Cup, which features a record 11 overseas-trained horses in the field.

Elliott owns "a strand of a hair" in the Chris Waller-trained Libran, which will start at big odds to repel the northern hemisphere invasion.

"Half the field is international and we would hate it to be 100 per cent international participants," Elliott said. "It's as much for the locals as it is for the internationals, but the prizemoney is the first thing we need to look at.

"Next year is a real page turner for this organisation. There will be the grandstand chapter, there'll be the new Melbourne Cup sponsor chapter, there'll be prizemoney chapter, the racing strategy chapter.

"In some ways racing has been absent - the big long-term vision - it has been so focused on tomorrow. It's focused on the stuff that happens down in the weeds and it becomes much bigger than it should be.

"People say my vision is ambitious, but isn't that what we should be doing? Does anyone start driving across Australia on an ambitious journey if they don't have a roadmap?"

Elliott, just the second female committee member of the VRC, said she remains "very, very proud" of her standing in racing's history books on the eve of her first Melbourne Cup as chairman.