A massive crowd has flocked to Randwick for Epsom day but no one left the track with more mixed emotions than a mother-son pair of AFL fans.

After the on-course action of the Metropolitan, the final Group One of the nine-race card, hundreds of the 14,087 race-goers turned their attention south to watch the thrilling last quarter of the AFL grand final.

There were wild celebrations under the marquee as about 880 kilometres away Dom Sheed put the Eagles in front with two minutes remaining on their way to a stirring premiership victory by five points.

But one young family was somewhat subdued.

Dressed in black and white, Kelly Wishart hugged her West Coast jersey-wearing son Harvey after the final siren.

The Perth-based family wound up in Sydney for the weekend despite the matriarch's attempt to bolt to Melbourne to watch her side.

"We came to Sydney on holiday and I tried really hard to get a ticket," she said.

"I couldn't afford to come from Perth but I could afford to get to Sydney from Melbourne."

The die-hard Collingwood fan was glad her plans to make a last-minute dash to the MCG fell through.

"I'm actually glad I'm not there now," she said.

"But Harvey would have loved to have been there."

Despite just witnessing his first flag as a West Coast fan, the nine-year-old boy was busy thinking about the welfare of his heart-broken mother.

"She's been a great supporter. She's been to a couple of Collingwood games against the Eagles in Perth," he said.

"I'm very sorry for her."

On the racing side, Hartnell won the main event, the Epsom Handicap, Oohood took out the Flight Stakes for three-year-old fillies and Patrick Erin the Metropolitan Handicap.