HOW THE MELBOURNE CUP WINNER WAS TRAINED

Otago Witness, Issue 2490, 4 December 1901, Page 49

HOW THE MELBOURNE CUP WINNER WAS TRAINED

In the latent Sydney Mail to hand, the *\ ell-known writer "Mihoy" tells how Revenue, the winner of the ]JeM.ourne Cup. was brought to the post. There is untold wisdom in what the writer <-ays about horses getting cunning- and lazy through bo : ag too much on the same training track. It is frequently noticeable that some traiurrs work their horses on the Training tracks and then walk tltem about the course until the horses know every blade of gras3 on the laud. Where t« o training tracks are available it would only bp judicious to use both if tb& going was fairly good. At tlip Forburv hi the old d.iys some* trainers would work their charges and then walk them round and! lound the outside paddock until wmr of the neddys became a3 listless as a log of wood.i More than one authority on trairiKur ea"?

i horse should be made to walk fairly briskly when taking that exercise, and not allowed to crawl. And it is also only reasonable that horses should occasionally be walked "over the hills and far away" as a change from the monotonous up and down and round and round business some trainers bestow ou the equines under their charge. To return to the Melbourne Cup winner, the (writer previously quoted says: Revenue is 'the most discussed Cup winner we have had ttor many a year. Winning the Cup without having had a public race or two for }J2 months Is regarded as a phenomenal performance, and a triumph for his trainer. Every trainer of experience had long since concluded that it was next thing to an impossibility to string a horee up to concert ipitch in private for such a severe two-mile a-ace as the Melbourne Cup, and for these reasons the majority, of them would not «tasid Revenue. Veiy few men have had so !much experience as Mr Macclonald with Cup (horses, and it was argued that nobody better l&new what was required of a Cup winner [than he ; consequently not a few on this ,side of the Murray would not take the backing of Revenue seriously until the last few 'days. They preferred to place their money 'on such public performers as Ban- Fran, JfWakeful, and Hymettus to backing an unknown quantity. One very old Sydney stager, who has seen many Melbourne Cups and has been mixed up in many big coups in connection with that race, was very emphatic in his opinion about Wakeful and •Revenue. He laughed at the reports of the [fcrials 'between, the pair, and gave scores of •instances in which the public performer beat [the bottled-up stable favourite when the 'colours were up, and he kept on backing [.Wakeful, ignoring her mate. Though Revenue had aot been out under colours for a year, Mr Macdonald managed to season him /well enough to win' without running in public. Now, after the race- is over and the anoney pouched, Mr Macdonald's methods bave leaked out. Within easy reach of his training grounds at Mordialloc are AspenSdale, Mentcop, and Sandown Park racecourses. Old horaes get knowing and used «o the track they do their .preparation on, and are not always inclined to fully extend themselves upon it, but if galloped upon a 'eti-ange track they invariably put their beet h leg forward. Instead of trying Revenue on ihe Epsom track, -where the horse had done 'all his work, Mr Macdonald used to take !him to one of the adjacent courses, and with the colours up, put him in with some cther3. This looked like business to the horse, and results almost as good as a public race were obtained without the public being any the wiser. Opinion among the returned Sydney r trainers is fairly general that San Fran was fUnlucky to lose the Cup, and that Revenue is a very game horse, but not an every-day w>ne like San Fran; but Mr Daly thinks that could have won with another stone jhad he been raced. It was generally thought «fchat Mr Macdonald did not enter Revenue Sor tie V.R.C. w.f.a. races in fear of draw'ang marked attention to the horse by the public and the handicapper, but a Sydney itrainer who ia very intimate with the owner «f the Cup winner tells me that the horse t-"wast -"was no good whatever until the beginning of October, when, in a rough gallop with .Wakeful, he showed some of that form ■which Mr Macdonald had been patiently expecting from him since he was a two-year-old. Another gallop showed +hat Revenue -3iad come on suddenly and unexpectedly, end after Wakeful won the Caulfield Stakes •iMr Macdonald put in his Revenue commission for the Melbourne Cup, but it was mot until after the Caulfield Cup that he discovered the full strength of the good thing he had in hand.

During our time we have had endless instances of errors in judgment or mistakes feeing made by trainers who prepared their torses on private tracks away from the excitement and bustle of the city. Numerous instances can be mentioned in connection .■with the Chipping Norton, Mill Park, and »3t. Albans stables. In times past they have 'brought down horses from Chipping Norton and let them run loose, their home form mot warranting their backing. They have (.won, and on returning home have "been jbadly beaten in a trial by a free goer' like •Hopscotch, who, on the strength of the liome form, was often backed heavily, but Sailed. Once upon a time 3lr Long had at Chipping Norton a fine Trenton colt named taerard, who was doing fair work, and was fudged to hare a chance in the Doncaster (Handicap, but when the time came to try |iim the Chipping Norton course was under ivater, and Tom Brown arranged with the Hate Mr William Forrester to have a trial on Warwick Farm. Mr Forrester was then preparing Donizetti for the Dcocaster, and 'pad tried him to have a good chance in that race. Gerard came over with several others, 'and a real searching trial took .place. The strange surroundings, the colours, and what •:not stirred Gerard out of his usual apathy. ; and he put up a splendid trial — one that was •seconds faster than Donizetti's. So Mr For- ■ trester let 'bis horse run for the stakes, and he - backed Gerard, who got a bad start asid ■was never in it, but Donizetti won handily an fast time. If Donizetti had been taken across to Chipping Norton and tried, the rhance3 are he would have beaten Gerard' 3 foest go by seconds, but at home he would not show his best. "When "young" Jim .Wilson used to briajr his horses from Queenscliff to Chipping Norton they used to "knock spots" off Tom Brown's lot while the course was new to them, but when they settled down to the daily grind they loafed, as the others did. Once the confederates made a disastrous mistake with Ruenalf's Ibandsome little sistei, Patroness, and that corking good mare Quiver. Patroness was foeiag got ready for the Sydney Cup. "Young Jim" brought Quivei over for the same race, so a trial was arranged between the pair at Cup weights over the Cup disance. Quiver beat the Chipping Norton filly out of sight, and all the money went on Wilson's beautiful Trenton filly, but away from home, with the colours up, Patroness was a different animal, and in the real race, after a ding dong finish, she just beat Quiver. It was much the same when Tom Brown took ihia horses to "Victoria and trained on WilBon's private track. Some years ago Brown took the magnificent Patrol over to Victoria, and arrived ia time to assist at a Newmarket Handicap trial between his brother Joe's ihorse, Fernando, and "Wilson's filly Magic Circle. Tom Brown sent Patrol with them to carry them along for a few furlongs. Patrol carried big bar shoes, and the Newmarketers were stripped ; but, shoes and all, the bn? brown romped over the pair. After this Tom Brown was Sir Oracle in all the fireside talkt that followed.