THE MELBOURNE CUP

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 75, Issue 6441, 3 November 1947, Page 5

THE MELBOURNE CUP

TO-MORROW’S BIG HAY AT FLEMINGTON SOME PECULIARITIES CONNECTED WITH THE RACE (By “Old Rowley”) Although the monetary gap which made the Melbourne Cup of past years stand out has been bridged by the breath catching prizes which are being offered in other parts of Australasia, our own Auckland Cup being an example, the big Flemington contest still dominates the romantic minds of race-goers and even many of those who do not ordinarily have any interest in the “sport of kings.” To-morrow, when the flags are flying and bookmakers are laying their odds against the #ld calculation of the totalisator, there will be many sportsmen sitting back dreaming of past glories as down the course of time come thundering the wraiths of Marti ni<Henry; Carbine (li890), of imperishable fame, whose records still stand; Apologue (1907), Sasanof (1916), Nightmarch (1929), whose progeny now grace the turf with conspicuous and traditional courage; the immortal Phar Lap (1930), which the younger generation have as their own particular hero; Wotan (1936), which won a fortune for his connections and set the Australian public gasping when his 100 to 1 victory caused bookmakers to sigh so heavily with relief that they nearly blew the Flemington grandstand down;, and last, but not least, Catalogue, winner of three Winter Cups, between two of which he sandwiched his Melbourne Cup victory. Through the war years the New Zealand representation was necessarily weak, and as yet our thoroughbreds have not been organised properly for an assault on this great race, and so to-morrow in the main the Dominion link is not over-strong—-not as interesting as it would be if one of our sportsmen had specially prepared and sent over an equine challenger. Almost a Tradition More than any other racing event in Australasia has the Melbourne Cup, in a traditional style, built up a fund of anecdotes and peculiarities, like Shadow King, which raced year after year into a minor placing in the big handicap, and in his declining years was still to be seen on the racecourse, carrying one of the police troopers doinv duty for the day. Shadow King died in 1944, but his memory will linger on as the gamest and perhaps unluckiest of Cup runners, for I doubt if any other equine contested as many Melbourne Cups as he did, with such consistency. The Melbourne Cup is not merely a horse race: it has become a legendary event by which other occurrences are dated. If you have never backed the winner of the Cup or drawn it in a sween you live in hope of doing so, for this is the hallmark. If you have been fortunate, then you never forget the year, the horse, or the it paid, and you dream of the day when you will repeat the performance unless you happened to back the 100 to 1 shot, in which case you almost invariably become an inveterate follower of the favourite, and favourites have not an exceptionally good record in this race.

I have yet to find the office or workroom worthy of those names which fails to hold a sweep on the Cup, and perhaps the greatest thrill of allgreater than the calculated thousands which punters at times collect—-is the fifty bob or so the office girl collects, for has she not “ won the Cup ?” On Picking a Winner

The history of the Melbourne Cup is surrounded by the oddest and the strangest of facts. They can be found in books, pamphlets, and magazines, but few sportsmen bother with them. They carry the facts in their heads, and in them there is just the right amount of uncertainty which time brings with a dimming of memory to make argument possible. It is not uncommon to find the betting about the date on which the first aluminium shoe was worn or on the first jockey to be presented with a gold whip at Wirth’s Circus. Winners have been picked by means of dreams, astrology numerology, pins and, occasionally, on form, plus breeding. Racing is like that, in its glorious uncertainty; a pin through the programme is just as likely to point the winner as the sanest judge of horse-flesh ever born. One of the most famous dreams is worth recounting, even though it has been told “a thousand times and more.” It occurred in 1870 to Walter Craig, the owner of Nimblefoot; he dreamed that he had seen his horse win, but that the jockey wore a crepe arm-band. The dream was fulfilled “ to the letter,” says a writer of the time. “Nimblefoot won, and his rider wore a black arm-band: he was in mourning for Walter Craig, who had died just before the race.”

The Racecourse Flemington was named after Robert Fleming, who navigated the river which runs at the back of the course, and he established a butchery business in what became known as Fleming Town, and later Flemington. The racecourse is shaped like a pear, is a mile three furlongs and 111 yards in circumference, and has a straight of two furlongs and fifty yards, from which will be seen that the first horse into the straight is by no means necessarily first home. Of course the Cup is run traditionally on the first Tuesday in November, and although there have been breaks through the war years, it is now back to Tuesday, on which a more or less public holiday is declared and the atmosphere becomes one of carnival, for a great many people who attend are not habitual race-follow-ers. Nevertheless, race day is greatly changed from the 1870’s, when Mr James Thompson recorded:—

“In addition to booths and tents on the flat, there were colossal women, infant prodigies, living skeletons, Swiss-bearded ladies, freaks, and other monstrosities. Cask bookmakers abounded, and a thriving business was done by the promoters of one shilling and two-shilling sweeps. “ Parties of grotesquely-dressed

rascals in striped waistcoats, with false whiskers, were- calling out: ‘ We are getting up a sweep—£2 the winner.’ The money simply poured in, one of them pretending to write down the names while his colleagues collected the money. A sweep would be declared filled quickly, and then a move would be made to another part of the course, and the operation repeated. When the winners of the sweeps went in search of their money, however the organisers were conspicuous by their absence. “ We were however” Mr Thompson said, “afforded some gratification when welshers were ducked in the strong-smelling mud of Saltwater River.” Could present-day race-goers visualise such free-and-easy goings-on at, say, Ellerslie, on 26th December, 1947? Odd Facts ■ A strange incident in connection with the Mielbourne Cup is that in 1867 two horses were named Tim Whiffier. Confusion was avoided by calling them Sydney Tim and Melbourne Tim. The former started at five to two, and won. Melbourne Tim finished fifth. Another unusual occurence that year was the running of the race on Thursday, 31st October. An Englishman named Marshall won a horse in a game of cards from an Australian countryman. The horse was Toryboy, winner of the Cup in 1865. In 1866, when The Barb won, Falcon finished third, but the judge did not place him, so the stewards took it upon themselves to do justice to « Falcon. There have been many accidents in the Cup. At the first meeting three horses fell at the home turn. In 1877 a horse named Waxy fell. Next year Chester ran against a post and broke his rider’s leg. In 1881 Wheater fell over a dog in the straight and brought down Surwarrow. Spade Guinea broke a shoulder and Ensign a fetlock in 1888. Three years later Coblam fell, broke both forelegs, and brought down three other horses. In 1892 Pilot Boy crashed, with two others going over him. Merton Steel crashed in 1902, and his rider, N. D. Godby, had a leg broken. In 1904 Wairiki, an Auckland hope, broke his off-shoulder. In 1908 Dyed Garments fell in the first furlong; Mountain Knight broke a shoulder in 1915; and Bezique suffered a similar accident in 1922. The running of the Cup has been postponed on two occasions—in 1870 and in 1916, when the New Zealander, Sasanof, won. Considering the toughness of the opposition the record of New Zealand horses over the years is a remarkably good one, and it says much when one looks through the handicaps and finds, as a general rule, particularly in iater years, that the handicapper invariably places the New Zealand entries as far up the list as he can get them and be fair and sound in his assessments. It is of interest to note that the 1904 Auckland colt Wairiki, although he broke- his off-shoulder, was saved for the stud, and did service for several seasons in the Auckland province, but he sired nothing approaching his own quality as a galloper. The Field for To-morrow With the final acceptances totalling thirty-four it appears as though luck in the running will play an important part in the decision of the 1947 Melbourne Cup, and post positions may influence public choice. The opening of the Victoria Racing Club’s carnival on Saturday last saw Cup horses in Columnist, Proctor, Dark Marne, Don Pedro, Hiraji, Beau Gem (which won the Victoria Derby), Lashio, and Fresh Boy all in the limelight. • Reports from Sydney commentators and sports writers still find them confident that Proctor has a second-to-none chance of succeeding, and it is a long time since Sydneyites have been so confident However. Don Pedro won the McKinnon Stakes in determined fashion, and Columnist finished so strongly that they must again be hard to beat; then, too, in the big Cup field Proctor will run more risk of being hemmed in or knocked about than he did when he met trouble on Saturday.

With a very wide track at the two miles start, which is down the straight six, it appears, according to the secretary of the V.R.C., Mr K. A. Morrison, that 35 or 36 horses will be the limit field. Mr Morrison also stated, prior to the closing of acceptances on Saturday, that it was hoped to obviate balloting, a feature which was somewhat disturbing to punters. Naturally many were nervous that one or two of the good horses would be eliminated in a ballot, and with so much money at stake that would have been a severe blow to them. The sys? tem used in balloting is that poor performers are withdrawn first, and older horses with minor winning records. Even so, there is sometimes a dry one tucked away among these—for example, W.otan, Old Rowley, Catalogue, Colonus, Kinsburgh, The Vivtory, Clean Sweep, etc.—-which would cause heart-burning among the connections and close friends of these dark horses. The one-time outstanding New Zealand jockey, and now successful trainer Maurice McCarten is .hopeful of.winning with one of his pair, and Darby Munro, already winner of three Melbourne Cups on Peter Pan, Sirius, and Russia (last year), hopes to equal the record of R. Lewis when he rides Murray Stream to-morrow. “ Cardigan,” writing in the Melbourne Herald, states that should Munro achieve success in tomorrow’s race he will most probably put away his gear and retire from, riding. Favouritism seems to be spread among Columnist, Proctor, Murray Stream, Don Pedro, Beau Gem, Hiraji, Valcuri, and Fresh Boy. Following are the acceptors:— Columnist 9.5, Good Idea, Valvurl 9.1, Proctor, Don Pedro 9.0, Murray Stream 8.11, Sweet Chime, Amelia 8.6, Kerry Lad 8.2, Buonarroti Boy 7.13, Dark Marne 7.12, Hiraji 7.11, Open Air, Orthodox 7.9, Bannerette, Chanak, Gayness, Miss Prim, Royal Scot, Sir Actor, Star of India 7.6, Glamis Star 7.5, Clatterbag, King’s Walk 7.4, Beau Gem, El Senor, Faunus 7.3, Conductor, Embrolita 7.1, Lashio, Red Fury 7.0, Robert Bruce 6.11, Fresh Boy, Leonatus 6.10. Kerry Lad, Hiraji, and Fresh Boy are New Zealand-bred horses. The race will start at 3 p.m. (5 p.m. New Zealand time).