The Everest: Gytrash can give Valerie Gordon, 92, another special racing memory
From Phar Lap and Bernborough, 92-year-old Valerie Gordon has seen it all in Australian racing, and she also saw something special in The Everest hopeful Gytrash, which is why she jumped on-board as a part-owner.
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Valerie Gordon was born before Phar Lap started racing but her memory of the legendary champion has faded.
“Phar Lap was just before my time,’’ Ms Gordon said.
“But I’ve always loved horse racing and I do remember in 1936, when I was only eight years old, I very carefully cut a photo out of the newspaper of Wotan winning the Melbourne Cup.’’
Wotan is one of only four horses to win the Cup at odds of 100/1. His unexpected victory came as the world was coming out of the Great Depression but about to descend into the dark days of World War II.
Ms Gordon lived through both of those historic events, and many others since. At 92 years young, hers has been an enduring, remarkable life.
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And, another compelling chapter in her extraordinary life story is about to be written as she is a part-owner of Gytrash, a starter in the world’s richest turf race, the $15 million The TAB Everest at Royal Randwick on October 17.
It all began when Ms Gordon was watching online when Gytrash was purchased by trainer Gordon Richards for $40,000 at the 2017 Inglis Premier Yearling Sale.
“I like the stallion, Lope De Vega, I have bought shares in a few horses by him before,’’ she said.
“With this horse, Gytrash, I liked his pedigree.’’
Ms Gordon found Richards’s phone number and rang him out of the blue.
“I didn’t know of Valerie before she made the call,’’ Richards said.
“She introduced herself and asked for a 10 per cent share in the yearling I had just bought but when I told her I trained out of Adelaide, she backed off and decided not to go ahead with it.
“Then, five minutes later she called back and took five per cent of the horse.’’
So, what was it about Gytrash that prompted Ms Gordon to make that second phone call?
“A combination of a little bit of acumen and a lot of luck,’’ was Ms Gordon’s explanation.
This quaint little sentence could also be Ms Gordon’s life mantra.
The road she has travelled to get to this point in her life has taken many detours. The one constant has been horse racing.
She remembers going to the races with her father and twin sister for the first time in 1943. She remembers the champions like the mighty Bernborough, an inaugural Hall of Fame inductee, who won 15 consecutive races during the year after the War ended.
“Bernborough was the most extraordinary horse I’ve ever come across,’’ Ms Gordon said.
“He would beat the sprinters on one Saturday and then beat the stayers the next Saturday carrying huge weights. I have him above the other champions because he could sprint and stay.’’
Ms Gordon was taking this interviewer on a walk down memory lane. Listening to her speak in such a scholarly, measured tone was spellbinding, her powers of recall astonishing.
“I went to England to teach after the War,’’ she revealed. “I spent seven years in East London teaching at primary schools.
“The British Government trained me because they needed teachers. They were letting people with no degrees or teaching experience go over there to be trained and teach.’’
Britain is the cradle of thoroughbred racing and Ms Gordon wanted to use her time there to watch the world’s oldest and most prestigious classic, the Epsom Derby – until English autocracy got in her way.
“They were going to give me a day off for the Chelsea Flower Show but I asked instead if I could go to the Epsom Derby which was run on a Wednesday in those years,’’ she said.
“But the principal wouldn’t give me the time off – for the Chelsea Flower Show yes, for the Derby, no. So I went to school.’’
Ms Gordon eventually returned to Sydney and continued teaching English at various high schools.
“Fort Street High was my last school, I was there for six years before I retired,’’ she said.
“A school like Fort Street, the kids want to learn, it was a pleasure to teach at that school.
“The real challenge for a teacher is when you end up in a school where the kids don’t want to learn.
“Some of the kids don’t realise the secret of success is to get a decent education.’’
The question had to be asked: “What does a lady who has devoted her life to teaching English think of the way the language is misused today?”
Her answer was typically articulate and enlightening: “English is a living language so it will move,’’ she said.
“Someone once said that cliches are dead poetry but when they were first said, everyone thought they were great before they became hackneyed. That’s English, it just keeps changing.’’
The subject of the interview returned to Gytrash, the Group 1-winning sprinter Inglis snapped up for their slot in The TAB Everest.
Gytrash is being readied to make his Sydney race debut against the nation’s fastest horse and early Everest favourite, Nature Strip, in the Group 3 $160,000 Concorde Stakes (1000m) at Royal Randwick next Saturday.
“I think Gytrash is absolutely marvellous,’’ Ms Gordon said.
“I also think Gordon Richards is the right trainer because he doesn’t over-race the horse and he has done a wonderful job with him. He has given the horse every chance.’’
Ms Gordon had never even met her trainer until they had lunch together just a few days ago. She has never seen Gytrash, either.
The coronavirus restrictions mean access to Gytrash at the stables is very limited while a day at the races for the part-owner has become an ordeal but she is planning to be there on Everest Day.
“About three or four years ago I stopped going to the races because it made me so tired,’’ Ms Gordon said.
“I tell you what, being old is not too bad except you get very tired. You just get so tired.
“But all being well I will go out on Everest Day. I haven’t been to an Everest before but it seems such an exciting day. To have Gytrash running in the race is an experience I don’t want to miss.’’