The Herald Sun has partnered with Racing Victoria to uncover the greatest moments of the Spring Racing Carnival.
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Victoria’s Spring Racing Carnival has produced some of the most momentous events in racing. Chief racing writer Leo Schlink reveals his top 25 moments - which will be his No.1?
Melbourne’s fabulous Spring Racing Carnival is synonymous with barely imaginable highs and crushing lows.
For more than a century and a half, the post-winter extravaganza has become a magnet for racing devotees and those with only a passing interest as bluebloods – horses and humans – compete for glory.
Champion gallopers and their handlers have shaped the carnival since the 1860s.
The Spring Racing Carnival has produced some of the most momentous events in racing history.
With thousands of epic moments to choose from, award-winning chief racing writer Leo Schlink has scoured the records and history books to uncover the best of the best.
Here, he reveals his top 25 Spring Racing Carnival moments. Which great moment will be his No.1?
25. Trainer David Hayes, right, and dad Colin help then prime minister Bob Hawke with the form guide at Flemington on Derby Day in 1990. Picture: Jay Town
25. David Hayes’ six, 1990 Derby Day
Three months into his dad Colin’s succession plan, Hayes trained a world-record six Group 1 winners on Derby Day: Wrap Around, Beachside, Raise A Rhythm, Planet Ruler, Mount Olympus and Better Loosen Up. At just 28, Hayes was overwhelmed by the spree: "It happened too early in my career. I'd only been training three months. Dad had planned to step down and give me a dream team; he had his record year then he retired. Then I took them on. We did it together. He said, ‘This is the time’. He wasn't well. But he wouldn't step down unless the team was strong." Apart from Bart Cummings' massive hauls, only Lloyd Williams’ six Cup wins comes close in terms of dominance.
24. Delta Blues, closest to the rails, beats Pop Rock to make it a 2006 Melbourne Cup quinella for Japanese trainer Katsuhiko Sumii. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
24. Delta Blues and Pop Rock, 2006 Melbourne Cup
If Vintage Crop and Dermot Weld were responsible for Ireland's Cinderella Melbourne Cup story in 1993 (see No.10 on this list), Japan cemented the grand old handicap's place on the international stage in 2006. A year after Makybe Diva's trilogy was completed (see No.2 on this list), stablemates Delta Blues (Yasanuri Iwata) and Pop Rock (Damien Oliver) quineallaed the Cup for Katsuhiko Sumii. If not for the outbreak of equine influenza, Japan's stamp on the race might have been even more profound. As it is, the Cup’s global status is spread from the east to France (Dunaden and Americain), Ireland (Media Puzzle and Rekindling), Germany (Protectionist) and England (Cross Counter). In 2006, the gaping authority of the Japanese was evidenced by the 4.5-length margin to third place-getter Maybe Better. Irish champion Yeats was seventh.
23. Damien Oliver on Northerly, Kerrin McEvoy on Viscount and Greg Childs on Sunline during the 2001 Cox Plate. Picture: Craig Hughes
23. Northerly, 2001 Cox Plate
Controversy shadowed Northerly’s ascent into the nation’s weight-for-age pantheon of greats after a pinball finish ended Sunline’s quest for a third straight Cox Plate win. Stalking Sunline and Viscount, Damien Oliver brought the “Fighting Tiger” down the outside but, in a messy round of bumping, the three combatants engaged in serious contact. Three protests ensued – runner-up Sunline against Northerly and Viscount against first and second – before correct weight was declared.
22. Surround set a race record in the 1976 Cox Plate at Moonee Valley, and is still the only filly to have won the race.
22. Surround, 1976 Cox Plate
The only filly in history to win the Cox Plate, Surround’s victory was also made more unusual for the fact the Valley was darkened on her afternoon of triumph by a total eclipse of the sun. Grandstand lights were turned on to compensate but there was no dulling the brilliance of the outstanding grey. Unbeaten in a 10-race stretch, Surround set a race record in the Cox Plate. Winner of the VRC, AJC and Queensland Oaks, Geoff Murphy’s wonder filly is also the last of her gender to land the Caulfield Guineas.
21. Tulloch, after the 1957 Caulfield Cup, with Sir Edmund Herring, trainer Tommy Smith, attendant Lem Bann, jockey Neville Sellwood and Peter Haley, son of the owner.
21. Tulloch, 1957 Caulfield Cup
The first three-year-old to win the race in 22 years, Tulloch did it the hard way – steaming from the rear of the field and weathering three bad checks before clearing out to win by two lengths. His time of 2:26.9 was then the fastest time for 12 furlongs recorded in the world on a grass track. Tommy Smith regarded Tulloch as his greatest horse, with his only regret being the decision of owner Evelyn Haley to scrap plans to contest the Melbourne Cup – three days after the colt won the VRC Derby by eight lengths.
20. Taufan's Melody became the Caulfield Cup’s first northern hemisphere winner after a controversial ride by jockey Ray Cochrane in 1998. Picture: Joe Sabljak
20. Taufan’s Melody, 1998 Caulfield Cup
In possibly the roughest edition of the famous 2400m handicap, jockey Ray Cochrane was hauled before stewards and charged after causing severe interference to rivals, notably Champagne and Jezabeel. Chris Munce, riding Jezabeel, told stewards it was the “worst case of interference you could imagine in a Group 1”. Champagne trainer Laurie Laxon reported his mare would recover from the battering “once we remove the running rail embedded in her”. Trained by Lady Anne Herries, Taufan’s Melody survived as the first northern hemisphere winner of the race but Cochrane was carpeted with a month-long ban and $20,000 fine.
19. Jockey Glen Boss celebrates Makybe Diva’s stunning 2005 Cox Plate win. Picture: Jay Town
19. Makybe Diva, 2005 Cox Plate
Pitted against one of the best fields assembled at the Valley, champion mare Makybe Diva duly added to her astonishing record with a triumph as decisive as it was theatrical. Flanked by a bevy of Group 1 winners, Makybe Diva was urged forward as a wall of horses formed at the 600m mark. Seven-wide, Glen Boss glanced to his left and then to his right in search of dangers and saw none. Makybe Diva surged away down the short straight, downing Lotteria and Fields Of Omagh - who would win the race twice - in one of the great editions.
18. Super Impose (outside, red cap) charges past Let's Elope, which puts the squeeze on Better Loosen Up, centre. Picture: Nicholas Wilson
18. Super Impose, 1992 Cox Plate
It was the race that had nearly everything. Thirteen of the 14 runners were Group 1 winners, boasting a collective $28 million prizemoney. Heavily favoured Naturalism came to grief with Palace Reign and Sydeston at the 600m mark. It was merely the start of the carnage. In the scramble to the line, Super Impose trucked his way past a throng of champion gallopers. And the result still had to be settled in the stewards’ room, as Let’s Elope was relegated from second to fifth for interference caused to Better Loosen Up. The saving grace was victory by one of the sport’s grand old campaigners.
17. Dulcify wins the 1979 Cox Plate by a record-breaking seven lengths.
17. Dulcify, 1979 Cox Plate
Colin Hayes was convinced the racing world never got to witness Dulcify’s best after his career was cut short in the 1979 Melbourne Cup. If so, the ’79 Cox Plate serves as a devastating reminder of what might have been. Until Winx’s procession in 2016, Dulcify’s margin over a wallowing pack of chasers was the widest in the race’s history. It was one of Brent Thompson’s four victories in the race and, clearly, the most emphatic.
16. Sunline and jockey Greg Childs charge ahead in the 2000 Cox Plate to win by seven lengths. Picture: David Geraghty
16. Sunline, 2000 Cox Plate
Defending the 1999 crown she won from Tie The Knot and Sky Heights, the Kiwi mare stamped her authority on the 2000 edition with a record-equalling seven-length margin. Her acceleration after leading for Greg Childs was breathtaking. The world’s top-rated mare, Sunline’s bid for a third consecutive Cox Plate victory ended in controversy – and the runners-up stall – behind Northerly. As a measure of her greatness, Trevor McKee’s star won 13 Group 1s from 25 attempts.
15. Jim Cassidy pumps the air after Redoute’s Choice storms home to beat arch-rival Testa Rossa in the 1999 Caulfield Guineas. Picture: Michael Klein
15. Redoute’s Choice, 1999 Caulfield Guineas
A stellar line-up of three-year-olds, including Commands, Pins, Diatribe, Align and Dangerous, was eclipsed by a two-horse war between Redoute’s Choice and Jim Cassidy, and Testa Rossa and Damien Oliver. A surprise leader, Redoute’s Choice drifted off the fence on the turn, allowing his arch-rival to charge through the gap to take the lead. As Greg Miles observed, future superstar stallion Redoute’s Choice then hauled himself “off the canvas” for the most celebrated win of his career.
14. Triumphant trainer Fred Kersley and jockey Greg Childs after Northerly’s 2002 Caulfield Cup win. Picture: Colin Murty
14. Northerly, 2002 Caulfield Cup
The “Fighting Tiger” probably shouldn’t have survived birth - he was born without a pulse after being dragged out of his mother, North Bell. From that perilous start, Northerly emerged to become one of the finest middle distance competitors in history for horseman Fred Kersley. His effort to lug 58kg to victory – a modern-day record – over 2400m against opposition including dual Cox Plate winner Fields Of Omagh marked him out as the bravest of the brave. “With 58 kilos, the way the race was run, he was always open to be run down by a lighter-weighted horse,” jockey Greg Childs said. “I knew he would be vulnerable to a lighter-weighted horse in the last 50m, but he just kept going."
13. Trainer Gai Waterhouse raises the 2013 Melbourne Cup after winning with Fiorente, ridden by Damien Oliver. Picture: Colleen Petch
13. Gai Waterhouse and Fiorente, 2013 Melbourne Cup
Racing’s first lady might have been beaten to the punch by “Granny” McDonald and Sheila Laxon (see No. 12 below), but she was duly feted for her long-awaited breakthrough with the import. In the battle of two previous runners-up, Fiorente downed Red Cadeaux. Damien Oliver notched his third Cup, less than a year after suspension for betting, and hailed Waterhouse: “I’m so rapt that I could be part of Gai’s first one. She’s done so much for racing and it’s a great honour for me to bring home her first one.”
12. Sheila Laxon, with jockey Scott Seamer, becomes the first female trainer to win the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double with Ethereal’s victory at the 2001 Cup. Picture: Craig Hughes
12. Sheila Laxon and Ethereal, 2001 Melbourne Cup
Welsh-born Kiwi Sheila Laxon went where no other female trainer had formally gone before when Ethereal became the 11th horse to complete the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup double. Ridden by Scott Seamer, Ethereal sealed her superiority as a stayer. She won all four of her races at 2400m or beyond. Laxon’s triumph served as a reminder of how far racing had progressed because it drew focus on Catalogue’s 1938 Cup success. Trained in New Zealand by Hedwick “Granny” Wilhelmina McDonald, Catalogue was “officially” trained by her husband, Allan, because the Victoria Racing Club didn’t allow horses to be trained by women.
11. Black Caviar easily wins the Patinack Farm Classic at Flemington - the superstar mare’s first Group 1. Picture: Michael Dodge
11. Black Caviar, 2010 Patinack Farm Classic
Billed as a showdown between the glitterati of Australian sprinting ranks, Black Caviar obliterated a class field to snare her first Group 1. Covering the 1200m in 1:7.96, the huge mare strolled in by four lengths – unextended with the track record seemingly at her mercy. Stand-in jockey Ben Melham replaced suspended Luke Nolen as Peter Moody’s superstar left top-liners Star Witness, Ortensia and Hay List in her wake. Black Caviar added a further 14 majors during her unbeaten 25-start career.
10. Vintage Crop was lucky to make it out of Ireland to race in the 1993 Melbourne Cup. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
10. Vintage Crop, 1993 Melbourne Cup
If not for the timely lifting of a Dublin “pea-souper”, Dermot Weld’s former hurdler would not have changed the face of the Cup. Weld capitalised on a break in the weather to fly Vintage Crop to England before the fog closed in again. The rest is history. Ridden by Mick Kinane, the chestnut bolted in to trigger the radical internationalisation of the Cup. He returned twice more to finish seventh and third, bowing out in his final career start behind Doriemus and Nothin’ Leica Dane in 1995.
9. Bart Cummings won his first Melbourne Cup with Light Fingers in 1965 and had a double with Think Big in 1974-75.
9. Bart Cummings’ Melbourne Cup dozen, 1965-2008
Seconds and minutes shape racing. Bart Cummings shaped the Melbourne Cup not for seconds or minutes, but for generations. His training association with the Cup spanned 56 years, 89 runners and 12 winners. His personal link to the Cup started when he strapped his father’s horse, Comic Court, in 1950. His first Cup runner was Asian Court (12th in 1958); his last was Precedence (6th in 2014), when the training colossus was about to turn 87. His winners include some of the greats – Light Fingers, Galilee, Red Handed, Think Big (twice), Gold And Black, Hyperno, Kingston Rule, Let’s Elope, Saintly, Rogan Josh and Viewed.
8. Might and Power, with Jimmy Cassidy on board, lives up to his name by demolishing his rivals in the 1997 Caulfield Cup. Picture: Michael Dodge
8. Might And Power, 1997 Caulfield Cup
As displays of pure, sustained pace and power go, few rival Might And Power’s demolition of a class field in one of the world’s best 2400m handicaps. Given free rein from barrier rise by Jim Cassidy, Jack Denham’s powerhouse crushed his rivals in record time, bolting in by seven lengths. While the infamously reticent Denham maintained a public stonewall and refused to speak with the media, Lee Freedman summed it up with: “The most amazing race I have ever seen.”
7. Bonecrusher narrowly wins the 1986 Cox Plate ahead of Our Waverley Star in what racecaller Bill Collins called “the race of the century”.
7. Bonecrusher and Our Waverley Star, 1986 Cox Plate
If racecaller Bill Collins was deemed to be errant in the 1982 Cox Plate (see No.6 below), he nailed it four years later with his wonderful call of what was dubbed the “race of the century”. The two-horse battle took shape from the 600m mark as Our Waverley Star, shadowed by Bonecrusher, hit the front. “Here come the New Zealanders,” Collins said. “Have they gone too early?” The lead changed five times over those closing three furlongs, with Our Waverley Star appearing likely to win. But Bonecrusher refused to yield, drawing this gem from Collins: “And Bonecrusher races into equine immortality.”
6. Kingston Town became the first galloper to win three successive Cox Plates with a legendary run in 1982.
6. Kingston Town, 1980-82 Cox Plates
Collins’ famous declaration, “Kingston Town can’t win”, as the field turned for home in the ’82 Cox Plate resonates as powerfully as memories of the The King’s searing acceleration. Collins, known as “The Accurate One”, was not the only caller that day to get it wrong. Crocked by leg injuries, Kingston Town was restricted to racing only in the spring as an older horse, making his effort to become the first galloper to win three Cox Plates even more phenomenal. Trained by Tommy Smith, he was partnered to victory in those three successive wins by different jockeys – Malcolm Johnston, Ron Quinton and Peter Cook.
5. Michelle Payne has a quiet moment of reflection in the jockeys’ room after her historic Melbourne Cup win on Prince Of Penzance in 2015. Picture: Colleen Petch
5. Michelle Payne and Prince Of Penzance, 2015 Melbourne Cup
Michelle Payne and $101 bolter Prince Of Penzance combined for a victory for the ages. Payne had to lobby connections to stay aboard the injury-prone gelding. Having meticulously followed track walker Peter Ellis’s speed map, Payne used the opportunity to strike a blow for her gender. “It’s such a chauvinistic sport,” she said. “A lot of owners wanted to kick me off. Everyone else can get stuffed (who) think women aren’t good enough.”
4. Phar Lap, with jockey Jim Pike, gallops into racing folklore with his magnificent four wins in the 1930 Melbourne Cup week.
4. Phar Lap, 1930 Melbourne Cup week
Almost 90 years on, Big Red’s Flemington tour de force is barely comprehensible. It started on the first Saturday with victory in the Melbourne Stakes (2000m) – a day after gangsters tried to shoot the chestnut. Lumping a record 62.5kg for a four-year-old in the Cup (3200m), the champion bolted to victory by three lengths. His job was half done. Contesting the Linlithgow Stakes over 1600m, Phar Lap won by four lengths. The CB Fisher Plate (2400m) was his fourth and final assignment, strolling in by 3.5 lengths. Comparing eras is impossible – and unfair. Suffice to say Phar Lap’s feat will never be matched.
3. Hugh Bowman and Winx win their fourth Cox Plate at Moonee Valley in 2018, cementing the superstar mare’s place in the history books. Picture: Nicole Garmston
3. Winx, 2015-18 Cox Plates
From defeat in the 2015 ATC Oaks, Winx was utterly extraordinary and, with due deference to heroics north of the border, the Cox Plate and the Valley became her ultimate stage. If Chris Waller’s superstar was slightly under the radar in 2015, she stamped her authority in extraordinary fashion over the next three years. There was the clock-smashing demolition of ‘15; the record eight-length margin in ‘16. In ’17, she broke her own track record. Last year delivered another record – the only horse to win the storied race four times. Waller’s staggering management of his sensational mare has been widely feted. Equally, Hugh Bowman’s nerveless handling of the superstar was inspiring.
2. Makybe Diva and jockey Glen Boss make it three Melbourne Cups in a row, in a performance that stunned spectators and racing insiders alike. Picture: Nicole Garmston
2. Makybe Diva, 2003-2005 Melbourne Cups
Minutes after Makybe Diva became the first horse to win three successive Cups, trainer Lee Freedman summed up her achievement best: “Go and find the smallest child on this course, because they will be an example of the only person here that will live long enough to see something like that again.” Freedman and 106,000 spectators were awestruck by the mighty mare and jockey Glen Boss, responsible for three perfect rides in three successive Cups. Freedman had inherited the stayer from David Hall after her first Cup win. Asked if Tony Santic’s champion was the greatest of all time, Freedman - renowned as a hard judge - said: “I don’t want to put Phar Lap down, but I never saw him win three Melbourne Cups”.
A jubilant Damien Oliver after winning the emotional 2002 Melbourne Cup on Media Puzzle, just eight days after the death of his brother, Jason. Picture: Jay Town
1. Media Puzzle and Damien Oliver, 2002 Melbourne Cup
Damien Oliver and Dermot Weld, contrasting characters from completely different backgrounds, combine to win a Cup drenched in emotion. Weld was the first northern hemisphere trainer to master the logistical challenge of travelling horses across the world to snaffle our brightest jewel. The Irishman ignited the carnival’s internationalisation with Vintage Crop in 1993. Media Puzzle’s quest was overshadowed by the death of Ollie’s brother Jason eight days before the 2002 Melbourne Cup. It is unimaginable for most athletes even to contemplate competing in such circumstances. Instead, Oliver produced a peach of a ride on a perfectly prepared raider. Simply epic.
The Victorian Spring Racing Carnival is where great moments are made. Relive some of these moments and keep up to date with the 2019 Victorian Spring Racing Carnival at thegreatestalways.com.
