March 6, 2010: The day cataclysmic storm hit Flemington on Super Saturday

Chaos unfolded as one of racing’s biggest days was spectacularly washed out 15 years ago by a ferocious hailstorm immediately after the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap was run and won.

Unreal. Unbelievable. Unforgettable.

A dark emerald sky forewarned carnage on Super Saturday at Flemington in 2010.

Hailstones the size of golf balls blanketed Australia’s most famous racecourse.

And totalled myriad parked cars.

Plastic tables and chairs provided some refuge for racegoers.

Within 15 minutes water cascaded down the grandstands.

Stairs became waterfalls.

The tunnel between the horse stalls and mounting yard flooded.

Abandonment a formality, six races into one of the biggest days on the calendar, straight after Wanted won the Group 1 Newmarket Handicap on March 6, 2010.

The Crown Guineas (now Australian Guineas) and Australian Cup were moved to the following Saturday.

Stewards, acting on Bureau of Meteorology advice, had a “spot-on” 20-minute window to run the Newmarket.

A dangerous storm ripped through Flemington on Super Saturday on March 6, 2010. Picture: AAP

Terry Bailey, chief steward at the time, recalled an “eerie feeling” before the Newmarket.

“It was a difficult call to make (to run the race),” the now Hong Kong-based stipe said.

“We decided, rightly or wrongly, to press on and run the race.

“There was no pressure from the jockeys and trainers not to run it, so we went ahead with it.

“Obviously after that race was run it was pretty horrific. There was some criticism afterwards but there was no one tapping me on the shoulder before the race not to run it.”

Drizzle turned cataclysmic as Peter Moody’s Wanted saluted under jockey Luke Nolen.

“I was glad they ran it because Wanted had 51.5kg and that was my bottom. I didn’t have another week in me riding that light,” Nolen said.

“It looked like it was going to close in and after winning it, the weather was the furthest thing from my mind, jubilation washed over me pretty quick, as well as the weather.

“I got off him and then it really opened up after that.”

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Wanted, among a number of horses spooked by the weather, broke loose in the mounting yard and bolted “as fast as he could go” down the tunnel towards the tie-up stalls.

Dual Melbourne Cup-winning jockey-turned-broadcaster John Letts was on horseback in the 3m-wide tunnel, walking back to the tie ups, with late legendary Flemington clerk of the course John “Patto” Patterson and two racegoers, trying to get out of the rain, when he heard an echo of thundering hooves.

“There was no room (for Wanted) to go between the four of us … I said to Patto ‘there’s a loose one’ and he said ‘keep walking’, so we just kept walking,” Letts said.

“I’d never seen anything like it in my life … Patto pulled his horse to a dead stop, Wanted hit him and pushed him 30m.

“He was going flat out and Patto had hold of his head collar at the end of it, pulled him up.

“I didn’t realise until after how close me and those women had come to being seriously injured or killed. That horse was not going to stop.

“You stand them against the wall and say ‘who was the best horseman you’ve ever seen’, well John Patterson, you put the crown on him.”

Stairs turned into waterfalls. Picture: AAP

Trainer Peter Snowden watched chaos unfold from the mounting yard, waiting to collect the saddle for the short-priced Guineas favourite Denman.

“I’ll never forget,” Snowden said.

“By the time the horses went past the post it started to rain very heavy and when they pulled up and started coming back it started to hail.

“The size of golf balls, they were massive, there was carnage there, horses running back and jocks trying to get off … flying in the air because these rocks are hitting them.

“It got really, really nasty, it got bad very quickly.”

The remainder of the Super Saturday card not going ahead was patently obvious.

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“You couldn’t see your hand in front of your face torrential, horrendous rain,” Snowden said.

“It was unreal … hail falling like snow on the ground, a foot deep everywhere. Unbelievable.

“The second and third tier of the grandstand were a waterfall.

“People picking up tables and using them as umbrellas. Horrendous. Really, really powerful.”

Snowden learned a lifelong – yet to be repeated – lesson.

“It was quite a warm day from memory, lunch time it started to build up a bit stormy like but I’ve never seen clouds in my life like that and never again since,” Snowden said.

“They were emerald green, dark emerald green, they started coming from two directions and joined as one.”

Denman maybe sensed the storm earlier than most, unbeknown to Snowden at the time.

The crack colt and Group 1 Golden Rose winner, a quiet horse typically, started to whinny loudly and repeatedly in the stalls about an hour before the storm.

Racegoers negotiate flood water and hail in the betting ring. Picture: AAP

“I was there when he started doing it,” Snowden said.

“Usually colts do that when they get the smell of a filly but he did that about 10-12 times and kept doing it.

“I asked vets later what would make him do it and a few told me wild horses, mustangs up in the mountains, the dominant stallion would call for mares when there’s a storm coming.

“I don’t know whether it’s true or not but he never did it before and never again after. He kept whinnying out, really loudly, he knew something was going to happen before it happened.”

Denman returned a week later and placed fourth in the rescheduled Guineas – his last start before a successful stallion career.

One that got away?

“Who knows, he did a good job. Won a Group 1, he’s been a good stallion,” Snowden said.

“I know one thing, if I ever see those (emerald green) clouds again I’ll know exactly what’s coming.”

Originally published as March 6, 2010: The day cataclysmic storm hit Flemington on Super Saturday