Six reasons this spring carnival will never be forgotten

When kids across the state flicked on their TV screens on Tuesday afternoon, or glanced at their parents’ newspaper on Wednesday morning, they recognised a guy sitting on a horse.

It was Robbie from reality-TV singing show The Voice. This widespread recognition was the sort of exposure to a new audience that racing had so desperately craved.

Jockey Robbie Dolan celebrates with Knight’s Choice after winning the Melbourne Cup.Credit: Justin McManus

These kids had all heard of Robbie Dolan; they just did not know he could ride a horse. Until now.

It helped sell the story that the jockey had an Oscar-worthy support cast – an unfancied, Australian-bred sprinter who should not be winning a staying race and a couple of battling trainers, one of whom, Sheila Laxon, had not only become the first woman to train a Melbourne Cup winner in 2001, but was now the first to train two.

If none of this seemed remotely believable – and for countless punters the upset result was difficult to comprehend – the post-race press conference, in which the singing jockey revealed he first met the female trainer on a Melbourne Cup-themed cruise ship, sounded like pure fantasy.

“She was there, and I thought, ‘Wow, it’s Sheila Laxon. I’d better grab a selfie,’” Dolan said, who was employed on the ship as a singer. “Now we’ve won the freaking Melbourne Cup together!”

So, once again, the romance of the Cup had retaken centre stage, and delivered the sort of widespread appeal that no amount of marketing power could achieve.

That’s right, kids, ridiculous dreams really do come true. You can become a contestant on The Voice, and ride a Melbourne Cup winner.

You have to keep at it

The spring will be remembered for a series of enduring images – each of them telling a story well beyond the powers of prizemoney.

It started with Harry Coffey standing high in the irons as he won the Caulfield Cup – a lesson in persistence and overcoming the odds.

Harry Coffey rides Duke De Sessa to victory and celebrates after passing the post.Credit: Getty Images

As a teenager, Coffey was told he could never become a jockey because he suffered from cystic fibrosis. But the country kid embraced a different line of logic – the only reason he could become a jockey, he said, was because his incurable disease meant he would never put on weight.

“[This is] not just for any kid with CF [cystic fibrosis],” he said after winning the Caulfield Cup on Duke De Sessa. “It’s any person who has an illness that you wake up one day, and you think, ‘How’s my day going to go today?’ And you have just got to keep at it.”

Maybe fellow rider James McDonald took note. He had been criticised for several rides across several weeks, and then he was literally sat on his backside.

The leading jockey in the country was tossed to the ground by mare Via Sistina during a Tuesday morning track gallop at Moonee Valley in the lead-up to the Cox Plate.

“I think there was a fantastic picture there when I popped myself up [from the turf] and looked and watched her gallop away and, I think, if looks could tell a story, we were stuffed,” McDonald said.

Ciaron Maher hugs Jamie Kah after winning a race for the late Colin McKenna on Victoria Derby Day.Credit: Getty Images

But just like Coffey, McDonald “kept at it”. He won the Cox Plate in record time on Via Sistina and then another four group 1 victories across Melbourne Cup week to reaffirm his status as not only the best rider in Australia but maybe of all time.

Agony and ecstasy

If “J-Mac” owned Melbourne Cup week, breaking his own record with 11 wins, then Derby Day belonged to Jamie Kah. Few who were trackside could forget the powerful post-race moment when she hugged the normally unflappable Ciaron Maher in the mounting yard. Both were reduced to tears.

Kah had just won the group 2 Damien Oliver on the Maher-trained Another Wil – a home-bred horse owned by their late friend and mentor Colin McKenna.

“Both Col and [wife] Janice, they spoke to Jamie every day on a number of occasions for different reasons when she was needing a shoulder to lean on,” Maher said.

“You just would not know how many people Col touched – Jamie’s a great example. He’s sadly missed.”

But the high-risk sport of racing took little time reminding Kah that you can’t dwell in the moment. She was clocked flush in the face when her mount in the following race, Hurry Curry, reared at the barriers.

She was stood down with a suspected broken nose, examined by doctors, passed fit to ride, and then two races later bravely won the Victoria Derby on Goldrush Guru.

“It was hurting before the race, and now I can’t feel it,” Kah said.

Pride comes before a fall

Words can come back to haunt you. After a comprehensive All-Star Mile victory in March, proud owner Tony Ottobre defiantly declared that Pride Of Jenni was the “No.1 miler in Australia”.

“[Mr] Brightside is fantastic, he is a great horse, but when he gets to a mile, he’s got this trouble [my mare],” he said.

Tony Ottobre and Pride Of Jenni in the lead-up to this year’s Cox Plate. Credit: Wayne Taylor

He then said the Lindsay Park Hayes brothers, were “really good at what they do” but “just a little bit behind” his mare’s trainer Ciaron Maher.

By Saturday afternoon, the storyline had flipped. Pride Of Jenni bled from both nostrils during the $3 million Champions Mile at Flemington, her third run across four Saturdays, and was retired from racing.

In contrast, tough-as-old-boots Mr Brightside won the race for the Hayes brothers – Ben, Will and JD – at a more conventional third run across five weeks.

It was a bittersweet moment for Ottobre. He had played a pivotal role in creating the unforgettable Pride Of Jenni fairytale.

Against conventional advice, he had insisted she was a catch-me-if-you-can mare who had to lead at all costs and that jockey Declan Bates was the only rider who could execute his plan. Across the past 12 months she won three group 1s, the All-Star Mile and was crowned Australian Horse of the Year.

But while he now gets to look forward to breeding from Pride Of Jenni, he also has to deal with criticism for allegedly pushing his front-running mare to the well one too many times.

Pride Of Jenni beats home Mr Brightside and Fangirl during the 2023 spring carnival.Credit: Racing Photos / Getty Images

It was no secret that Maher had been reluctant to run Pride Of Jenni in the $5 million Cox Plate a week after peaking her for the $5 million King Charles Stakes in Sydney. On top of that, Maher said after the back-to-back runs he would send the mare for a spell.

On both accounts, Ottobre decided to push on. On both occasions, he would have been better off heeding the trainer’s instincts.

Caulfield takeover

There was no romantic element to the Melbourne Racing Club boardroom takeover at the start of the spring, but it was a dramatic shift of leadership that would continue to resonate for years to come.

In short, racing at Sandown Racecourse would be saved.

Few saw such a seismic change coming. Almost two months before the Caulfield Cup, then little-known board member John Kanga stunned the club by lodging a petition for a special general meeting and calling for six board members to be sacked.

The SGM never eventuated, but Kanga ultimately achieved his goal – his Save Our MRC group took control of the board and have vowed to finish what they started.

They would move the mounting yard back to the front of the members’ pavilion, they would not build a new $250 million grandstand, and they would not orchestrate the sale of Sandown Racecourse so that it could be developed into a new 7500-home suburb.

Goodbye and good luck

The final words of the spring belong to the late Colin McKenna.

Thousands gathered at the meat processing mogul’s property at Woolsthorpe, near Warrnambool, on Friday afternoon to pay their final respects.

What they did not expect was to see McKenna at the end of the service delivering a pre-taped farewell.

“I’d like to say to everybody, get on with life,” he said.

Owner Colin McKenna kisses the 2016 Caulfield Cup, won by his mare Jameka.Credit: Getty Images

“We don’t have to be here for greed, we don’t have to be here for money, we don’t have to be here for success, but we can be here to give each other some love and support.”

He also said something that should resonate for all those who were trackside to see Coffey win the Caulfield Cup, or McDonald bounce back in Moonee Valley’s Cox Plate, or Kah overcome a whack to the nose to land Flemington’s Victoria Derby, or even “people’s champion” Pride Of Jenni at her barnstorming best in the Feehan Stakes on grand final eve.

“There’s nothing greater than a day out at the races with some family and friends,” McKenna said.

“So good luck to everybody. Thank you for coming, and goodbye.”

News, results and expert analysis from the weekend of sport are sent every Monday. Sign up for our Sport newsletter.