Kingswood country at the Caulfield Cup - "pickle me grandmother."
Walking out of the Caulfield station early on Cup Day and the first sounds I heard weren’t that of the brash Sportsbet Marching Band, but the megaphone of Elio Celetto and his shabby ensemble of noisy activists reprising the old tunes from his “Horse Racing Kills” album.
Can’t say Elio isn’t a seasoned performer, he doorstops plenty a major race day with his oddly titled "Coalition for the Protections of Racehorses” band, noting he even took the Peter Singer Lifetime Achievement Award at a recent Animal Justice Awards (and I’ll take as my first winner of Cup Day that Peter wasn’t a singer before even scanning in.) But I digress, just a little.
Leaving Caulfield racecourse Elio’s group had long disbanded but it seems they would have had something to ironically sing about with the tragically unfortunate racing accident, giving the 150th anniversary Caulfield Cup television news leading headlines, though not about the performances of Kingswood and the enormously entertaining stories of former jumps jockey partners John Allen and Gavin Bedggood that leave another indelible chapter in the great handicap book.
Elio was quick to post the tragedy on their Facebook page, only bettered by Georgie Purcell MP from the Animal Justice Party who rushed to X, not once but twice, to share the sad Ohope Wins news, with a slight mention of last year’s dual Cup winner Half Yours.
Seems both gave an “up yours" to any consideration for that human collateral of Mark Zahra and Jye McNeil. (Thankfully both are ok and discharged home from hospital.)
What would you expect from the “Nup to the Cup” crowd, and why even bother giving them some air, even rhetorically?
But that’s for their story angle, simple clickbait even, before Racing Victoria and the Chris Waller stable shared theirs, all little kindling under the “twitterverse” fires that were well burnished into the night.
But let me take you to my Caulfield Cup day for some other perspective.
Sure there were more media eyeballs and ears on it than ever before, some pre-day blurb even suggested 230 global countries had a new vision market via an arrangement with TABCorp and global streaming giant DAZN.
Some were quick to point out The United Nations was made up of only 193 countries and two “observer states” (The Holy Sea and the State Of Palestine), but hey, wherever else you looked on social media there were infomercials filled with conscripts who suggested they know more than they actually do and believed that we really cared, while radio also traversed the megahertz with more microphones shoved under participant noses than ever before.
Not part of that vaudeville, I was able to have my shoes polished before the first at Caulfield courtesy of Fortis Green courtesy of their Moss Menswear partnership, again a winner for free before the first.
And for the first it was won in the familiar Jenni colours of Tony Ottobre, who was meant to be in Sydney for the King Charles III Stakes with Australia’s most popular horse Pride of Jenni, but this Caulfield one was a little boy and not a Jenni but a King (Snitz.) And he wasn’t there (but had a bet.).
But Shane Jackson was there, the former Irish jumps jockey (you’ll hear about another one shortly), with his first Caulfield winner and his first Group winner as a trainer and finally he found his way to the Thomas North room (for winners) to celebrate and dream of a Victoria Derby or go wherever Ottobre tells him to, as he did Saturday kyboshing a Geelong Classic start next week.
“I’d just started and had no horses and texted everyone including Tony reaching out. He sent me this, it was tiny, about 14 hands, he couldn’t sell it, so I broke it in, it hasn’t grown much since, but has come a long way,” Jackson said.
Quick Finish wins the second for Yulong and wins the clever name for the day. Dad was Grunt, mum was Gentle Strokes. They couldn’t even get $30,000 for it at the sales and kept it, named it and if you can’t work it out, get a room.
Indian born entrepreneur Madhur (Maddy) Guptur sponsors the third under his Manhari brand, they are big in the recycled metal and steel world and Indian born trainer Julius Sandhu wins it with Gentle Steel. Who’d have thought?
Ciaron Maher gets on the board for Godolphin with Milsons Point, but he scales a bigger mountain for the combination later in the day in Sydney with Tempted as Ka Ying doesn’t rise enough above The Everest.
The old Moonga Stakes is now the Harry White, strange at 1400m for the man nicknamed “Handbrake” who won a couple of Caulfield Cups alongside his four Melbourne ones and War Machine gets that job done in Ruper Legh’s ubiquitous colours. Ask him how many horses he owns and the answer is “I don’t know but my wife Cheryl has five more.” They won their first share in a raffle and fair to say they got hooked.
The only ownership group to have more than one winner on the day was larger than life character, the former Army Major Joe O’Neill’s Prime Thoroughbreds, two runners for two winners, Cavalry Girl and Shadavar, total cost $185,000 as yearlings and returns Saturday of $360,000 so now more than $1.4m between them.
Joe is sporting a new edition Prime cap and remembering his Queensland rugby league days talking of his favorite Fortitude Valley rugby league heroes like Hughie O’Dohoerty and Normie Clark, the fullback, a position he played in his “prime”.
Fellow syndicator, Tim Wilson’s First Light goes next level with a Group I with Saintly Dancer in the 1000 Guineas, which means more than the $900,000 prizemoney, for a horse who cost them just $100,000 New Zealand dollars that is. It’s a photo finish who filled the North room more, mind you Marffiano’s Laurel Oak thoroughbreds crew gave them each a nudge, and toasting a $51 winner in Group 3 company, a $280,000 weanling turned $475,000 yearling, turned money machine so everyone is a winner (except the punter.)
Which leaves the Sportsbet Caulfield Cup. You might not have known Kingswood won it if you were watching television news, but in journalism speak, they buried the lede while burying Ohope Wins and racing in the process.
Try writing this script. Kirsten Rausing, the granddaughter of Tetra Pak empire founder Ruben breeds a Roaring Lion colts at her Lanwades Stud in Newmarket (Kirsten knows a few things, she was recently listed as the 206th richest person in the world, worth about $10b Aussie and has won an Arc de Triomphe with Alpinova and bred a Caulfield Cup winner like Durston and one time Cox Plate favorite Zaaki).
She sells it to transport and logistics entrepreneur Glyn Davies and wife Jane at the 2021 Goffs Orby Sales for €130,000, wins one from seven for John O’Donghue in Ireland but is placed in a Group 3 Gallinule Stakes at the Currgah before being sent to Maddie Raymond at Warrnambool before she has a baby and Darren Weir recommends Bedggood.
The dual hemisphere, dual code (jumping) Davies also sent another Gallinule placegetter Earlswood to Raymond before it won a Carlyon Cup, Wentwood another Group down under for them.
There are less than 200 Bedggoods in Australia, by now only one that has a Caulfield Cup not to mention a Grand Annual on the villain turned hero Banna Strand and countless other jumps classics.
Not bad for the former Robbie Griffiths apprentice who left school, went back to it to finish VCE while considering a landscape gardening career, rode at the picnics and now has built a career on recycling and rejuvenating horses well tried before.
Put aside Kingswood, Just Folk was beaten almost 10 lengths in that King Charles but was cleverly placed and collected $475,000 running third of five but a $1m return for Mailbag Bloodstock for the $200,000 he paid for it online.
Tempesti was bought weeks ago for $75,000, it won $95,000 running second in the St Leger at Randwick. Wymark, he bought for $32,500, now has won a Seymour, Stawell and Yarra Valley Cup and more than $600,000 in prizemoney, give this man some yearlings!
Over the jumps he rode against John Allen and were fierce competitors.
Allen has now an imperious record on the flat especially at 2400m and above. He boasts 12 Derby and Oaks victories across Australia, including two Victoria Derby triumphs at Flemington (Hitotsu in 2021 and Extra Brut in 2018), two Australian Derbies (Hitotsu in 2022 and Explosive Jack in 2021), four South Australian Derbies, one South Australian Oaks, two Tasmanian Derbies, and one Queensland Derby.
Yep, Grand Annuals, Grand Nationals, oh and a Cox Plate (State Of Rest.), And like Bedggood if not more, a significant Weir connection.
Think Allen, who answered a Racing Post advertisement for a job in Australia in 2011, he ended up with Weir and would ride his first winner at St Arnaud on Cox Plate day a year later.
The horseman from Araglin in County Cork, remembers the dark empty days at Whycheproof, Burummbeet and Avoca, but Weir stood by him as a great worker and horseman and would put him on anything he could.
Now Bedggood and Allen share a Caulfield Cup, regarded the toughest 2400m handicap in the world, (not that there are many,) but try and win it.
They just did, with a passionate Irish family who love their horses, try telling Elio and Ms Purcell that and the story and the journey of the horse who came from Ireland to win an iconic Australian race.
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