ANDREW HAWKINS: We’re in the Melbourne Cup! Now the excitement – and nerves – are building…
Former ANZ Bloodstock News editor Andrew Hawkins is renowned as one of Australia’s leading Melbourne Cup analysts and experts, but this year, he will be experiencing the race from a different perspective as the racing manager for Highclere Australia, owners of Cup runner Great House
I have been fortunate enough to travel the world to work in racing, to see some of the best thoroughbreds of all time and to witness some of the finest races on the planet. For me, though, there is nothing – nothing, not in Australia, not in the world – quite like the Lexus Melbourne Cup.
Sure, there are races that may be classier, that may be more traditionally “pure” – essentially, not a handicap – that may have more buzz about them these days, but the Melbourne Cup is still the race that stops the nation for a reason.
As a lover of history and tradition, you can’t buy the 160-year narrative that the Melbourne Cup offers. You can’t match the fact that the deeds of Phar Lap are still taught in Australian schools to this day. You can’t overlook the fact that the casual sports fan is more likely to be able to name a Melbourne Cup winner than some of the greatest horses of the Australian turf if they were asked of the first thoroughbred that came to mind. You can’t deny that “Melbourne Cup-winning trainer” or “Melbourne Cup-winning jockey” or even “Melbourne Cup-winning owner” remains the most sought-after tag for any racing participant.
It was the race that got me into the industry, that took me from once a year spectator to enthusiast. From there, I began my career in racing, working my way up from the fluoro-clad parking attendant at Rosehill to a globetrotting journalist and analyst. It was the subject of my first university essay, a 3000-word love letter to the race that stops the nation, and it was one of two goals I set myself on the day I finished high school (the other was to work at an Olympics, which still eludes me).
Recently, I was described as “Australia’s foremost Melbourne Cup analyst” by an international publication. Whether that is true or not is certainly up for debate, but for a kid who used to run sweeps at school and struggled to drum up interest in the race, it was a real badge of honour. The 11-year-old who skipped school to watch the Cup would have scarcely believed it.
So often, I’ve dreamed about what it may be like to have a runner in the Melbourne Cup. What would the build-up be like? Would I be able to handle the pressure and the building nerves? How many times would the race run through my head in the lead-up? Would I scarcely be able to believe it?
A 16-year-old Andrew Hawkins attends his first Melbourne Cup.
Finally, in 2021, I get to answer all of those questions.
Throughout this year, I have been the racing manager for Highclere Thoroughbred Racing Australia, the local arm of Europe’s most successful syndication company. Harry Herbert and the team in the UK have had a phenomenal season led by two-year-olds like Royal Patronage (Wootton Bassett) and Cachet (Aclaim) as well as three-year-olds like Title (Camelot) and Parachute (Sea The Stars).
Down here, we’ve had Bartholomeu Dias (Mount Nelson) and Lord Belvedere (Archipenko) perform with credit this year, while Edison (Fastnet Rock) has been a local flagbearer. We’ve also recently unveiled Durston (Sea The Moon), who we hope will be a Melbourne Cup contender in 2022; however, a setback means he won’t be seen again until the late autumn.
This year, though, has all been about Great House and his rise from a Benchmark 70 win in late January to a Melbourne Cup berth in November. For much of the year, it seemed an impossible dream – and yet, here we are, with Derby Day behind us and a live place hope in a Melbourne Cup.
Great House becomes the fourth horse to carry the two-tone blue colours in a Melbourne Cup after Distinction (Danehill), Opinion (Oasis Dream) and Libran (Lawman). While none of them placed, all three finished in the first half of the field at their first attempt, a record that Great House will be attempting to maintain on Tuesday.
It has been a time of great change for Highclere in Australia. The operation had been so ably led by Niall Power since its inception, when Opinion (Oasis Dream) became the first Highclere horse to be trained in Australia.
Niall Power (standing) led Highclere’s growth in Australia before succumbing to cancer in February.
Sadly, Niall died after a long battle with cancer in February. However, the last Highclere horse he was able to cheer home was Great House at Rosehill in late January, when he stamped himself as a stayer of immense potential by racing away for a three-length success.
Niall’s faith in Great House was unwavering. He knew that Highclere had potentially found the horse that every owner dreams about. He had been so excited that Highclere had a son of the great Galileo (Sadler’s Wells) coming to Australian shores, ready to race in our colours.
You can guarantee that when the Melbourne Cup brings heaven to a pause on Tuesday, it will be to allow Niall to ride Great House home.
Since Niall’s passing, new Australian directors have been appointed with Tony Fleiter and John Coughlan taking charge. The team behind industry leaders Sire Custodians are continuing Niall’s legacy while also ensuring that Highclere gets every chance to strike success down under.
When Great House sprinted to the lead in the Lexus Hotham Stakes (Gr 3, 2500m) on Saturday, he was cheered on by owners right across Australia and the world. Such is the appeal of Australian racing on the world stage that owners from the UK, Ireland, Bermuda and the United Arab Emirates were among those who tuned into Flemington for the action.
The tremendous thing about syndication is that it brings together a wide range of people from all walks of life, all sharing a common interest. It is something that is certainly more prolific in Australia, where one in every 250-odd people owns a share in a racehorses, compared to the rest of the world.
For instance, in Great House, there are owners from 18 to 80, from a wide range of backgrounds and experiences.
They include a host of prominent people such as Sir Nicholas Soames and Lady Charlotte Peel, the grandchildren of Sir Winston Churchill; former VRC chair Amanda Elliott; philanthropist John Calvert-Jones (one of life’s great gentlemen, who accepted the Lexus Hotham Stakes trophy on behalf of the owners yesterday); fashion designer Gary Theodore, founder of Scanlan Theodore, as well as eyewear designer Joshua Matta; and renowned Melbourne ob-gyn and racing patriarch Dr Dennis Price.
Joining them are NSW Racehorse Owners Association president Tony Mitevski and vice presidents Shirley McGrath and Peter Quirk, as well as a host of their associates.
One that springs to mind is 18-year-old Harry Edwards, whose father Kingsley is a shareholder. Harry’s enthusiasm for Great House is infectious and there is no bigger fan of the horse than him.
Where else does a fresh-faced 18-year-old in Sydney get the chance to move in aristocratic circles or to mix with highly successful people with a common interest? It may be the sport of kings but, in Australia, horse racing is also tinged with egalitarianism.
Some of the Great House owners celebrate his win in a Benchmark 78 handicap at Rosehill in June.
They will come together on Tuesday, some at Flemington but most virtually, to cheer home a horse that has finally struck some luck after a year tinged with misfortune. In fact, it could be fair to say that he’s had a life of misfortune – he was born on December 27 in the northern hemisphere, meaning that he officially turned one when he was just five days old.
Naturally, that made him ineligible for any of the age-restricted races in Europe that would normally be the target for a horse with his pedigree and ensured he was a prime candidate to end up in Australia. Thankfully, he was acquired from Donnacha O’Brien by a shrewd Harry Herbert through the first ever online sale ever conducted by Tattersalls…and the rest, as they say, is history.
After the Melbourne Cup Carnival is over, I will be transitioning into a different role, maintaining my ties with Highclere while also expanding my horizons. It is an exciting time and I can’t wait for what the future holds.
To cap my time as racing manager for Highclere Australia with a Melbourne Cup win would be, as former prime minister Paul Keating once declared, “the sweetest victory of all”.
Can he win? I’m not sure.
Obviously, there is a question mark over the Hotham form this year – although form experts and professional punters that I respect and admire tell me that the run actually rated through the roof and it was a clear career peak.
Of course, he would also have to make up quite a bit of ground on Incentivise, who looks every bit the next superstar of the Australian turf.
Take him away, though, and his form measures up. Sure, we don’t know about him against horses like Spanish Mission (Noble Mission), Twilight Payment (Teofilo) or his stablemate Verry Elleegant (Zed), but his formlines tie in favourably with most of his other rivals.
Can he back up? We don’t know, but he’s got the right man in his corner in Chris Waller to ensure that he will get his chance.
One thing that owners often say is that “he will be a better horse in 12 months”. Everything I’ve seen, though, suggests that will be the case. I think, come November next year, we will marvel at the fact he was able to sneak into a Melbourne Cup with 50 kilograms.
This year, though, may just come up a bit too soon.
However, I haven’t stopped dreaming of a Melbourne Cup berth all year. I’m not going to stop dreaming about victory now that we’re in the field. After all, that is racing’s biggest allure of all – dreams.