DALETTAWhile we in Ireland savour the Breeders’ Cup triumphs of Aidan O’Brien and his gifted son Joseph, Down Under they’re singing from a very different hymn sheet. Just how different became horribly clear from a wad of blogs emailed by a former colleague from that memorable sojourn with the Macau Jockey Club.
Far from celebrating the smashing triumphs of St Nicholas Abbey in the Breeders’ Cup Turf and Wrote in the earlier Breeders’ Cup Juvenile Turf - both Grade One contests - the Aussie dipped their pens in vitriol to criticise Aidan O’Brien over the ‘failure’ of their equine hero So You Think.
The vehemence and lack of vocabulary render these blogs impossible to reproduce in a family newspaper. Paraphrased, they lament the ‘larceny’ of their Aussie champion, the greatest they’ve had since Phar Lap, and his subsequent ‘mishandling’ by the Ballydoyle maestro. Nine runs without a break! How differently ace Aussie trainer Bart Cummings would have campaigned his ‘stolen’ star. Perhaps not surprisingly, those same Aussie critics choose to ignore the inconvenient fact that So You Think could finish no closer that third in last year’s Melbourne Cup when in the care of the aforesaid Bart Cummings.
Nor did any of Aidan’s Aussie detractors therefore have to digest the unpalatable fact that So You Think was set to carry just 8st 11lb in his unsuccessful Melbourne Cup bid. This ‘wonder horse’ was a four-year-old when he went for the 2010 Melbourne Cup, already hailed as the long-awaited successor to the legendary Phar Lap. But Phar Lap was likewise a four-year-old when he was asked to shoulder 9st 12lb in the 1930 Melbourne Cup, 9lb more than any four-year-old had ever carried to Melbourne Cup success.
Ante-post favourite from the time betting began four months previously, Phar Lap was fortunate to take his place, as related in ‘The Story of the Melbourne Cup’, published 50 years ago. ‘On the morning of the Melbourne Stakes [his final prep race] Phar Lap was being led back to his stable by his regular attendant, Tommy Woodcock. Mounted on a grey cob, Woodcock was leading Phar Lap when the little procession approached a large, closed car, parked at the kerb.
‘Phar Lap’s connections had been warned that an attempt might be made to nobble the champion, and something about the appearance of the two men in the sedan aroused Woodcock’s suspicion. Instead of continuing, he turned into a side street and immediately jammed Phar Lap against a fence, placing himself in front of the gelding as a shield.
‘The car had followed Woodcock and was almost past the tableau against the fence before the driver realised it. The car slowed down while the driver kept his thumb on the horn in an endeavour to make Phar Lap rear up with fright, and thus offer a better target. The gelding did endeavour to get up on his hind legs while Woodcock strained against him.
‘The passenger in the rear seat of the sedan poked a gun out of the window and fired. It was a poor shot, and the pellets spattered against the fence harmlessly. The car then drove off at high speed. The assailants were never apprehended. ‘Immediately he heard of the attack [trainer and lessee] Harry Telford asked for police protection for his horse, and Phar Lap made the journey to Flemington protected by motorcycle patrol-men.’
This true champion was sent off 11/8 on to defy 9st 12lb in the Cup and duly did so, defeating his fourteen opponents by a sauntering three lengths. Twelve months later Phar Lap was set to carry the welter burden of 10st 10lb. And still his adoring fans sent him off favourite. As further proof that weight differences will eventually bring a donkey and a Derby winner together, Phar Lap could finish only eighth behind White Nose, carrying 6st 12lb.
Different times? Yes, indeed. For all that those Aussie bloggers very likely contain would-be assassins among their number, judging by their venom. However, the target in this instance is surely not So You Think, but the incompetent idiot who has been solely responsible for reducing ‘their’ equine idol to selling plater level.
Through Aussie eyes the Eclipse Stakes apparently counts for little and the Irish Champion Stakes for even less, compared to the Melbourne Cup, that antipodean Cesarewitch!
In truth, Aidan was on a hiding to nothing from the day he was handed that poisoned chalice. He deserves our congratulations and our sympathy, in roughly equal measure.