Even the Royal Randwick success of Glorious Moments for Jim and Greg Lee, racing exceptionals, didn’t overshadow the spirit last Saturday that made South Sydney the Mighty Rabbits against the Sharks.
“Exceptional” is the title given based around longevity and character. The Lee brothers, boys when I first met them, qualify.
Yet they were only beaten as an Isaiah Tass kick for goal hit the posts. It was a team effort. Junior Tatolo’s launch at the try line and subsequent dislocation emphasised the commitment while the spark of Jai Grey confirmed he has been better value to South Sydney this season than Latrell Mitchell.
Obviously coach Wayne Bennett must get credit for the resistance but coupled with the other hurdles, classy winger Tyrone Munro spilled the high ball three times in the first half? Why have the Rabbits been so delicate under them all season while the opposition handles bombs like strawberries to pigs?
Earlier Glorious Moments at Randwick gave the Lee brothers recollections of their best horse, Hayai, winner of The Metrop, and Caulfield Cup. Nobody could have prepared the gelding better.
Like Hayai, Glorious Moments has required plenty of assistance with only three starts yet despite his promise and fragility the Lee brothers didn’t overlook the battler and gave the mount on Saturday to Heavelon Van Der Hoven, who had not ridden a Sydney winner previously.
Most trainers, particularly those with such limited numbers, would not have entrusted the navigation to Der Hovan, who proved well up to the task. The Lees have always had a sympathetic hand to those in need.
Once Jim Lee was approached by a desperate when I was present at the Randwick shopping centre who asked him for a handout. Jim bought him breakfast.
Memories returned.
The Lee boys were apprenticed to Cec Rolls, a crusty trainer who conditioned an outstanding two-year-old Eskimo Prince. Rolls had a penchant for flash hats. He educated them on a diet of Banjo Paterson. In return Rolls had hoped for Chinese treats. Alas the best they could do was fish and chips, steak and eggs. Which was GOOD.
BAD, though, that in a recent Daily Telegraph interview Peter V’Landys, the Mr Big of the industry and rugby league as well, declared racing doesn’t have heroes.
But there was a time. George Moore the champion jockey was regarded by the public as an equal to the best Rugby League and cricket players. Darby Munro, for better or worse, had more headlines.
I have been bleating all season how the feats of James McDonald, regarded as the world’s best jockey, gets so little acclaim here. Also the presentation of our major days, the Golden Slipper and Randwick championships were dismally stage managed. No real sense of occasion.
“Both racing and rugby league are better than they have ever been,” V’Landys declared and there is no doubt his dictatorship has been vital, particularly in country racing.
Still why are Sydney racecourses, the foundation of the industry, so decrepit? Canterbury and Warwick Farm are prime examples while at Randwick, escalators in the Queen Elizabeth grandstand have been out of order for weeks.
Can Tim Hale, the new Australian Turf Club chairman, make a difference? Being a legal hawk, I cannot see him kowtowing at Sussex Street from where V’Landys rules.
V’Landys is also pushing for the World’s Best Jockey concept and reckons those against it “live in yesterday’s land, they don’t live in the future”.
Guilty as charged.
“Yesterday’s land”, racing at Randwick, was special. I’d like to see it, just as good along the lines of Flemington at present, a vision splendid, not a hotchpotch like the last Everest Day.
The Swans against GWS. While they have produced magic moments in recent seasons when the going gets tough, grand finals and a season’s surviving clash like last Friday, the white flag goes up too quick.
Sure, they did have injuries last Friday. Beaten would have been acceptable against GWS but being absolutely donkey-licked in the second half?
Yet another fabulous GB&U Max. For a self confessed racing hack, you write like a Nobel or Pulitzer Prize winner. I love the way you blend the events and yarns from the “glory years” with the present day happenings.