“Cuddle one for Christmas,” was always a carol for the Villiers, first raced in 1892, now justifiably tagged The Ingham, and “The Chosen Few” qualifies.
Once, being the last Saturday before the festive celebration, horse players were given the final opportunity to add extras: prime ham and turkey, a pudding of substance and maturity, plus bubbly if taste buds were lacking.
Horses were set for the Royal Randwick mile with the odds a factor and bookmakers the target for plunder. Now betting doesn’t play an import role because Saturday’s The Ingham, Group two over 1600 metres, is worth $2 million. Yes, a $1.2 million would suffice but that’s another story.
Weight or handicap always played a role in the Villiers, equalising the topliners and not so greats. Obviously Gringotts has a task with 61kg on Saturday, coupled with the 24 gate. Impossible? But that’s where Nash Rawiller, arms, legs and tactical expertise, kicks in.
But finding the winner is precarious. That’s why I am tipping a sure thing for Christmas: “The Chosen Few”? A New Zealand-bred perhaps?
No, it’s by Andrew Rule, a brilliant wordsmith and racing enthusiast. Rule has made the pace a cracker with his quest to name “The Ten Greatest Australian and New Zealand Racehorses of All Time.” A purchase or gift will pay and dividend.
Bernborough figures commencing his climb to fame, if not controversy, in the Villiers. Old-timers I’ve met considered him better than Phar Lap.
Like Bernborough my colleague and mate Bill Whittaker hailed from North Queensland. With his characteristic chuckle, he maintained Bernborough was a ring in from Italy. Rule touches on it.
After his controversial Queensland chapter, Bernborough, under Harry Plant at Randwick, started southern campaign in 1946, taking the Villiers following a Canterbury defeat under “Digger” McGrowdie. The circuit, not the jockey beat him.
However Rule recalled George Moore, then a budding champion, was offered the Bernborough mount in the Villiers but had a previous booking. Athol George Mulley, described by the author as a “larriken” jockey, picked up the seat for one of the most controversial journeys on the Australian turf.
After dazzling efforts over sprint and staying journeys Bernborbough was beaten in the Caulfield Cup. For controversial defeats it was only matched by Tulloch, another of “The Chosen Few”, in the Melbourne Cup under Neville Sellwood. Rule cover both.
According to the author Plant ventured to the USA to see Bernborough in retirement where he met Will Harbutt, the legendary groom of the champion Man O’War.
The grandson of freed slaves, Harbutt told him Man O’War won “twenty out of 21 – and he would have won the other one too if the reins had snapped.”
Plant had similar suspicions about Mulley. Man O’War’s jockey was banned for life over the defeat.
“Plant never gave Mulley another ride or even spoke to him again,” Rule wrote.
Over the decades I found Mulley colourful on ground level, and a joy to watch in the saddle. Mulley was more talented than Moore but didn’t have Moore’s drive nor ambition.
Mulley told me he sacked Bernborough, not vice versa, after the Caulfield Cup because of the pressure. He was approached to hold him in the Newmarket at Flemington, and the criticism of him following the Caulfield Cup was intense.
Mulley refused to handle him again and Plant used Billy Briscoe for the Mackinnon at Flemington. Bernborough broke down. The trainer felt it would have been different had he been on the champion at Flemington.
Yes, but relayed by Mulley it was sincere and from the heart.
Rule also writes about the sensational Tulloch withdrawal from the 1957 Melbourne Cup. Owner “Boss” Haley gets the credit but trainer Tommy Smith, a qualified legend, was emphatic he withdrew the three-year-old. Again, it was public pressure. Smith never told me wrong for half a century so I go with his version.
Possibly the best of Smith’s winners in the Villiers was Oncidon in 1973 but Inghams, Big Jack and Mr Bob, figured prominently.
Major turf players they formed the Woodlands Stud and Crown Lodge breeding and racing empire. Taking over the Villiers title, in my opinion, was justified, a better fit than being tagged after a Pom silvertail: Sir Victor Albert George Child-Villiers, seventh Earl Of Jersey, and governor of NSW from 1891 to 1893.
Renowned chooks, the Inghams were also firmly entrenched in the punt with 50 percent in everything shared between them: wins, losses and even the settling for Big Jack’s divorces.
Around the 1978 Villiers Big Jack was eagerly followed in the betting ring by those chasing a lead and he cleaned up with Dear John, trained by Theo Green. The gelding triumphed in the Christmas double with the Summer Cup, then a mile and a half, run on Boxing Day. The new dates for the earlier Villiers – Summer Cup double has taken impact, if not prizemoney, away from them.
Due to Gringotts The Ingham this year is again intriguing. A beaten favourite in the sprint last year Gringotts is going better and should he score it will be one of the great successes in the race. Bernborough only had 59kg.
Robusto took the event last year so adheres to consideration that the astute Bjorn Baker has “cuddled” him for Christmas despite a major negative. In 134 chapters there has never been a repeat winner.
First reserve Persian Spirit is promising and so, too, Yorkshire, tested under weights and measures, to beat Robusto.
“Time honoured” is a constant cliché applied to The Ingham.
Walking down Doncaster Avenue, Kensington could produce a festive season high or contemplating a Yuletide repast of gruel from an Ebenezer Scrooge recipe. Even the necessity of zacs (sixpence) from the pudding were contemplated.
