Copulation on the pro-ride circuit added spice to The Entertainment Grounds, also known as Gosford racecourse developed on the foundation of Malcolm Cusick, one of the great turf administrators of my time.
The subject arose with a Central Coast regular because this year will be my first Anzac Day absent from Royal Randwick, sacred ground for nearly eight decades, and he was keen to stress the advantages and colour of the area.
Going back, Gosford was ramshackle but under the enthusiasm of Cusick, who also made Sydney Turf Club vice chairman, and other exalted administration racing posts, takes new age “entertainment” to a different level.
“Students on a special promotion,” my adviser maintained about what has joined the diehard racegoer. “Many, too, faked wristbands to get a drink.”
Alas he was told everything performed at the provincial, has been topped at headquarters. A renowned media personality went through the same process at Randwick – in front of the winning post.
Yes, in the dark not wasting a winning gallop with the possibility of intrusion where many a good thing has failed to rise to the occasion.
And forged permits?
Reg The Raffler, who plied his trade at major booze outlets, with Anzac Day a speciality, gate crashed the Randwick member’s enclosure when it was harder to breach than the Australian Club.
AJC guest tickets were cardboard and a different colour, date stamped for every meeting. Green Coats, the entry officials, most World War 1 veterans, had the enthusiasm but not the vision to decipher them.
But the key law breach on Anzac Day was two-up, perhaps given more latitude in recent decades. Going back, a swy game was floated around exit gates when punters would congregate leaving the meeting.
A fast toss was a good one. However the pennies were often questionable. Promoters had an edge. Quick disintegration was necessary.
Anzac Day rekindles memories of Bill The Bastard, possibly Australia’s greatest horse, and gambling colossus Kerry Packer.
Maybe “Bill” has a statue here but I cannot understand why, in some way, racing doesn’t carry his name on Anzac Day.
Maybe the “bastard”, a term frowned upon, grates. One of the great stallions, “The Buzzard”, who sired Melbourne Cup winners, was first known as “The Bastard” but it was changed.
Bill The Bastard was a war hero, handled big weights with aplomb, surviving the Gallipoli course and distance in 1915. Later he humped wounded and deceased in other battlegrounds, with two gunshot wounds, one bullet was never removed.
No doubt our “Bill”, a Waler, the breed notorious for endurance, was so called because he bucked on the gallop. Bill The Bastard was transformed by Major Michael Shanahan, a horse whisperer.
The combination became legend at the Battle of Romani on August 5, 1916, when engaged against Turkish troops, the pair rescued four stranded Tasmanian soldiers, who piled onto “Bill” and were transported almost three miles to safety.
Major Shanahan collapsed on route with a wound to his left leg, which was later amputated. Like most Walers “Bill” didn’t return to Australia where Packer left his mark on Anzac Day, 1987 with a punting onslaught, never seen before or after, particularly against bookmaker Bruce McHugh.
Regarding the action McHugh maintained the code of silence as did other bookmakers but the Anzac Day assault encompassed $52 million turnover when a million was a million, ending with the total of the then five-day autumn carnival of $108.5 million.
Every day Packer was present over that autumn the salvo reverberated. The first $23 million, second $18.7 million, third day $6.7 million, fourth day $52 million, fifth day $8.1 million. Total $108.5 million.
The following autumn, without Packer, the tally was $37.7 million from figures leaked to the Sydney Morning Herald.
By comparison Randwick on Saturday will be a deserted battle field: the betting ring forlorn. Desperation also has gone out of the toss of coins. After the last will anybody want to back a head?
On Saturday while Randwick may lack superstars, every race meeting has winners and attractions, even six at Gosford with three maidens. The major races are at Morphettville with the Group ones, The Australasian Oaks and Sangster having the benefit of James McDonald, the world’s best jockey, our rising talent of Zac Lloyd and form hoop, Kerrin McEvoy with the ever competent Tom Berry in Brisbane.
This gives lesser lights the opportunity to shine at intriguing Randwick events, particularly with the rail out wide at 10 metres from the winning post and eight after.
Take, for instance, the Last Post. Chris Waller’s Mr Miller has the benefit of Sam Clipperton and hit the line in good style at Warwick Farm last start. The jockey has to navigate a canny passage after drawing 16. Maybe Waller, wide draw leery, will scratch him but I would not.
Mr Miller is set to oppose Siragusa, who dropped Craig Williams at the gates recently. Tom Sherry takes over from three. Following the mishap Siragusa jumped reasonable for Molly Fitzgerald in a trial and finished like a rocket.
A great value three kilo metro claiming apprentice, Fitzgerald is indentured to the Archibalds, Rob and Annabel, who hold a strong hand at Randwick.
Fitzgerald will handle Shalash for Adam Duggan in the HMAS Sydney, impressive in a recent Gosford success with huge group of owners producing a roar, described by broadcaster, Luke Marlow: “Half the joint was on this”.
“Shalash is raced by local enthusiasts and form students,” Reg Delaney, a Director and mainstay at the Entertainment Grounds, reported.
There is a difference from those who study turf credentials and others who partake in what the Pro-ride has to offer, billed as “designed to enhance performance”.
