Best Australian Racing Stories (32 page)

Peter Pan had not been entered for the VRC Derby, so the Melbourne Stakes (now Mackinnon Stakes) was more or less a consolation prize for Frank McGrath. Missing the Derby was a regrettable oversight, but defeating Caulfield Cup winner Rogilla by a length to win the 10-furlong Melbourne Stakes race against all ages was certainly some ‘consolation' for losing the Caulfield Cup a few weeks earlier.

It may have been a consolation, but it was also an impressive enough win for the betting public to send the Sydney colt out as 4 to 1 favourite for the Melbourne Cup, at his sixth start in a race.

But it wasn't only the racing crowd who were impressed by the horse. The flashy three-year-old chestnut was all the rage. He had captured the public imagination and was a popular favourite for the Cup. In fact his popularity rivalled that of Phar Lap, who had been favourite for the Cup for each of the previous three years, and it was as if the sporting public needed another hero to worship after Phar Lap's tragic demise in April that year. Australia was still in the grip of the Depression and people needed dreams and distractions; the golden colt with the film star looks and the silver mane was something to talk about, an equine Prince Charming with talent to match his looks.

Peter Pan was so popular that C.J. Dennis wrote a poem about the public's unerring faith in his ability to win the Cup. It was a parody of Adam Lindsay Gordon's famous verse ‘How We Beat the Favourite'. Written in the same style and rhyme scheme it was called ‘How We Backed The Favourite'. The poem begins:

‘Sure thing,' said the grocer, ‘as far as I know, sir,

This horse, Peter Pan, is the safest of certs.'

It goes on to tell how the general public all believed in Peter Pan, including ‘the butcher . . . the baker, the barman, bookmaker, the old lady char and the saveloy man'.

Finally Dennis sees Peter Pan in the flesh and is convinced:

I went to the races, and I watched all their faces.

I saw Peter Pan's; there was little he lacked.

And as he seemed willing, I plancked on my shilling

And triumphed! And that's how the favourite was backed.

The public may have had faith in Peter Pan, but his Melbourne Cup victory as a three-year-old was as dramatic and fraught with possible disaster as any before or since.

At around the 5-furlong mark, the colt was ‘pole-axed' when crowding on the outside led to a chain reaction, which caused him to stumble and fall. As he fell he was again hit as a second wave of interference swept through the field. This caused his stablemate, Denis Boy, to barrel into Peter Pan and, strange as it seems, this second impact pushed him back onto his feet and certainly prevented a bad fall.

Frank McGrath was so certain his horse had fallen that he lowered his field glasses in disgust. He later said, ‘I saw his head go down and then there was a blank space where Peter Pan had been racing.' It wasn't until he heard the course broadcaster call his name in the straight that the trainer realised Peter Pan was still running.

Having recovered his momentum, the tough colt outstayed the field to win by a neck from Yarramba, ridden by sacked jockey Andy Knox. The perennial old Cup campaigner Shadow King was third and Denis Boy ran fourth.

The outpouring of joy from the crowd was incredible: hats flew into the air, men cheered and women shrieked. Everyone loved the happy ending to the Melbourne Cup—won by the people's horse with the fairytale name and the movie-star looks.

It was the sheer determination and patient care of two great men of the turf that won the day for Peter Pan in reality. Many good judges believe that no other jockey except the under-rated Bill Duncan could have kept the big colt on his feet that day; Duncan was a quiet man and a great jockey in an era of great jockeys.

Frank McGrath had not only nursed Peter Pan through a serious hoof infection, he had also shown patience and good judgement to get the horse to win a Melbourne Cup at his sixth race start. It is an indication of McGrath's patience and love of the horses in his care that Denis Boy, his other runner that day and the horse that helped keep Peter Pan upright, had actually been nursed back to racing fitness by McGrath after breaking a knee bone. McGrath persevered and had the horse's leg in a sling until the bone healed. He then trained Denis Boy to win the 1932 AJC Metropolitan Handicap and run fourth behind his more illustrious stablemate in the Melbourne Cup. This would be outstanding management today, let alone in McGrath's era.

The McGrath stable certainly had its share of drama when it came to Melbourne Cups. In 1940 an attempt was made to shoot his Cup favourite—the Cox Plate and Mackinnon winner Beau Vite—in his stall at Glenhuntly. The marksman managed to shoot another of McGrath's horses, El Golea, by mistake. Beau Vite ran fourth behind Old Rowley in the Cup that year and El Golea recovered to run third in the Mackinnon in 1941 and third in the Caulfield Cup in 1942.

Frank McGrath knew horses. He had been a good jockey and was a survivor of the infamous Caulfield Cup race fall of 1885, when 16 horses fell in a field of 41 and one jockey was killed and many injured. As a trainer he understood how to condition a horse and how to place horses to best advantage, but more than that, he was a trainer who cared for his horses. A trainer of the old school in many ways, Frank McGrath was ‘modern' in the sense that he always put the horse's welfare first, and his plans were always long-term plans.

The Melbourne Cup victory earned Peter Pan a four-month holiday in the spelling paddock. McGrath wanted him primed for the autumn racing in Sydney. He then came out and won first-up at a mile at Randwick, once again defeating Rogilla.

At his next start his reputation for clumsiness and getting into trouble in races was given a boost when he became tangled in the starting tapes when favourite for the Rawson Stakes at Rosehill, and tailed the field home at 3 to 1 on.

Peter Pan was the big drawcard at the Sydney Autumn Carnival of 1933 and he took out three races in eight days: the St Leger, Cumberland Stakes and AJC Plate. The three-year-old was then handicapped at 9 st (57 kg), 12 pounds (5.4 kg) over weight for age, in the Sydney Cup—the same weight Carbine had carried, as a three-year-old, in 1889.

Frank McGrath told the handicapper times had changed since 1889 and no horse should be given such a weight at three years of age over 2 miles. He then protested in the most effective way possible by simply scratching his horse from the Sydney Cup and putting him aside to prepare for the Melbourne Cup of 1933.

Sadly, however, Peter Pan was to be absent from racetracks for 12 months. He had been handicapped at 9 st 7 lb (60.5 kg) for the Melbourne Cup of 1933 and McGrath thought that this was fair, being 7 pounds (3.2 kg) over weight for age for a four-year-old. However, when he returned from the spelling paddock he was found to be suffering from rheumatism in his shoulders. He was treated and left to recover naturally in the paddock, but he missed an entire year of racing—the bulk of his four-year-old season, normally a career ‘prime time' for racehorses.

The golden horse of the previous Sydney Autumn Carnival resumed racing in March 1934 and took a while to get back to his peak. Unplaced over a mile at Randwick on 3 March, he improved to run a good second to old rival Rogilla two weeks later at Rosehill, but was unplaced a week later behind the mighty New Zealand mare Silver Scorn in the Chipping Norton Stakes at Warwick Farm.

Silver Scorn had won 12 races from 13 starts at three and was hot favourite for the AJC Autumn Plate a week after her Chipping Norton victory.

It seemed that Peter Pan had turned the corner, however, and was finding his old form under McGrath's patient training. He trounced Silver Scorn by 2½ lengths in the Autumn Plate and followed up that win with another in the 2-mile Cumberland Plate only four days later.

Just three days after that, Peter Pan was again the punter's favourite as Jim Pike took him out onto the track to run against a classy field, including his old foe Rogilla, in the 2400-metre Kings Cup.

Once again the big chestnut had another of his ‘blond moments'. Nicknamed the ‘Blond Bombshell', after sultry movie star Jean Harlow, Peter Pan was possibly the most beautiful horse that ever became a champion in Australia, but at times it was almost as if he had a touch of Three Stooges mayhem in his make-up.

Racing neck and neck with Rogilla, Peter Pan suddenly seemed to resent his old rival's persistence. Travelling flat-out, Peter Pan turned his head to bite Rogilla as they neared the winning post, and the terrified Rogilla stuck out his head to avoid the stallion's attack, and won the race by a head!

It certainly appeared that the great stayer had recovered from his crippling rheumatism, even if his manners had not been improved by the lengthy spell. That Autumn campaign had been his worst ever—six starts for two wins, two seconds and two unplaced runs— but Frank McGrath was satisfied the horse was back to his old self, and promptly spelled him to await the Spring Carnivals.

Perhaps the ‘Blond Bombshell' knew the score between himself and his rival when he delivered the ‘lovebite' to Rogilla. The tactic certainly cost Peter Pan victory in the Kings Cup and it didn't scare off Rogilla effectively either; Peter Pan finished second to him again when he resumed racing in the Chelmsford Stakes in the spring of 1934. So, unfortunately for our chestnut hero, it was not a case of ‘once bitten, twice shy'.

Frank McGrath then made a tactical move that confounded the critics. He entered Peter Pan in a 7-furlong sprint race, against the mighty Chatham, at the Victoria Park racetrack. Victoria Park is now a housing estate beside busy Southern Cross Drive near Moore Park, but it was once a beautiful showpiece proprietory racecourse owned by racing entrepreneur Joynton-Smith, and rivalled Randwick as Sydney's premier racetrack in its heyday.

A huge crowd flocked to see the ‘Blond Bombshell' race against Chatham, who was the sprint and middle-distance champion of his era and started at 4 to 1 on.

But the canny McGrath had evidently seen something in his horse's behaviour that made him believe he could go against all racing commonsense and bring a stayer back from 9 furlongs to 7 at his second start in a campaign. As usual Frank McGrath's intuition was spot on—Peter Pan defeated the mighty sprinter and set a course record for 7 furlongs at Victoria Park.

Ten days later, Peter Pan was sent out favourite at odds-on in the AJC Spring Stakes at a mile and a half, only to be beaten by a head by his old nemesis Rogilla. This time Rogilla won fair and square, without the aid of a bite from the Blond Bombshell. That made it four times in a row that Peter Pan had finished second to Rogilla; perhaps the record-breaking sprint at Victoria Park had taken the edge off him.

Rogilla and the Blond Bombshell had now clashed ten times, with Rogilla winning on six occasions. Rogilla was a champion himself, a horse who won 26 races, including the Caulfield and Sydney Cups. He was never able to beat Peter Pan again, however, losing every one of his final seven clashes against the champion chestnut.

The Craven Plate over 10 furlongs looked like another match race between Peter Pan and Rogilla. This time it was Chatham's time to turn the tables on Peter Pan. As Peter Pan, at 10 to 9, and Rogilla, at 6 to 4, engaged in their usual head-to-head struggle down the straight, Chatham, at 8 to 1, swept past them to win by a length.

The three clashed again, with Melbourne Cup winner of 1933, Hall Mark, in the Melbourne Stakes on the first day of the Spring Carnival at Flemington. Peter Pan carried 9 st 2 lb (58.5 kg) and ran his classy rivals off their legs to win easily.

Peter Pan had been alloted 9 st 10 lb (61.5 kg) for the Melbourne Cup, certainly a champion's weight. However, his win on the Saturday had convinced McGrath that the mighty horse was ready for another Cup win and the public were behind him also, making him equal early favourite at 5 to 1 despite his big weight. Then the weather conspired against the great horse.

The day before the Cup was run Melbourne turned on one of its worst rainstorms: it poured and poured all day and Cup Day saw grey skies and more rain on its way. The track was a swamp, all form was ‘out the window' and Peter Pan, still suffering from his perennial rheumatism which always worsened in wet weather, and carrying over 61 kg, looked like a dead duck. Even the mug punters deserted the champion. He drifted alarmingly in the betting, out to 14 to 1.

With Jim Pike suspended, McGrath engaged Darby Munro to ride his champion in Melbourne. ‘Demon' Darby was usually Rogilla's regular rider but he had ridden Peter Pan before and won on him in Sydney and in the Melbourne Stakes.

The Cup field was as good as you could imagine that year. It included the previous year's winner Hall Mark, Rogilla, dual Derby winner Theo, the great staying mare Sarcherie, and the winners of the Moonee Valley, Australian and Sydney Cups. The rain had made the surface a swamp and the result would surely be no more than a lottery of luck.

It was a gloomy scene in the saddling paddock, literally and metaphorically, as Frank McGrath legged Darby Munro onto the rheumatic five-year-old's back. All the trainer could think to say to the crack jockey as they looked at the bog track, made worse than ever by a day's racing, was, ‘Don't worry, they all have to go through it.' They both knew the truth, however—they all didn't have to carry 9 stone 10! Perhaps the Blond Bombshell was truly a ‘dead duck'.

As it transpired, however, Peter Pan turned out to be what racing people call ‘a real duck'.

In what was a daring decision, Munro decided it was better for the champion stayer to run further on firmer ground than plough through puddles with 61.5 kg. He kept Peter Pan out wide all the way down the straight the first time and all around the course in the 2-mile marathon. At the turn he took the lead and raced away, still well off the fence, to defeat Sarcherie by 3 lengths slowing down, with LaTrobe third.

Munro's daring ride had managed to keep Rodney Dangar's orange and green hooped silks cleaner than most, and he now had £5200 in prize money to help pay the cleaning bills.