Kerry Packer and Horse Racing
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Kerry Packer was, without doubt, the biggest punter in Australian racing history. He started betting on the horses as a boy, and retained his love of punting at the racecourse until the end of his life. Overseas, Kerry Packer loved to play the casino tables, but in Australia the Casinos weren’t big enough to handle his stakes and his biggest punts were reserved for the racetrack.
As Packer’s wealth increased over the years, so did his bets. The Costigan Commission report included the fact that Packer had paid $4 million to a bookie during an 18-month period in 1980-81, and had only received back $1.2 million - a loss of nearly $3 million.
In the late 70’s, “The Big Man”, as he was known in racing circles, would descend on a race course with a number of “gofers” and a larger number of hangers-on, all running around trying to overhear his instructions. When Packer gave the word, the gofers would run to the bookies - trying to place the bets simultaneously, because Packer’s bets were so large that they would immediately make a horse unbackable, as the odds dropped steeply as the bookies attempted to balance their books. Once the bets were on, though, Packer was an oddly unemotional bystander, rarely getting excited over the finishing line.
One of Packer’s most famous betting losses came at the1987 Golden Slipper race at Rosehill. Betting $2 million on his horse Christmas Tree, he saw it come in fourth and that was not the only loss of the day. Bookies apparently held a world record figure of $20 million in their satchels, and Packer’s losses amounted to a staggering $7 million.
Rosehill Gardens and the Sydney Turf Club
Rosehill Gardens Racecourse is located in Parramatta in Western Sydney. Rosehill is also the home of the Sydney Turf Club and is considered, together with Royal Randwick, as one of Sydney’s premier racecourses. The Rosehill Gardens Racecourse was opened in 1885, but today’s modern facilities are a long way from that original rough and ready track.
More than 60 race meetings a year are held at Rosehill, the best known of which is the Golden Slipper Festival during the Spring Racing Carnival. There are approximately 7000 members of the Sydney Turf Club, which employs 160 full-time staff and many more casual staff.
Rosehill also has extensive training facilities and attracts some of Australia’s top trainers, including John Hawkes and Chris Walker. Around 350 horses are trained at the Rosehill course.
Rosehill hosts the richest day of racing in Australia’s horse racing calendar. Originally run in 1957, the Golden Slipper Day is a day that can make fortunes for trainers and punters alike. On that day, which is the last day in the Autumn Festival, includes the world’s richest race for two-year-olds, the $3.5 million Golden Slipper. The Golden Slipper was won in 2008 by Glen Boss riding Sebring. The race has been dominated by winners descended from Star Kingdom, including the first winner, Todman.
Randwick Racecourse and the Australian Jockey Club
Royal Randwick Racecourse in the Eastern Sydney suburbs lays claim to being the birthplace of horse racing in Australia. The first race meeting in Sydney was organised in 1810 and held in Hyde Park. By 1833, the land for what was to become Royal Randwick Racecourse had been set aside for horse racing. The first race at Randwick was a private match between two horses and was held in June 1833.
Over the years, the track deteriorated and became known as the “Sandy Track.” Briefly, the site was closed in favour of Homebush, but was redeveloped, and by 1860, Randwick had been reopened with a new track and grandstand seating for 700. It’s been said that 6,000 were to have attended the reopening of the course.
The committee, which was formed to supervise the development of the new course, was the forerunner of today’s Australian Jockey Club that was created in 1842. For many years, the Australian Jockey Club also ran horse racing in NSW, but that responsibility was taken over by the NSW Thoroughbred Racing Board in 1997.
The famous Australian Jockey Club Derby was first run in 1861 and was won by Kyole. In 1863, the Randwick land was granted to the Australian Jockey Club for annual rent of a single black peppercorn. Apparently, NSW’s government doesn’t collect the rent!
“Money Valley” - Moonee Valley Racecourse
Moonee Valley Racecourse takes it name from its home in Melbourne’s Moonee Ponds. Moonee Ponds, an otherwise bland inner Melbourne suburb, is well known to most Australians for two reasons: First, Dame Edna Everage comes from Moonee Ponds, and second, because the Cox Plate is held at Moonee Ponds Racetrack every October. The Moonee Valley Racecourse held its first races in 1883 due to the dream of one man, William Sam Cox.
Known as the “Money Valley,” Moonee Valley Racecourse is a small and compact racecourse, which gives the visitor a close-up view of the racing, particularly from the member’s enclosure. The track itself has a length of 1,805 metres; with a straight of 173 metres, it is the shortest straight of all Australian racing tracks. The unusual course gives a definite advantage to the frontrunners as they turn into the straight. This is a specialist track.
The premier event at Moonee Valley Racecourse is the WS Cox Plate, which is held as part of the Spring Carnival, just prior to rival Flemington’s Melbourne Cup. The Cox Plate is a weight-for-age race over 1400m. First raced in 1922 and named in honour of the Moonee Valley Racecourse’s founder, the Cox Plate is strategically placed in the local racing calendar between the Caulfield Cup, Victoria Derby, and the Melbourne Cup. Now the premier weight-for-age race in Australia, the Cox Plate winner’s list is an honour roll which includes Phar Lap, Sunline, and most recently in 2008, Maldivian. .
The other well-known races in Moonee Valley’s calendar are the Manikato Stakes and the Australia Stakes, both also weight-for-age events, but run over 1200m. Moonee Valley is the only Melbourne racecourse to run night-time races under lights.
The Life and Times of Scobie Breasley
Scobie Breasley was a jockey of another era: a jockey who never won the Melbourne Cup, but could lay claim to one of the longest and most successful careers in Australian racing history. An inaugural inductee into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame and a Member of the Order of Australia, Scobie died in 2006 at the age of 92.
Arthur Breasley was born in the small town of Wagga Wagga, NSW in 1914. Breasley got his “Scobie” nickname from the man he was apprenticed to at the age of 12, Jim Scobie, who was both a well-known trainer and a family friend. Scobie’s first major win, the AJC Metropolitan Handicap on Cragford, was at the age of just 16. In his entire career, Scobie started in the Melbourne Cup 16 times but never won, though admittedly he had tough competition when he competed against Phar Lap in 1929.
In contrast, Scobie owned the Caulfield Cup, winning it a record five times - including every year from 1942 to 1945, a winning run that has never been repeated. Scobie earned three successive Jockeys’ Premierships from the 1943/44 season through to the 1945/46 season.
Having established a successful career in Australia, Scobie then moved to 1950’s England, where his reputation became truly international. His notable wins in Europe included France’s Prix de L’Arc de Triomphe (1958), and the English Derby. In addition, Scobie was also awarded four English Jockeys’ Premierships - in 1957, 1961, 1962 and 1963. Scobie’s career was at its peak during most of the 1950s and 1960s. He rode a total of 3,251 winners, 2,000 of which were in England. It was a long career too, from just 16 when he won that first race in Australia, to winning the English Derby aged 50 and remarkably again two years later, in 1966.
Legends of Australian Racing George Moore
George Moore can truly be called a legend in his own right. He was awarded an OBE (1972) for services to horse racing, and for a career as both a jockey and trainer which spanned decades and continents. In 1986, the new Australian Institute of Sport inducted George into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame. He was also in the inaugural group of jockeys inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. In 2007, Australia Post featured George in their Australian Legends Series of postage stamps, featuring horse racing greats.
George Moore was born in Mackay, Queensland in 1923 and lived until 2008. He started his apprenticeship in Brisbane in 1939 and was soon one of the top apprentices before winning the Senior Jockeys’ Premiership in Brisbane in 1943. In 1949 he moved south to Sydney, where he began working for the trainer Tommy Smith. His first win in Sydney was the Rosehill Railway Handicap on Bragger. This was to be the start of the Smith-Moore partnership, which lasted over 20 years until the end of Moore’s riding career. During the late 1950’s he rode the magnificent thoroughbred, Tulloch, trained by Tommy Smith, to 19 of his 36 wins.
Moore won the Sydney Jockeys’ Premerships in 1957 and 1958, but in 1959 was tempted away to ride in Europe with trainer Alec Head. In France, his wins included the Prix du Jockey Club and the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe. He also won the British 2000 Guineas race.
Flemington Racecourse, Home of the Melbourne Cup
Flemington is definitely Australia’s best known racecourse as it is home of the Melbourne Cup, the race that stops a nation.
Flemington in central Melbourne is where races were held in 1840, on the river flats of the Maribyrnong River. At the time, Melbourne was a town barely five years old and just starting to boom, largely due to the gold strikes in nearby Bendigo and Ballarat. Flemington then developed along with Melbourne.
Flemington is Australia’s oldest race course, and in 2006 was placed on the National Heritage List. Located just 15 minutes from Melbourne’s CBD, Flemington is firmly on the tourist map, although many tourists come to see the famous rose gardens rather than the horses! Flemington is serviced to this day by special race trains on big race days, and Melbourne’s famous trams at other times. Flemington is a big centre for training, with many of Australia’s best known horse trainers maintaining stables at or near the Flemington course
The history of Flemington is synonymous with the history of the Melbourne Cup. The Cup was first held at the course in 1861, and has been held ever since on the first Tuesday of November. The Melbourne Cup is the best known race of Flemington’s Spring Carnival, which runs over eight days. Other feature races are the AJ McKinnon Stakes, the Victoria Derby and the Victoria Oaks.
The Flemington track has an unusual feature called the “straight six” where horses race down a straight 1200m (six furlongs) section of track which then joins the track proper.
Despite All Odds, Damien Oliver Bounces Back
Damien Oliver is probably the best-known current Australian jockey. His is a story of talent and success, but also of heartbreak, tragedy and recovery. It’s the stuff Hollywood films are made of, and its not entirely surprising that a movie based on Damien Oliver’s career is currently in production. “The Cup” is scheduled for release in 2009, and will feature Stephen Curry as Damien Oliver.
Damien Oliver was born in Perth in 1972 into a racing family. His father Ray Oliver was also a jockey until tragically killed in a race fall in Kalgoorlie, WA.
Damien’s career started as an apprentice to Lindsey Rudland in Perth, and his first winner was Mr Gudbud in 1988 at Bunbury, WA. In total, Oliver rode 66 winners in WA and was the leading apprentice for the 1988/89 season. He then moved to Melbourne, to complete his apprenticeship with the trainer Lee Freedman. Under Freedman, Oliver did complete his apprenticeship with a total of 478 winning rides.
Oliver’s first Group 1 win was on Submariner in 1990, for Bart Cummings in the Show Day Cup. By the end of his apprenticeship he had 18 Group 1 wins, including the Caulfield Cup (on Mannerism). He also won the Victorian Jockeys’ Premiership twice as an apprentice.
Darren Beadman Ministers to Others As a Jockey
Darren Beadman is arguably Australia’s most successful jockey, but he is also a jockey with the unusual career twist of being an ordained minister.
Darren Beadman’s Racing Career: Take One
Beadman’s riding career had a flying start when he won the apprentice jockeys’ title in his first season, 1982/83. He won the title again in 1984/85, the same season he had his first Group 1 win on Inspired in the Golden Slipper, a race he won again in 1997 on Guineas. In 1990, Beadman won the Melbourne Cup on Kingston Rule in only his third start in the race.
In 1996, Beadman completed the double of winning the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup – two of the most prestigious races on the Australian racing calendar. Also in 1996, he took the record of 186 winners Australia-wide and won the Sydney Jockeys’ Premiership.
Beadman won the 1996 Melbourne Cup on a horse called Saintly – quite an appropriate name when you consider his next career move.
Fact or fiction?
In the second installment of our Fact or Fiction series, today I will discuss the old saying of ‘never bet in maidens’.
Is this really wise advice? Are we better off avoiding races that are restricted to the lowest possible class of horse? Or are there money-making opportunities even in low-grade events?
Around 30% of all races in Australia are for maidens only, so if you are excluding yourself from betting in these events you need to make sure you are doing so for valid reasons.
Let’s take a look at the overall stats for the 13,000 maiden races in Australia over the last 3 years:
The favourite had a 34% winning strike-rate and lost 8% on turnover at TAB prices.
The second favourite had a 19% strike-rate and lost 11% on turnover.
The third favourite had a 14% strike-rate and lost 11% on turnover.
And how do these numbers compare to the 31,000 non-maiden races over the last 3 years?
The favourite had a 31% winning strike-rate and lost 9% on turnover at TAB prices.
The second favourite had a 18% strike-rate and lost 13% on turnover.
The third favourite had a 14% strike-rate and lost 13% on turnover.