1990 – Dr Grace Hits ‘Em for Six!

Black Monday, October 19, 1987, saw a severe global stockmarket crash in which worldwide losses were estimated at USD 1.71 trillion. Taking its lead from Wall Street, the Australian market lost 25% of its value on October 20 and 41% by the end of the month. The asset price bubble overwhelmingly had been fuelled by borrowed money. The 1980s in Australia and elsewhere had been the era of the colourful and audacious entrepreneur – men like Alan Bond and Christopher Skase – who first became celebrated household names before the crashing sharemarket saw them fall into notoriety. “Like little wanton boys that swim on bladders,” to quote Shakespeare’s Cardinal Wolsey, “many summers on a sea of glory but far beyond their depth” – or more to the point, the depth of their shareholders’ pockets. Australia’s Treasurer Paul Keating, in one of his trademark quips, would contemptuously dismiss these footloose corporate pirates as “skid-marks on the pathway to progress”.

Australian and New Zealand bloodstock had been caught up in these asset price bubbles along with everything else. One hundred and four days after the first shockwaves of Black Monday hit Australian markets, the 62nd New Zealand National Yearling Sales took place at Karaka on February 2 and 3, 1988. Most of the vendors leading into those sales were apprehensive and rightly so as no less than 102 yearlings would be eventually passed in – double that of the previous year. However, one celebrated studmaster looked forward to those sales with relish. Patrick Hogan and his burgeoning Cambridge Stud was riding high. And the reason, of course, was the continued domination of his imported Irish stallion, Sir Tristram. In the twelve months since the previous national sales, Sir Tristram’s sons and daughters had won the following Group One races: W.R.C. New Zealand Oaks (Starline); the W.A.T.C. Rothwells and the V.R.C. Australian Guineas (Military Plume); S.T.C. Golden Slipper Stakes (Marauding); Q.T.C. Brisbane Cup (Limitless); V.R.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes (Kaapstad); and the W.A.T.C. The Australasian (Fair Sir).

Patrick Hogan wasn’t the only man that could look back on the 1987 calendar year with smug satisfaction. When the Rosehill trainer Geoff Chapman flew across the Tasman to inspect yearlings and attend those same N.Z. National Yearling Sales, he could afford to smile. Not only had he trained Myocard to win three Group 1 races including the A.J.C. Derby as well as the listed V.A.T.C. Autumn Classic, but he had also prepared Groucho to win the Group 2 S.T.C. Theo Marks Quality Handicap. Moreover, in his stable was a highly promising two-year-old colt named Temple Front with whom he was hoping to pluck some of the upcoming autumn juvenile plums.

Chapman had already been busy buying yearlings during January when he paid $147,000 for two Marscay yearlings (out of Tristram Lady and Sweet And Nice) at the William Inglis Summer Sales while at the Magic Millions Yearling Sales on the Gold Coast he had been the underbidder to Paul Sutherland for the $550,000 Danzatore colt out of Bianco Lady, which broke the previous year’s record of $400,000 that Geoff Chapman himself had paid for Mabarak, the as then unraced colt by Sir Tristram that was a brother to Marauding. Chapman had dodged a bullet when he missed out on the Bianco Lady colt who was never heard of again. It’s a shame that he ever managed to secure Mabarak on behalf of John Denoon, for although the horse won an official heat at the Two-Year-Old Trials and later fell in to win a 1900m midweek race at Canterbury, by the time the $400,000 purchase had retired in his five-year-old season, he had won a mere $31,580. Chapman and Denoon were to have better luck at Karaka although it, too, would prove a sale where regrets lingered.

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Chapman’s first buy at Karaka that year came with Lot No.60 when he bid $260,000 for the bay colt by Danzatore out of Arlington. The colt proved a dud and by the time he was exported to Singapore in May 1990, had only returned a derisory $7,845 on his purchase price. Chapman’s second buy, however, was inspired. It came later in the afternoon on that first day when he paid $210,000 for the bay colt by Sir Tristram out of English Wonder offered on behalf of the Arrowfield Group. A strikingly black, petite filly by Twig Moss out of an imported English mare, English Wonder had been a first class racehorse when trained by John Hawkes in Adelaide winning the 1982 South Australian Derby and the 1983 S.T.C. Storm Queen Stakes. This handsome little fellow was her second foal. Lack of size didn’t bother Chapman when it came to Sir Tristram’s progeny, as he always believed that the stallion’s smaller and more refined stock made for better stayers as opposed to his bigger, coarser progeny. There were exceptions of course, as Empire Rose proved, but in this instance Chapman’s prejudice was well founded. Registered as Dr Grace, the little colt would give principal owner John Denoon and trainer Geoff Chapman their second A.J.C. Derby in the space of four years and prove one of the great buys of those 1988 Karaka sales.

If the first day at Karaka was famous for Chapman’s acquisition of a Derby winner, the second day was famous for him being the underbidder on the greatest thoroughbred sold through those sales for many a year. John Denoon’s instructions to his trainer were to buy the best yearling on offer. Prior to Karaka there had been much speculation as to which yearling would bring the highest price and whether the magical seven-figure sum i.e. $1,000,000 would be broken. It was generally conceded that were it to happen, it would be with one of four Sir Tristram yearlings on offer, those being the bay filly from Eight Carat (Lot No.160); the bay colt from Lady Giselle (Lot No.280); the chestnut colt from My Tricia (Lot No.341); and the chestnut colt from Rosie’s Girl (Lot No.420). It was the first of those three colts that interested Chapman. Lady Giselle was a beautifully bred daughter of Nureyev and the year before Chapman had bought this yearling’s older half-sister by Danzatore for $375,000 late on the second day. Registered as Mythraa, she was yet to race but had won and run second respectively at the official Canterbury and Randwick Two-Year-Old Trials the previous September.

Like nearly every prospective buyer there, Chapman’s lips slavered and his eye gleamed at the prospect of acquiring this magnificent colt, foaled at the Cambridge Stud on the very same day that Bonecrusher had bested Waverley Star in that famous W. S. Cox Plate, the so-called Race of the Century. It seemed that the stars had aligned for racing greatness on that particular Saturday, October 25, 1986, for this yearling colt much later as a Prince of Stallions would ultimately go on and sire no less than four winners of the W. S. Cox Plate even if he himself finished last in his only attempt to win one. Unfortunately for Chapman, Colin Hayes at Karaka was also very much taken with Lady Giselle’s son, and he, too, declared him the pick of the catalogue. Now there’s only so far that a Sydney property developer’s money can go when challenged by the oil riches of an Arab sheikh. While Chapman bid up to $600,000, it was Colin Hayes who pipped him with the winning bid of $650,000 on behalf of Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum in the name of Shadwell Estates, Australia.

Afterwards, John Denoon wondered whether one more bid might have got him. He asked the Sheik’s agent, Hubie de Burgh, how much the Sheik had been prepared to pay to get the colt. Breezily, the agent replied: “Oh, there was no price mentioned – he just said buy him.” The colt would go on to win the Group 1 V.R.C. Australian Guineas as a three-year-old and find his way into the 1990 A.J.C. Derby field, although it would be in the stallion barn that he would discover his true metier and become a legend. In naming the colt, Sheikh Hamdan used the word for ‘white sand’ in the Emirati dialect. It was also the name of the palace, the official residence of the Al Maktoum family in Dubai, and that name, as you have already guessed, was ‘Zabeel’.

Just for the record, on the second day at Karaka and having missed out on Zabeel, Geoff Chapman spent $1,190,000 acquiring six more yearlings but none ever came remotely close to claiming black type. Indeed, the majority struggled to win their maiden. The highest priced yearling at those 1988 Karaka sales was the Sir Tristram colt out of My Tricia. Bart Cummings paid $800,000 for him, which equalled the record price for a New Zealand yearling. Registered as Garfunkel, he would at least win an S.T.C. Parramatta Cup but hardly proved a bridge over troubled waters for his owners. The second most expensive yearling was the Sir Tristram filly out of Eight Carat for which Bart Cummings paid $750,000. Registered as La Brillante, while she never won black type, she was ultimately the dam of Philidor who did, when he won the City Tattersall’s Club Cup in 2001.

At the end of the two-day auction some 364 yearlings had been sold for an aggregate of $41,059,500 (down 6.9% on the previous year) with the average $112,801 a modest improvement on the previous year’s $109,464. Yet again the New Zealand National Yearling Sales were dominated by Sir Tristram. Twelve of the top fifteen-priced yearlings sold at Karaka were sired by Sir Tristram. The other three were equally shared between Danzatore, who stood alongside Sir Tristram at Cambridge; Grosvenor, a son of Sir Tristram; and Imposing. Naturally enough, Sir Tristram topped the sires’ averages with his 47 lots averaging $256,277 from an aggregate of $12,045,000. Bart Cummings and Tommy Smith were the biggest spenders with Bart outlaying $6,095,000 for 24 lots at an average of $253,958 while Tommy spent $4,922,500 acquiring 37 lots at an average of $133,040. Of course, the highest of the averages was Shadwell Estates whose four lots averaged $432,500.

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Registering a racehorse with your preferred choice of name is no easy task as any owner can tell you. However, in the case of the Sir Tristram-English Wonder colt, thanks to the dam’s name, endless possibilities were posed for John Denoon and his colleagues, Ian Macaskill and Newcastle coal mine owner Brian Maheine. In the end, given their collective love of cricket, the trio opted for registering the colt as Dr Grace, after the legendary English cricketer whose first class career extended over a record equalling 44 seasons from 1865 to 1908. Towering over six feet and weighing in at more than fourteen stone, the cricketing Dr Grace was well above average height and build, something that couldn’t be said for his thoroughbred namesake. Dr Grace was only some 15 hands when Chapman bought him, and he was never much more than 15.2 in his prime. Interestingly, the cricketing Dr Grace made two tours of Australia viz. in 1873-74 and again in 1891-92. On neither occasion did he endear himself to the Australian public with his bad attitude and prima donna behaviour. Something similar afflicted the very young equine Dr Grace, whose early obstreperousness and truculence tempted Chapman to geld him although, thankfully, he stayed his hand.

As befitted an aristocratic colt with a Derby-winning pedigree, Geoff Chapman was very patient with Dr Grace, an approach that suited Denoon together with the other syndicate members. The dust had already settled on the brilliant Courtza’s achievements in the Blue Diamond Stakes and Golden Slipper by the time that Dr Grace made his racing debut in a humble two-year-old handicap on a ten-race card at Kembla Grange in mid-April. Partnered by Darren Beadman and supported by the stable into 7/2, the brown colt ran out an easy three lengths winner. It might have only been Kembla Grange but there was some class about that day. Kensington Gardens, the Grosvenor filly that finished runner-up to Dr Grace would much later claim some Derby history of her own when at stud she produced Blackfriars, winner of the 1999 Victoria Derby, as well as four other black-type winners. Immediately after the Kembla Grange race, Chapman declared to anybody who would listen that this impressive son of Sir Tristram would win the A.J.C. Derby the following autumn. Howzat for a prediction?

Following that winning debut, Dr Grace was then taken to Brisbane where on the first Saturday in May, again ridden by Beadman, he won a two-year-old handicap at Eagle Farm. At his next start on the first Saturday in June for the Q.T.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes, Dr Grace was drawn off the course in a 20-horse capacity field, but nevertheless finished only four lengths from the winner Zamoff. The son of English Wonder completed his juvenile season by taking the minor placing in the Q.T.C. Castlemaine Stakes (1600m) behind Prince Salieri and Stargazer, beaten a long head and neck respectively. Intractable and aggressive before leaving Sydney, the experience of travel and the Brisbane sunshine saw Dr Grace mature into a much more placid racehorse. There was no suggestion now of any gelding operation for this impressive and handsome $210,000 son of Sir Tristram, particularly given the success that some of the stallion’s first sons at stud such as Dalmacia, Grosvenor and Sovereign Red were beginning to have.

Dr Grace might have failed to win during his sojourn in the Sunshine State, but it had proven a highly profitable Queensland excursion for Chapman and Denoon. Their smart sprinter Groucho, who earlier in the season had won both the A.J.C. Challenge Stakes and the Expressway Stakes at Group 2 level, took out the prestigious Sir Byrne Hart Stakes at Eagle Farm. The following week, Potrero, a stablemate of Dr Grace and also part-owned by the pair, won the B.A.T.C. Rothman’s ‘100,000’ in which Groucho was fourth, and then finished an unlucky third in the Q.T.C. Stradbroke Handicap after being drawn out in the boondocks. Potrero was another of those cheap yearlings that had attracted Chapman because of both Nearco and Hyperion bloodlines in the pedigree of his sire, Red Tony. Indeed, the chestnut gelding had cost a mere $8,000 as a yearling at the Inglis Summer Sales in Sydney in 1986. That trip to Brisbane had also proved highly entertaining to the racing pressmen as Chapman gratuitously explained to the locals some of the shortcomings in the administration of Queensland racing. Whether it was his comments on the use of the doping narcotic palfium, a derivative of morphine, or his criticism of the $4 fee required to work a horse on the course proper at Eagle Farm – not to mention the issue of penalties for races and the general lack of co-ordination between the B.A.T.C. and the Q.T.C., it was all grist to Chapman’s mill.

For all that, however, and apart from the prizemoney won and the experience gained during that Brisbane trip, another benefit did accrue to Geoff Chapman and his stable. It was then and there that The Doc first discovered and used ‘pacifiers’ on his horses, most notably Groucho in the Q.T.C. Sir Byrne Hart Stakes. These were special blinkers designed by the intelligent and enterprising Queensland jockey, Michael Pelling. The Pelling pacifiers consisted of a blinker style hood with a mesh covering to shield the tender and sensitive eyes of a horse. While Pelling designed them initially for protection of the horse, he soon discovered that for many gallopers the hood served to calm them and thus conserved their nervous energy for the race itself. For it is true that most animals have a greater sense of security in the dark. After Groucho’s win at Eagle Farm, Chapman declared: “I have to give the Pelling Pacifiers a wrap. He was a 10-length better horse today!”

The iconic American comedian Groucho Marx, after whom Groucho took his name, for many years hosted a popular radio and television program in the U.S.A. called ‘You Bet Your Life’. Much of the program’s tension surrounded the ‘secret’ word that, if uttered by the contestant, would trigger cash dropping from above. During May and June of 1989, ‘Pacifiers’ was the secret word as far as Geoff Chapman was concerned in Brisbane, and thanks largely to Groucho quite a bit of cash dropped into the hands of the Doc and his close stable confidantes. There was an interesting sequel to that Brisbane trip. Upon his return to Sydney and like Michael Pelling before him, Chapman tried to convince the A.J.C. Chief Steward, John Schreck, to permit the use of pacifiers on all Sydney metropolitan racecourses. Initially, Schreck and the A.J.C. committee demurred, fearing that the gear could create visibility problems for the wearer, particularly in heavy ground. But Chapman persisted and when the passage of time demonstrated the value of this new piece of headgear on both wet and dry tracks in Queensland, the A.J.C. eventually retracted their opposition just a few weeks before the 1990 A.J.C. Autumn Carnival. It was no accident that when Dr Grace stepped out at Randwick on A.J.C. Derby Day on 14 April 1990, sartorially resplendent in his black and white pacifiers which perfectly matched his jockey’s silks, the stylish son of Sir Tristram was making more than a mere fashion statement.

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When Dr Grace resumed racing on the first Saturday of September as a three-year-old, it was in Melbourne. After running a minor placing at Caulfield first up and then winning over 1600 metres at Moonee Valley, the Doctor claimed second money in the $250,000 Moonee Valley Stakes in which he was beaten a length by Zabeel but managed to relegate the hot favourite Courtza into the minor placing. Dr Grace met the older horses at weight-for-age for the first time in the V.A.T.C. Caulfield Stakes a fortnight later when he ran an impressive fifth behind Almaraad. The winner was a neat, compact, imported chestnut stallion by Ela-Mana-Mou owned by Sheikh Hamdan and trained by Colin Hayes; he would dominate the weight-for-age ranks that spring. While the main objective with Dr Grace that campaign was the Victoria Derby against his own age group, Chapman was tossing up whether to challenge for the Caulfield Cup or the W. S. Cox Plate enroute.

Two factors prompted him to opt for the Caulfield Cup. The first was Almaraad’s seeming invincibility at weight-for-age that spring. The second was the presence of America’s champion jockey, the diminutive Willie Shoemaker, in Melbourne just then as part of his world farewell tour. Weighing only 38 ounces at birth on August 19, 1931, The Shoe hadn’t been expected to survive his first night. Put in a shoebox in the oven to stay warm, he not only survived that first night but, figuratively speaking, went on to become a giant in the saddle and one of the greatest American jockeys of all time. When Roy Higgins met the 58-year-old Texan in Melbourne in that spring of 1989, he good-naturedly quipped: “I was born bigger than he is now.” Merely to get into the irons, Willie had to double up the leather straps. As Peter Lalor the V.R.C. Chief Steward allegedly remarked: “If he rode any shorter, he’d have a squeaky voice.”

The V.A.T.C. was anxious to maximise publicity from the great man’s presence in Melbourne and thus the chairman of the club, Peter Young, sought to secure Willie a ride in Caulfield’s signature race. Young just happened to be a friend of Geoff Chapman and Dr Grace was weighted on 45.5kg in the Cup. The opportunity of getting an experienced world class rider who wouldn’t need to declare overweight to partner Dr Grace, was too good to resist. It seemed to be a marriage made in heaven. It proved anything but. “It was a shocking ride,” to quote the Doc. Drawn in five, Shoemaker was trapped five wide for the first half mile before making a sustained run around the field when going up the hill, to vie for the lead with Cosign at the 1400-metre mark. Even then he never got anywhere near the fence with Cosign keeping him out. That Dr Grace still managed to box on in the straight to finish fifth, just three lengths behind the winner Cole Diesel, was quite remarkable. Upon returning to the enclosure, Shoemaker even had the chutzpah to say that he wasn’t disappointed with the horse’s performance but felt that he was just not up to the standard. One of the pair wasn’t up to standard but it wasn’t the horse. Farewell tour? As far as The Doc was concerned The Shoe’s retirement couldn’t come soon enough. To rub salt into the wound, an unrepentant Shoemaker then cheekily inquired of Chapman whether the horse was for sale. Chapman replied diplomatically, which in itself was quite out of character: “No thanks, Willie. We won’t be worrying about that.”

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Next stop for Dr Grace was Flemington and the Victoria Derby. Unhappy with the training tracks at Flemington, Chapman had switched Dr Grace and the rest of his team to Caulfield for their final preparations. Nonetheless, the son of Sir Tristram was ready for the V.R.C. Blue Riband. In a 13-horse field the 11/4 favourite for the race was Stylish Century. Geoff Chapman had dodged the W. S. Cox Plate the previous Saturday because he believed that Almaraad was unbeatable. He was, too, but there was only a head in it on the line at Moonee Valley, and it was another three-year-old in the bold frontrunning Stylish Century that had almost pinched Australia’s richest weight-for-age race and pushed Almaraad to the very limit. The pair had five lengths to spare over the minor placegetter Empire Rose.

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Stylish Century himself offered up a colourful back story. An athletic little colt by Double Century out of the Forex mare Stylish, he had been bred by Lloyd Foyster and was purchased by the Gold Coast builder Dick Monaghan for just $6,000 when he was offered at the Golden Nugget Yearling Sales. Dick Monaghan and his family happened to be driving past the sale and decided to stop. The next thing he’d bought a horse. Monaghan was a former Sydneysider who had been involved in racing during the previous twenty years, but until now had never had a winner. He had moved to the Gold Coast about seven years before acquiring Stylish Century. The colt was placed in the Gold Coast stables of N. J. (Noel) Doyle, and Stylish Century made his racing debut on fast ground at Doomben on the last day of November 1988.

The race was a 1200-metre two-year-old maiden handicap and to say that he made quite an impression would be an understatement. The 9/4 favourite for the race was yet another of Double Century’s progeny in Love Century, which helped make the market for Monaghan, who got better than 3/1 for his money. Stylish Century proved very stylish indeed, leading throughout to win by 11 lengths in the hands of Steve Sharman! Four weeks later the near black colt took a mortgage on the $250,000 Golden Nugget Stakes in February when he destroyed his rivals in the colts and geldings’ division of the Mini Nugget Stakes (1110m) at Doomben, this time by a 6-length margin.

Stylish Century made it three from three with another effortless win at Doomben in mid-January enroute to the Golden Nugget Stakes (1200m). The colt then stormed into Golden Slipper calculations when Brian York partnered him to take out the rich Gold Coast race, overcoming a wide barrier when winning by 5 ½ lengths and slashing more than a half-second off the track record with a time of 1 minute 8.34 seconds. Given that the Golden Nugget was a restricted event and the prizemoney not recognised by the Sydney Turf Club, Stylish Century needed to win a qualifying race to make the $1,650,000 Golden Slipper field. Brought to Sydney in late February and stabled with Bill Mitchell at Randwick, Sandra Doyle, wife of the trainer, rode the colt in his work and described him as a “nice, neat little horse”. Noel Doyle had ridden hundreds of winners in Queensland and on N.S.W. country tracks in his twenty years in the saddle. In 1967 he had partnered the former champion two-year-old filly Eye Liner to victory in both the Q.T.C. Lightning Stakes and the Delaney Quality as an older horse. So, he knew what a good horse felt like. Doyle declared: “This horse has the potential to be a champion because he has speed, and he will stay; I am absolutely certain of that.” Stylish Century wasn’t a horse that flew the barrier but could muster remarkable speed after about fifty metres.

Stylish Century (4/9) tasted defeat for the first time when he went under by a short neck to Mercury in the S.T.C. Todman Slipper Trial, although he wasn’t at his best leading on the damp ground and he even changed stride a couple of times in the straight. To qualify for the Slipper field, Monaghan then insisted on the colt starting in the $131,000 Brambles Classic at Kembla Grange just three days later. York believed he’d been booked for the Slipper mount and when Monaghan sacked him in favour of Ken Russell, York appealed to the stewards to adjudicate, and they found he was entitled to a winning or losing fee. It was the first manifestation of the stubborn willfulness that Monaghan would bring to some of his relationships with jockeys and trainers alike during Stylish Century’s tenure on the Turf. Still, the episode was all for nothing and the only reward Russell and York each yielded was a losing riding fee.

Disadvantaged in the barrier draw, Stylish Century was never in touch with the lead in the Golden Slipper and could only finish eighth behind Courtza. Backed up in the A.J.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes but disadvantaged again by both a wide draw and a slow track, the Queensland speedster came in eleventh behind Reganza. Sent to the spelling paddock thereafter it was the colt’s last run for trainer Noel Doyle. Ten weeks later in the midst of the Q.T.C. Winter Carnival, Monaghan switched Stylish Century to Bart Cummings. It came on the Tuesday preceding the running of the Stradbroke Handicap. It proved a particularly black week for Doyle vis-à-vis Cummings. Not only did he lose the best horse ever to pass through his stables but he lost the Stradbroke to the Cups’ King as well. Doyle’s Don’t Play looked to have the rich Queensland sprint won until the Bart Cummings-trained Robian Steel finished right over the top of him  on the line. The margin? A short half head!

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Bart Cummings on paper at least, had a strong team of middle distance/staying three-year-olds when the new season of 1989-90 began – including Zamoff, Interstellar, Solar Circle and Tristanagh. And now he had Stylish Century to bolster his stocks as well. However, it didn’t take long for Bart Cummings and Dick Monaghan to fall out over Stylish Century’s style of racing. Bart trained his horses to relax in running, particularly those he expected to get over a bit of ground. But in Dick Monaghan’s judgement, Stylish Century was a natural frontrunner and from the moment the starting gates crashed open, in the words of Meat Loaf, Dick wanted him “gone, gone, gone…like a bat out of hell”. Stylish Century had been caught flat-footed and ridden off the pace in his first three starts for Bart in the new season viz. the A.J.C. San Domenico and Up And Coming Stakes at Warwick Farm and the S.T.C. Peter Pan Stakes run that year at Canterbury. Moreover, the horse had also been ridden by three different jockeys. Monaghan was disgruntled.

In the S.T.C. Gloaming Stakes (1900m) Monaghan demanded of Cummings and John Marshall that the colt be allowed to use his speed from the front. It didn’t happen. In a race conducted at a farcical pace on a fast track, Mick Dittman called the tune on the Tommy Smith-trained Stargazer to win easily in a time that was a laughable 3.23 seconds outside the race record, while Stylish Century restrained by Marshall during the running, finished a touch over two lengths from the winner in the minor placing. Monaghan’s pent-up frustration again spilled over, much of it because of John Marshall’s ride. It was then on to Randwick and the Group 1 George Main Stakes (1600m) and the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) notably with a change of rider.

Craig Carmody now assumed the mount. In the former race, Stylish Century could only finish sixth behind the popular frontrunning Vo Rogue, after being sluggish out of the barrier and wide during the journey. However, the Spring Champion Stakes just seven days later, proved a very different story. For the first and only time under Cummings’ stewardship was the Double Century colt permitted to lead. Against his thirteen opponents, Stylish Century and Craig Carmody were never headed and went on to win the three-year-old classic by almost five lengths in a race record time of 2 minutes and 2.4 seconds. Meat Loaf would have been proud. Monaghan certainly was! Finally his judgement was validated and his previous frustration shown to be justified. Then came the final straw: Caulfield and the Guineas.

A fortnight after his Randwick heroics, Stylish Century was accepted for the 1600 metres classic at The Heath with Craig Carmody again in the saddle. He was one of two horses trained by Bart Cummings in the race, the other being Zamoff partnered by Jim Cassidy. Stylish Century had drawn wide in the 16-horse field and the start was delayed, which did him no favours. Sluggish out of the gates, Stylish Century was ill-advisedly ridden back in the field in the slowest Caulfield Guineas since Grosvenor had won in a time of 1 minute 37.9 seconds in 1982. Punters who had tumbled into the 5/4 offered about Courtza turned a white shade of pale as they watched Procol Harum (33/1) win by a head from Zamoff with a further one-and-a-quarter lengths to Prince Salieri. Carmody’s lacklustre ride proved too much for the prickly Dick Monaghan and before the week was over Stylish Century had been transferred out of Leilani Lodge and into the care of the 32-year-old Randwick trainer Bill Mitchell at whose stables the colt had sheltered on his Golden Slipper quest the previous autumn. Mitchell had only won his first Group One victory less than a month before, when his From The Planet had taken out the A.J.C. Epsom Handicap some 82 minutes after Stylish Century had won the Spring Champion Stakes.

Mitchell, having had the colt for just over a week, very nearly won the $1.7 million W. S. Cox Plate first up – itself a tribute to Cummings’ previous conditioning. Kevin Moses, renowned as one of the best distance jockeys in Australia and a man who had served his apprenticeship with Randwick trainer Neville Begg, was given the mount, which he would retain for the rest of the season. It was the first time Moses had ridden either Moonee Valley or Stylish Century and he almost stole the show on the 33/1 outsider. Drawn widest in the 14-horse field, Moses didn’t hesitate to cut loose from the jump as he pushed the Double Century colt to the front. Thereafter, Moses rated him perfectly and was just caught by Almaraad on the winning post in a time of 2 minutes 3.2 seconds. It was an emotional W.S. Cox Plate for Almaraad’s veteran trainer Colin Hayes who had only announced on the Thursday night before of his intention not to renew his licence the following year.

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After his W. S. Cox Plate performance, it was hardly surprising that Stylish Century was sent out as the 11/4 favourite in the 13-horse field for the Victoria Derby. Dr Grace shared the second line of betting at 3/1 with the Geelong Derby Trial Stakes winner Interstellar trained by Bart Cummings. After the shenanigans of Shoemaker, Shane Dye resumed his partnership with Dr Grace. Bart’s second runner, Zamoff, came next in the market. Stylish Century might have missed the Flemington start by two lengths, but it was the only real moment of anxiety suffered by his connections during the race. Moses soon balanced the colt and made steady ground three wide along the Maribyrnong River straight before assuming his now familiar role of pacemaker at the 1600 metres.

Thereafter, like Ol’ Man River, he just kept rollin’ along. As for the rest of the cavalry, in the lyrics of the famous song by Oscar Hammerstein II, “it was sweat and strain with bodies aching and wracked with pain”. In the end it became a procession with Counterfeit and Zamoff trailing the winner around the sweep of the home turn. Meanwhile, Dye had afforded Dr Grace the glorious run of the race – never further back than sixth and nestled on the fence – until he was pulled out to make his sprint approaching the 400 metres post. However, it was to no avail with Stylish Century three lengths clear of Zamoff on the line and the Doctor a length further back in third. Stylish Century’s winning time of 2 minutes 34.2 seconds was the fastest of the sixteen Derbies since the move to metric and the 2500-metre course.

Although the comment may be apocryphal, it is said that when Bart Cummings, trainer of the runner-up Zamoff, was asked by how far he had been beaten as he clambered down the Flemington steps binoculars in hand, he dryly replied: “About three weeks.” While Dr Grace headed for the spelling paddock, Stylish Century was a dramatic late acceptor for the Melbourne Cup with connections paying the $37,650 late entry fee with just minutes to spare on the Saturday evening. They needn’t have bothered. You don’t win Melbourne Cups as an afterthought. As the great journalist and winner of two Walkley Awards, Les Carlyon truthfully observed about that Melbourne Cup and Stylish Century: “He fought the bit up the straight the first time, tossing his head wildly, just like Gay Icarus in 1971. The Cup is never won by pullers.” And it wasn’t. It’s worth watching on YouTube today just to see how the coltish Stylish Century was already a beaten horse before he even passed the post the first time. The Cup fell to the five-year-old dual St Leger winner Tawrrific, giving his 33-year-old trainer Lee Freedman a memorable calendar year. The perceptive Les Carlyon wrote: “It is just possible we may have seen more than a tough horse win the Cup in record time at Flemington yesterday. We may also have seen the arrival of a new prince among trainers.” How prophetic those words proved to be!

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When Dr Grace returned to Lord Ben Lodge after his brief summer spell, he looked magnificent. Given the propensity for many of the Sir Tristram stock to flourish in the back half of their three-year-old season, Geoff Chapman genuinely believed that he had a date with destiny on Saturday, April 14, 1990 – A.J.C. Derby Day. With Shane Dye giving priority to the brilliant Melbourne juvenile Canny Lad, Chapman booked Jim Cassidy for Dr Grace’s entire campaign. The pair got off to a brilliant start too, when they resumed their race partnership in taking out the S.T.C. Oceania Stakes (1500m) on dead ground at Rosehill on the last Saturday in February. It was Dr Grace’s first race start on his home course and the first time that I’d ever clapped eyes on him. I remember thinking to myself how much he reminded me of his dam English Wonder. A striking black filly, who had already won the Port Adelaide Guineas and the South Australian Derby, I’d backed English Wonder at 16/1 when she won the Group 2 Storm Queen Stakes (2000m) at the 1983 S.T.C. Autumn Meeting with Peter Cook in the saddle having won a welter over the same course and distance with the same jockey just the week before. But I digress. Before Dr Grace had even returned to scale after that Oceania Stakes, The Doc was declaring to any journalist who would listen that “this horse is a license to print money”. A fortnight later Dr Grace backed up Chapman’s confidence when he secured his first Group 1 triumph in winning the Chipping Norton Stakes (1600m) at Warwick Farm.

It was then back to his home course to try and emulate the S.T.C. Rawson Stakes-Tancred Stakes weight-for-age double achieved by his illustrious stablemate Myocard three years before. It wasn’t to be. The S.T.C. Autumn Carnival that year was marred by inclement weather throughout and unsuited by the ground, the Sir Tristram colt could only finish fourth in the Segenhoe behind Better Loosen Up, and fifth in the Tancred behind Sydeston. Seven days later came the Randwick Blue Riband! Now a week can be a long time in racing for any trainer of a Derby contender whose predilection for fast tracks is frustrated by rain hanging about. And so it proved to be for Geoff Chapman! When Derby Day did dawn, the course was officially declared ‘dead’. Chapman was apprehensive. In the most important innings of his life, Dr Grace would be facing a sticky wicket at the Randwick end against, not eleven, but thirteen in the field.

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When it came to ladies’ fashions at the 1990 A.J.C. Autumn Meeting even the prospect of rain didn’t dampen the enthusiasm of the fair sex. The trends of the late 1980s continued with strikingly vibrant colours and the beginning of a shift to more relaxed styling although much remained haute couture nonetheless. While some women favoured tailored skirt and trouser suits, often with bold shoulder pads reflecting the power dressing that had come into vogue, more discriminating ladies placed their faith in elegant simplicity. When it came to millinery, extravagant headpieces seemed to be the order of the day with those extroverts among the fairer sex investing in the mantra that ‘nothing exceeds like excess’. Of course, the more bookish types stayed true to the simple fascinator. All seven colours of the rainbow, the so-called spectrum of light, were in evidence in the fabrics and millinery on show, with mauve or purple a particular favourite among our more stylish fashionistas.

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Fifteen horses were originally accepted for the A.J.C. Derby although with the scratching of the Paul Sutherland-trained Magnolia Hall, the field had been reduced to fourteen. The ruling 7/2 favourite for the race was Solar Circle, one of the four Bart Cummings-trained entries. A strongly built chestnut colt by the successful English-bred stallion Star Way, he was out of the unraced Neensie, a half-sister to that brilliant two-year-old filly Shaybisc. For an A.J.C. Derby favourite, Solar Circle had an unusual history. The colt had originally been purchased by the leading trainer Brian Mayfield-Smith on behalf of a Nebo Lodge syndicate for $200,000 at the Magic Million Sale on the Gold Coast. A belligerent colt and backward early, Solar Circle didn’t make his racecourse debut until mid-April 1989 when he ran poorly on heavy ground in a Canterbury midweek juvenile handicap over 1200 metres. The chestnut impressively broke his maiden status on the first Saturday in May when he unwound a blistering sprint to win a 1600-metres two-year-old handicap at Randwick in slow ground by seven lengths. Mayfield-Smith then afforded him a brief let-up before a disappointing spring campaign that culminated in his finishing sixth behind Imprimatur in the A.J.C. Spring Champion Stakes.

When Solar Circle next appeared in public there had been both a change in ownership and a change of trainers. The horse was auctioned at the Inglis Summer Thoroughbred Sale on February 2, which saw his former part-owner, the Brisbane hotelier Mac Whitehouse secure exclusive ownership and the horse transferred to Cummings. Under the Cups’ King, Solar Circle resumed racing just nineteen days later. After a modest fourth in a restricted handicap at Warwick Farm, the son of Star Way then reeled off a hattrick of wins at Rosehill including the Phar Lap Stakes and Rosehill Guineas on his way to Derby favouritism, and he had the services of John Marshall in the saddle.

Dr Grace shared the second line of betting at 4/1 with the New Zealand colt Castletown, a homebred by One Pound Sterling. Castletown was raced by his breeder Bernie McCahill in conjunction with his trainer Paddy Busuttin, who was based in Foxton on the North Island. As a yearling, Castletown had been withdrawn from the 1988 Waikato Yearling Sale by his breeder Bernie McCahill for fear that after the 1987 stockmarket crash, he wouldn’t realise his true value. Busuttin selected the colt as the most likely amongst McCahill’s small draft and an agreement was reached with the breeder and the Auckland horse transport operator, K. P. Morris, to race the horse in partnership. Castletown owed his market prominence to having won the New Zealand Derby at Ellerslie on Boxing Day although he’d had a series of frustrating placings in six starts since including having finished fourth in each of the Guineas at Canterbury and Rosehill.

The magnificent Zabeel was next fancied in the market at 6/1. The horse that Geoff Chapman wanted to buy more than any other at Karaka in February 1988, came into the classic having won 6 of his 13 starts and $883,400 in prizemoney, inferior in either wins or earnings only to Stylish Century in the Derby field. After winning the Moonee Valley Stakes in the spring, Zabeel finished an unlucky fourth in the Caulfield Guineas after having drawn the widest gate in the fourteen-strong field and been carted wide by Stargazer on the first turn where he stayed for most of the journey. A fortnight later and in the hands of Mick Dittman, the W. S. Cox Plate proved all too much for him when he pulled up last in a seemingly distressed state in the race won by Almaraad who was owned and trained in the same interests. Spelled after his Moonee Valley failure, Zabeel had bounced back in the autumn. Indeed, he had already won both The Debonair and the Australian Guineas at Flemington and the Alister Clark Stakes at Moonee Valley earlier in the campaign. Unsuited by the heavy going in the Rosehill Guineas, he had finished in the minor placing some 6 ¼ lengths behind the winner Solar Circle. As in all but 2 of his 10 starts thus far during his three-year-old season, Colin Hayes’ stable jockey, Michael Clarke, warmed the saddle, his brother Gary, having ridden the horse to success in The Debonair.

Stylish Century, the Victoria Derby winner, was only on the fourth line of betting at 6/1. The near-black colt had somewhat tarnished his reputation by winning only once in his six starts since the ignominy of  his Melbourne Cup appearance. That lone victory had come in the Caulfield Autumn Classic although he had finished fourth, just behind the placegetters, in both the Australian Guineas and the Australian Cup at Flemington. At his most recent coming he had finished a poor tenth on heavy ground in the Rosehill Guineas. Drawn in barrier 7 and despite the dead track, Kevin Moses was hoping to reprise his bold frontrunning tactics of the Victoria Derby.

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Starting from barrier 10 in the fourteen-horse field, jockey Jim Cassidy charted the perfect Derby course. Passing the winning post the first time he was nicely placed in fifth while his stablemate Plum Jam, much to the chagrin of Kevin Moses, took up the running from his inside gate. Meanwhile, John Marshall on the favourite was content to drop Solar Circle to the back half of the field from his wide draw. Going out of the straight, Stylish Century under the encouragement of his jockey Kevin Moses, crossed to the lead and adopted his usual freewheeling galloping antics. However, in marked contrast to both the W. S. Cox Plate and the Victoria Derby in the spring when the son of Double Century was allowed to freewheel in front without any real pressure, Plum Jam allowed him no respite. The first 1200 metres were put by in 1 minute 15.6 seconds, a smart clip considering the state of the track. The leaders danced a delicate quadrille coming down the High St side of the course with Stylish Century leading and Plum Jam determinedly giving chase close behind, with Castletown nicely positioned in third and Dr Grace closing in on fourth.

W. G. Grace made around 54,000 runs in his first-class career; on this day Dr Grace made just one. It started as he slipped into fourth place approaching the home turn and the sweep into the straight. The killing pace and soft ground had already committed the bulk of the field behind him to the dustbin of Derby history. Up ahead, Stylish Century was still calling the shots although it was apparent that Plum Jam was now thinly spread. Nonetheless, the 200/1 son of King Hadrian had done his job of playing nuisance superbly well on behalf of his fancied stablemate, before dropping off the pace. After first dispensing with Castletown, Dr Grace then ploughed through the long rain-sodden grass to claim Stylish Century, who, exhausted after his bold and buccaneering leadership, surrendered rather meekly in front of the grandstands with less than 100 metres to run. Jim Cassidy, bobbing up and down in the irons in that idiosyncratic, pumping style that became so famous down the years, and merely flapping a loose rein down Dr Grace’s shoulder, went on to an acclaimed victory. The official margin was one-and-a-quarter lengths with a further two-and-a-half lengths to Solar Circle, who never quite stayed the journey after being ridden back in the field. Castletown finished fourth while Zabeel, with the distance and conditions beyond him after sweating up at the gates, was a close fifth. There was a significant gap to the rest of the field of tired horses headed by the gallant Plum Jam.

“I take my hat off to the Doc,” a triumphant Jim Cassidy proclaimed upon returning to scale. For a split second it wasn’t quite clear to which Doc he was referring i.e. Grace or Chapman. In truth, it should have been both. The winning time of 2 minutes 31.7 seconds by the aristocratic colt was first-class particularly considering the state of the ground, and his medico-turned-trainer had done a splendid job of conditioning this true son of Sir Tristram. The original Dr Grace scored no less than 126 centuries with the willow during his dazzling first-class cricket career in nineteenth and early twentieth century England, but it’s safe to say that none of those performances were any more impressive than the Stylish Century his equine namesake knocked up on that Saturday afternoon at Randwick in April 1990. Cricketing tragics who dabbled in betting were returned $21.10 for their $1 outlay on the inviting Dr Grace-Stylish Century quinella!

Dick Monaghan, the owner of Stylish Century, was disappointed with the strategy employed by Wayne Harris on Plum Jam, remonstrating with anyone who would listen. When questioned by a journalist after the race, Chapman remarked that he had nothing to deny as far as Harris’s riding tactics were concerned because that was “how Plum Jam always runs his races.” It was true. In each of his three most recent appearances prior to the Derby, including the Rosehill Guineas, Plum Jam had led at some stage. The A.J.C. chief steward John Schreck affirmed Chapman’s views. Nonetheless, for any trainer with a genuine stayer wanting a truly run race and operating under a racing jurisdiction that, unlike most others outlawed pacemakers, having a bold frontrunning stablemate was undoubtedly the next best thing.

After the torrid affair on the track, surveying the wreckage in the mounting yard as the horses were unsaddled was an education in equine body language itself. Forget about the also-rans: the demeanour of the minor placegetters told the story eloquently enough. Stylish Century, usually so full of life and vigour, was clearly distressed; and an exhausted Solar Circle appeared as if he wouldn’t be able to race again for at least a month. As for the winner, even twenty minutes after passing the post and meantime having survived a garland of roses being placed around his neck while making the acquaintance of Prime Minister Bob Hawke, his flanks were still heaving as he sucked in the air. The engorged veins and vessels, not to mention the bloodshot eyes of his handsome head made him appear as though he had just emerged from a journey akin to Dante’s inferno. A curious but indelicate pressman chose that particular moment to ask Chapman what would stop Dr Grace from running in the $600,000 Sydney Cup the following Saturday? “Exhaustion!” snapped The Doc brusquely. Even in glorious triumph, he never was a man to suffer fools gladly. It was to be a memorable A.J.C. Autumn Meeting for Messrs Chapman and Cassidy for two days later they claimed a rare Group 1 double together when Potrero took out The Galaxy.

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Dr Grace was the first of what would ultimately be three winning mounts in the A.J.C. Derby for the New Zealand-born jockey, Jim Cassidy. The son of a North Island upholsterer, Cassidy, one of seven children, was born in January 1963 and grew up around Wellington, not far from Trentham racecourse. It wasn’t any familial connections that saw him (and his younger brother Larry) drift into racing but rather his diminutive size. Young Jim was no academic and as he himself admitted: “I used to go to school to eat my lunch and get out of there as quickly as I could.” As a youngster, Cassidy taught himself to ride on a pet pony called Daphne, and while still at school he gained experience working part-time in stables. In many respects, Cassidy was the perfect build for a jockey i.e. a natural lightweight with short legs but a powerful upper torso. In the saddle he was to become a fearless pocket Hercules who could ride at 50kg. Cassidy started with the Hastings trainer Patrick Campbell on a four-year apprenticeship and was riding at the age of fifteen. Campbell, himself a former jockey, had started his training career in partnership with Bruce Marsh in the early 1970s, although after a few years they went their separate ways with Marsh moving to Woodville.

It was Campbell who provided Cassidy with his first winner, the imported Tarlton at Hastings in August 1978, after a frustrating sequence of close seconds by the emerging apprentice. The winners came thick and fast after that and saw ‘Jemmy’ twice become the champion N.Z. apprentice in successive seasons 1979-80 and 1980-81. By the time Cassidy’s apprenticeship expired in January 1982, he had posted 257 wins to his credit, which eclipsed Brent Thomson’s previous record (250) for wins as an apprentice in Aotearoa or the Land of the Long White Cloud. Cassidy became the leading jockey in New Zealand for the one and only time in his first full year as a senior rider in 1981-82. And what a premiership finish it was with the four times champion jockey David Peake, who was seventeen years senior! Cassidy went into the last day of racing for the season three wins clear. Peake was riding at the Te Awamatu meeting while Cassidy was doing his thing at Wanganui. In a wonderful day’s riding, Peake saluted the judge three times and by the eighth race the pair were all square. In the end it came down to the last race at both courses. While Peake could only run second on Careless, Cassidy gave a bold frontrunning exhibition to land the prize on the favourite Lord Raywood at Wanganui. The premiership was his!

Jim Cassidy made his Australian riding debut at the Q.T.C. winter carnival in 1981 when he crossed the Tasman to partner the six-year-old N.Z. gelding Four Crowns to win both the P. J. O’Shea Stakes and the Brisbane Cup for the likable Foxton trainer David Enright. In that Brisbane Cup, Four Crowns won by a whisker from Granite King ridden by Malcolm Johnston and one man who was hugely impressed with the 18-year-old apprentice holding his own with Johnston over those last 200 metres was Bob Lapointe. Less than three years later, it would be Lapointe who would lure Cassidy to Sydney to become the stable jockey for a revamped Nebo Lodge at Rosehill.  Mind you, winning in tight finishes would become a Cassidy trait. He usually finished more strongly than the horse. For those that missed the instructive lesson at Eagle Farm, Cassidy was back two-and-a-half years later for an unforgettable Melbourne Cup ride. Who could ever forget Kiwi’s unbelievable finish to win the 1983 Cup? Like everyone else that was at Flemington on that Tuesday afternoon or watched it on television, my gast was flabbered. I’ve never seen any horse finish so fast at the end of a two-mile race – and coming from last to do so. Cassidy’s cold-hearted ride did trainer ‘Snowy’ Lupton proud.

It was in March 1984 that Jim Cassidy was invited to become the stable jockey for the newly constituted Nebo Lodge syndicate, comprising the three principals of Robert Sangster, Bob Lapointe and Millie Fox. Millie Fox had continued maintaining the Hassall St stables after the death of her husband Stan, but this was to be a whole new dawn with the combined operation coming under the supervision of the outstanding 37-year-old Queensland horseman, Brian Mayfield-Smith. Cassidy’s gradual introduction to riding in Sydney began at a midweek Rosehill meeting on May 30 and he achieved first-up success on Around The Moon although he didn’t properly settle into his new job until the conclusion of the 1984 Brisbane Winter Carnival and the start of the new season. Jimmy the Kid had arrived! Saturday, August 4 at Warwick Farm was his first day as the official stable jockey for Nebo Lodge. Bart Cummings drily commented: “That young fella is a lot better rider than he looks.” Cummings was referring to ‘Jemmy’s’ distinctive style of bobbing in the saddle and kicking in unison, which eventually won him the nickname here as ‘The Pumper’ which suited him so much better than ‘Hopalong’.

While Group 2 and 3 wins came in that first season of 1984-85 for Cassidy, a Group 1 victory eluded him. He missed out on the winning Sydney Cup mount, Late Show, carrying the Fox colours, because of injury and suspension, with Neil Campton substituting in the irons. Nonetheless, while nursing his ankle injury, Cassidy had cause for celebration of a different kind when he made a honeymoon of proceedings by marrying his fiancée Helen Robinson in Sydney in late April. Both marriage and better horses saw a more settled Cassidy win a slew of Group 1 events the following season including the Caulfield Guineas (Drawn), Victoria and Queensland Derby (Handy Proverb), George Ryder Stakes (Heat Of The Moment), Rawson Stakes (Late Show), Sydney Cup (Marooned), Orlando Classic (Satin Sand) and Spritely Native (The A.J.C. Metropolitan). Cassidy’s riding contract with Nebo Lodge allowed him to accept outside stable mounts when circumstances suited, and most of the leading Rosehill trainers such as Jack Denham, Geoff Chapman, Kerry Walker and Kerry Jordan would eventually avail themselves of the opportunity. Further afield, Max Lees and Neville Begg afforded Cassidy Group 1 wins in his second season of riding here. The 1985-85 racing season not only saw Cassidy win his one and only Sydney jockeys’ premiership but Mayfield-Smith finally end Tommy Smith’s stranglehold on the Sydney trainers’ premiership.

Brilliant at the barrier, Cassidy was equally adept at either frontrunning or waiting from behind. I don’t think that any jockey rode Rosehill better than Cassidy in his prime for it was a course that he knew like the back of his hand, and it suited his style. Perhaps this was best demonstrated on Saturday, December 12, 1987, when he won 6 races there on an 8-race card. Just for the record the winners were Potter McQueen, Terrace Gold, Kharva’s Jute, Mountebank, Bigamy and Hot Zephyr. Curiously, of the sextet, only Mountebank was trained by Brian Mayfield Smith, with trainers Tommy Smith (two), Larry Pickering, B. J. Smith and K. J. Callaughan providing the others. That wizened old master of apprentices, Theo Green, was present at Rosehill on that celebrated occasion and remarked: “He’s as good as anyone I’ve seen for his age. He lacks nothing now, but he’s still only young and I think he’ll improve.” Tommy Smith observed: “He doesn’t ride horses; he drives them like the American riders. He gets down on their necks and rides with the long rein like Darby Munro.” The S.T.C. stewards weren’t quite as taken by Cassidy’s style and feat; they gave him a fortnight’s suspension for his ride on Potter McQueen.

Curiously enough, Cassidy’s first Group 1 for Geoff Chapman had only come with the A.J.C. Chipping Norton Stakes on Dr Grace. When the pair combined to make it a Group 1 double at the 1990 A.J.C. Autumn Meeting with Dr Grace and Potrero, punters could have been forgiven for thinking that in the years ahead there would be Group 1 wins aplenty for the combination. It wasn’t to be, and Jim Cassidy would partner only one more Group 1 winner for Chapman after that meeting and it came with Comrade – carrying the John Denoon colours – in the 1991 V.A.T.C. Toorak Handicap. Indeed, it was to be The Doc’s last Group 1 winner. The Doc and Cassidy fell out and the Derby winning jockey was never to partner Dr Grace again after the colt’s three-year-old season with Chapman generally preferring another champion Kiwi jockey in Shane Dye. When one considers the 13 Group One races that Chapman won after the group classification system commenced in Australia in 1979, Shane Dye (5) just shaded Jim Cassidy (4) as his most successful accomplice.

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Despite the demands of Randwick, all three placegetters in the A.J.C. Derby headed to Queensland for the Brisbane winter carnival, albeit with mixed success. In his first appearance there, Dr Grace was beaten a short head by Solar Circle in the Queensland Guineas after drawing the eighteen gate. Because of the wide draw Chapman hadn’t even wanted to start the horse in the Guineas but Denoon and his partners felt an honour-bound commitment both to the Q.T.C. and to racing. A week later, Stylish Century reappeared to take the Doomben Classic by a head from Rough Habit. A reprise of the A.J.C. Derby beckoned in the Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm, but it wasn’t to be. Stylish Century, after finishing amongst the also-rans in the weight-for-age P. J. O’Shea Stakes, was scratched from the Derby and his Brisbane campaign aborted. Dr Grace, following minor placings in the Group 2 Prime Minister’s Cup at Southport and the P. J. O’Shea Stakes at Eagle Farm, did run in the Queensland Derby but was all at sea on the heavy ground when finishing sixth behind the emerging three-year-old, Rough Habit. It was the first of what would prove to be eleven Group 1 victories for the ill-bred New Zealand gelding, with all but one of them coming in Australia.

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Dr Grace, like Stylish Century, paid the price for being a Derby winner later in life. Neither horse was tall nor powerfully built and weight conspired against each of them in handicaps. As a four-year-old, Dr Grace was relatively lightly raced but from his 8 starts that season managed to win both the Group 3 N. E. Manion Cup and the Group 1 The B.M.W. (or H. E. Tancred Stakes) at Rosehill each over 2400 metres, and each conducted on fast ground. In comparison, Stylish Century ran in 14 races that season and yet won only once – the A.J.C. Queen Elizabeth Stakes in the autumn against a lacklustre field. I should mention that back then that race was nothing like it would become in terms of both prizemoney and prestige. Indeed, when Stylish Century took out the event in 1991, it was worth just a quarter of the money given for the Doncaster Handicap. Although Dr Grace campaigned at that very same A.J.C. Autumn Meeting, he contested the Chairman’s Handicap and Sydney Cup instead and failed to run a place in either. The latter race was the first hint that despite the stamina he showed in winning the A.J.C. Derby in adverse conditions, he was simply not a two-miler, something that was again proven when he was an abject failure in both the 1991 and 1992 Melbourne Cups.

Dr Grace raced on to the autumn of his six-year-old season. As a spring five-year-old, he won both the J. J. Liston Stakes and Underwood Stakes at weight-for-age at Caulfield, relegating Sydeston into second place in each race. However, Dr Grace was an ignominious failure in the W. S. Cox Plate and both Cups. He redeemed himself to some extent in the autumn by winning a second S.T.C. Manion Cup but only to finish sixth in The B.M.W. a week later. As a six-year-old, Dr Grace was a lamentable failure finishing out of a place in 11 of his 12 races. The exception came in a weak five-horse field for the Tattersall’s Chelmsford Stakes when partnered by Shane Dye; he fell in to win by a short neck over the sprinter Quick Score with Super Impose arguably a good thing beaten. Dr Grace’s last appointment on a racecourse came when he finished a poor sixth at 50/1 in The B.M.W. at Rosehill behind the three-year-old Kaaptive Edition in April 1993. He was then promptly retired and readied for a stud career. From his 57 career starts, Dr Grace’s record was 12 wins, 9 seconds, and 7 thirds with $2,762,681 in prizemoney.

Although he was a high-class stayer, Dr Grace never won beyond 2400 metres; he certainly couldn’t stay two miles as his failures in two Melbourne Cups and a Sydney Cup attest. Dr Grace was sold to Bob and Jack Ingham to stand at the Woodlands Stud in the Hunter Valley. The first 1700 acres of the stud had been acquired from Lord Derby and the King Ranch in 1985, but by buying additional adjoining pastureland, Woodlands eventually extended to some 6,000 acres, much of which had never previously been used for thoroughbreds. In standing at Woodlands, Dr Grace joined the likes of Quest For Fame, winner of the 1990 English Derby, along with the other stallions Canny Lad, Clear Choice and Sanction. Alas, Dr Grace tragically died after just three seasons there, but nonetheless managed to sire 11 individual stakes winners of 22 stakes races including Referral (S.T.C. George Ryder Stakes), Crawl (Q.T.C. Stradbroke Handicap) and Over (A.J.C. Doncaster Handicap). Many of the stallion’s winners including the likes of Crawl and Over, carried the famous cerise silks of the Ingham brothers. It is tempting to speculate just how good a stallion he may have proven to be had he been spared for a longer life at stud.

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And whatever became of Stylish Century? Curiously enough, his complete racing record ultimately bore a remarkable symmetry to that of Dr Grace. Although he raced for one season less than the Doctor, Stylish Century ultimately came to have one start more and one win less during his comparative career. After the close of his three-year-old season, Stylish Century only ever won two more races from his remaining 31 starts, albeit black type races viz. the A.J.C. Queen Elizabeth Stakes as a four-year-old and the V.A.T.C. Sandown Cup as a five-year-old. Even that last success didn’t come on the racecourse but rather in the committee rooms after the horse that was first past the post in that Sandown Cup, Big Colony, was disqualified for carrying the prohibited substance heptaminol. Stylish Century was subsequently promoted as runner-up. Coincidentally, the careers of both Dr Grace and Stylish Century came to an end in renewals of the very same race i.e. The B.M.W. at Rosehill – only one year apart. During the April 1992 running of that race when once again being partnered by his old faithful Kevin Moses, Stylish Century injured the tendon of his off-side foreleg. In summary, his racecourse statistics were: 58 starts; 11 wins; 8 seconds; and 7 thirds; and prizemoney of $2,460,820.

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How much better Stylish Century’s racing record might have been had he been owned in interests other than Dick Monaghan is an intriguing question. Monaghan was a ‘hands on’ owner, one of that enthusiastic breed that frequents the racecourse (and the training tracks) much to the chagrin of hard-pressed and established trainers. The abrasive Gold Coast builder absolutely basked in the reflected glory that Stylish Century brought him, and he was never shy about expressing his views to jockeys, trainers and racing journalists alike. Whether it was speculating on how his grand galloper should be ridden and trained; whether it was the prospect of embarking on a European and North American odyssey culminating in a crack at the Arlington Million in Chicago; or whether it was the benefactions that Stylish Century would ultimately bring to the Australian Stud Book, Monaghan was never a stranger to hyperbole.

Let’s take Stylish Century’s passing cavalcade of jockeys during his varied career: Sharman, York, Russell, Cassidy, Edmonds, Marshall, Carmody, Moses, Gauci, Beadman, Quinton, Robinson, Johnston, Scriven, Oliver, Dittman and Wilson. Seventeen different jockeys no less. Let’s take Stylish Century’s passing cavalcade of trainers: Noel Doyle (Gold Coast), Bart Cummings (Randwick), Bill Mitchell (Randwick), Ron Gill (Caloundra) and Jeff McCarter (Gold Coast). Five different trainers no less. Rarely were the parting of their ways amicable. Indeed, Cummings and Monaghan were still arguing over a sum of $10,200 more than five months after Stylish Century had left his stable. Cummings claimed it was for outstanding training fees while Monaghan maintained it was for an additional 5% of the prizemoney for winning the Spring Champion Stakes over and above the 10% to which the trainer was contractually entitled, and which had already been paid.

Frustrated at what he saw as either their ineptitude or their reluctance to follow instructions, Dick Monaghan even took out a Queensland trainer’s licence of his own in July 1991 to enable him to train the horse himself. However, regardless of who was calling the shots, Stylish Century never did recapture the brilliance of his three-year-old season. Unlike Dr Grace, the son of Double Century was never aimed at either the Caulfield Cup or the Melbourne Cup as an older horse. Although he was selected as one of Australia’s two representatives to run in the 1990 Japan Cup won by the other Australian representative Better Loosen Up, it was the stallion’s only race over 2400 metres or beyond as a four-year-old. As a five-year-old only 3 of his 17 starts were over 2400 metres or more. It seemed a strange pattern for a horse that had smashed the race record when he led for much of the Victoria Derby over 2500 metres as a three-year-old.

Still, he who pays the piper calls the tune, which was how Monaghan looked at it. As the man himself said: “You only get one innings, and I want to enjoy it. A horse like this comes along once in a lifetime.” Meanwhile having lost the horse, Bart Cummings sardonically observed: “I think Dick’s the only one who understands racing.” Perhaps there were echoes of that famous crooner, Frank Sinatra in the way Monaghan went about his business i.e. the record shows he took the blows, but at least he did it his way. Stylish Century was retired to stand duty at the Mapperley Stud amidst the lush pastures of Matamata in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island. Unsurprisingly, given their comparative bloodlines, he was nothing like as successful as Dr Grace at stud, getting just two black type winners in Buster Jones and Alberton Star. Stylish Century died in June 2003 following a spider bite.

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What became of the other distinguished starters in that 1990 A.J.C. Derby? Undoubtedly, the best racehorse to emerge from the field, and an iron horse at that, was Castletown. Following the classic at Randwick, Castletown had been campaigned at the Brisbane winter carnival where he ran third in the Q.T.C. Queensland Guineas, Southport Cup and the Queensland Derby, with his only real failure coming in the Q.T.C. Grand Prix Stakes behind Stargazer. Castletown thus returned home to the North Island having not won once in his seven starts in Australia but boasting some valuable minor prizemoney. Whatever the shortcomings in his three-year-old season, they weren’t to be repeated in his four and five-year-old seasons. Castletown matured into one of the best 3200-metre horses in Australasia in recent years, becoming only the second horse following upon Great Sensation to win three Wellington Cups when the distance of that race was either 2 miles or 3200 metres.

In his third Wellington Cup triumph – as a seven-year-old – the son of One Pound Sterling carried 58kg with Noel Harris in the saddle. It was his only win that season, but the occasion attracted the largest crowd to Trentham in more than a decade and for one brief shining moment recaptured the atmosphere from that racecourse’s golden era. Castletown was never quite the same racehorse in Australia as he was in New Zealand and of his dozen black type victories only two of them – the 1991 A.J.C. St Leger and the 1992 V.A.T.C. Caulfield Stakes came on this side of the Tasman. A measure of his constitution, however, is that he attempted the Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double three years in a row from 1991 to 1993. Alas, in those six races the closest he could finish was fifth in the 1991 Caulfield Cup and third in the 1992 Melbourne Cup. All told, Castletown would campaign across six seasons and have 103 races, for 16 wins and 20 minor placings earning over $A2 million. Unlike his contemporaries, Dr Grace and Stylish Century, Castletown lived to the ripe old age of thirty-one and only passed from the scene in December 1917.

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And what of the balance of Zabeel’s career on the racecourse? It ended all too soon after that A.J.C. Derby. Sent to the spelling paddock immediately after that race, Zabeel resumed in mid-August at Moonee Valley although now, following upon the retirement of Colin Hayes, son David, was running the stable. First up, Zabeel could only finish ninth in the Manikato Stakes (1200m) behind Street Ruffian. Refreshed by a brief sojourn away from Hayes’ Flemington stables in the bucolic environs of Lindsay Park, Zabeel bounced back three weeks later to land the weight-for-age Craiglee Stakes. In the wake of that victory, David Hayes remarked: He’s an outstanding horse – there is so much depth to him. I can’t say often enough this horse is a Cox Plate horse. He can sprint twice in a race and 2,000 metres is going to be his pet distance.”

In the V.A.T.C. Underwood Stakes, Zabeel ran third behind The Phantom on September 27 on a dead track. Alas, during the running Zabeel suffered a wrenched joint in the near foreleg forcing the horse to be turned out and thereby missing the W. S. Cox Plate. Brought back in the autumn of 1991 for one last campaign before being retired to stud, Zabeel ran third in the S.T.C. Canterbury Stakes in early March behind the speedsters Show County and All Archie. A fortnight later came Zabeel’s last race. In the $350,000 S.T.C. George Ryder Stakes won by Bureaucracy, Zabeel in the hands of Shane Dye, pulled up lame in the near suspensory ligament and was inspected by the club’s veterinary-surgeon. Retirement was immediate. It had been a black interval for the young David Hayes in his first season in charge, for in less than a month the stable had seen the breakdown not only of Zabeel but Better Loosen Up, Planet Ruler and Beachside as well.

Although there was no shortage of aspiring studmasters seeking to acquire Zabeel’s services as a stallion, the Australasian bloodstock market remained depressed. After all, not even two years had passed since the collapse of the yearling market and the fire sale of those 64 yearlings that had seen Bart Cummings staring down bankruptcy. That so called ‘Night of the Stars’ as William Inglis and Son dubbed it, realised just $9 million of the $22 million Cummings had paid for the yearlings. The subsequent recession and soaring interest rates now precluded any big price being paid for Zabeel or any other prospective stallion for that matter. When a half a million dollars was the best offer on the table, Colin Hayes put in a bid to get him for Lindsay Park. Patrick Hogan upped the ante and Zabeel returned across the Tasman to the place of his birth, Cambridge Stud. Hogan was hoping that the son would prove a worthy successor to the father in the stallion barn, as the ageing Sir Tristram’s days as a progenitor were coming to an end. Of course, not even in his wildest dreams, could the Cambridge studmaster have imagined just what lay in store. Nor, of course, not even in his worst nightmares, could have the underbidder for the yearling colt back in Karaka in February 1988.

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When Dr Grace retired from the Turf so, too, did Dr Chapman. The economics of racing horses in Australia deteriorated badly during the seasons that the son of Sir Tristram raced. Rosehill and its surrounding environs became one of the fastest growing regions in Sydney in the early 1990s, which saw a corresponding boom in the values of its real estate. It was in July 1992 that John Denoon announced that he was selling out of both his Lord Ben Stables at Rosehill and his Lord Ben Stud Farm at Cobbitty. This, despite a season in which he had seen his colours carried to Group 1 success at Caulfield not just by Dr Grace in the Underwood Stakes but by his smart middle-distance horse Comrade in the Toorak Handicap. Yet, in making the announcement, Denoon was merely following a trend.

Paul Sutherland had already moved out of a Rosehill complex which he had sold to, and for a time leased back from John Austin. The famed Nebo Lodge Stables owned 51% Bob Lapointe and 49% Robert Sangster, the complete refurbishment of which had only been completed as recently as October 1986 to a design by Harry Ladd-Hudson of Devine, Erby, Mazlin (Aust) Pty Ltd, had already closed and were subsequently demolished in 1992-93 to make way for Elizabeth Farm Village comprising a group of the best known fast-food restaurants together with a B.P. service station and a Car Lovers’ car wash. Such plebeian outlets on land that once boasted aristocratic stabling for almost 150 horses amongst landscaped gardens, not to mention a solar-heated swimming pool for horses and an ultra-modern clubhouse and boardroom. But the fact was that they were more viable businesses in the commercial climate of the times. The sale of Nebo Lodge saw Brian Mayfield-Smith briefly relocate to Randwick before retiring to pursue wildlife conservation in South Africa and eventually settling in Melbourne.

Lord Ben Lodge alone had cost around $2.1 million to construct and yet when the establishment went to auction in August 1992 it was passed in for just $1.25 million along with the Lord Ben Stud which, too, was passed in for $1.2 million through the selling agent Bradfield and Prichard. Private negotiations eventually saw both properties disposed of but at a considerable loss. Lord Ben Stables, located at the corner of Hope St and James Ruse Drive, were subsequently demolished to make way for the Hotel Quest, later renamed the APX apartments. The Lord Ben Farm for the spelling and agistment of horses was ultimately sold for $1.35 million to Jack Richardson, the former Commonwealth Ombudsman. The removal of Geoff Chapman to the Gold Coast meant that the only major trainers left standing at Rosehill at the time were Jack Denham and Ray Guy, who each owned the land  their training stables were built upon.

Chapman had hoped that either the Sydney Turf Club would build new stabling at Rosehill, or failing that, the Australian Jockey Club would accommodate him with stables at Randwick. Bound by industrial sites and the pulsating James Ruse Drive, Rosehill didn’t afford the S.T.C. much scope for stable construction. Whether it was financial constraints or absence of availability, neither committee came to the party. Perhaps Chapman’s blunt and gratuitous advice on the shortcomings of racing administration over the years had left him with few advocates in the respective committee rooms but that’s another story. The Doc departed Sydney in 1993 and relocated to Main Beach on the Gold Coast to resume his medical practice. Indeed, he had never completely abandoned it, having been on call during his twenty years at Rosehill for the various injuries sustained within the racing community whether by trainers, jockeys, strappers or barrier attendants. Moreover, while based at Rosehill he had kept abreast of medical developments by regularly attending tutorials and lectures at nearby Westmead Hospital. During the last seven or eight years of his professional medical life, Chapman acted as a locum tenens, helping to relieve doctors serving in the bush, who found it difficult to take holidays.

The premature retirement of Geoff Chapman was a profound loss to the racing industry. A man of rare and practical intelligence, not to mention hugely entertaining in his own right, he was an accomplished after-dinner speaker in high demand with his insights into the worlds of rugby, racing and medicine and their convergence into the broader and fascinating subject of drugs in sport. Indeed, perhaps the most instructive episode in Chapman’s life as a licensed trainer, showcasing his medical background, forensic intelligence and ‘courtroom’ style came when he represented himself before the A.J.C. committee in the ‘Priceman’ case in September 1982. Priceman, a horse from his stable, had returned a positive swab to the illegal anti-inflammatory drug oxyphenbutazone at Canterbury on August 4 of that year.

Chapman had subsequently been fined $2,000 by stewards and hence his later appeal to the A.J.C. committee. Now, trainers and jockeys don’t generally represent themselves at such appeals and instead retain expensive counsel to do the talking. Not so The Doc. The nature of the charge fell right into his bailiwick. He was up against the A.J.C.’s Ross Wagland Q.C. The case itself seemed open and shut. Priceman, after all, tested positive to the drug, although John Schreck, the chief steward, had been satisfied at the original inquiry that Chapman had not administered it. Chapman had been charged under the Australian Rules of Racing 178 for not taking all proper precautions. Chapman defended his stable security. In particular, his four stalls with an alarm system and combination locks. Chapman explained: “The four stalls are used for horses racing in the near future. I also have three dogs on the grounds that would ‘assassinate’ any intruder.”

Nonetheless, just as in his Rugby days, Chapman began his defence with attack. In no uncertain terms, he declared: “I think at the end of this you may have to consider revising the rules of racing which concern certain drugs.”  Chapman argued: “Pre-race swabbing was introduced to protect the integrity of racing. It should also protect the integrity of trainers. If an abnormality is detected, the horse should be withdrawn. Why punish the trainer or the person in charge of the horse at the time?”  Apart from his own experience and arguments, he leavened his case by quoting Dr Thomas Tobin, a professor at Kentucky University and the head of the Kentucky Veterinary Clinic on the complexities of drugs and pre-race swabbing. Chapman didn’t question that the drug had been detected. He was troubled at the procedure by which it was located. After a hearing lasting six hours, the A.J.C. unreservedly upheld Chapman’s appeal. I think it can be fairly said that the committee, the stewards and the press after the marathon hearing – in the words of the classic Rodgers and Hart song – were left bewitched, bothered and bewildered, in equal measure. But Chapman had achieved a historic victory for any future trainer so charged.

A man of progressive views and not shy in expressing them, it is a shame that our racing clubs weren’t more receptive to many of his observations. Whether it was his urging for the bracketing of stablemates and horses owned in similar interests on the Tote or bookmakers’ boards; permitting legitimate pacemakers in distance races; a wholesale revamp of race programming; opposition to closed races such as the Magic Millions; improvements to drug testing facilities such as the filming of the sampling procedures until the samples are sealed; the introduction of betting exchanges; the elimination of early nominations for feature races which deprive owners of money but raise little revenue; the elimination of major doubles betting which encouraged corruption if a heavily favoured horse won the first leg; and increasing minimum weights to ensure healthy and fit jockeys can ride in the majority of events. Some of these suggested improvements did occur naturally over time but others were simply ignored. Moreover, Chapman was quick to seize upon any trend or development that would get his horses first past the winning post more often. Whether it was the introduction of the aerodynamic racing colours made from lycra over the more traditional silk; whether it was the advent of the Pelling pacifiers; or whether it was the use of the newly elasticized leather reins that stretched more with the movement of a horse’s head: The Doc willingly embraced the zeitgeist that the more traditionalists resisted.

Even after John Denoon had announced his intention to sell both Lord Ben Lodge and the Lord Ben Stud, Chapman girded his loins for one last battle on behalf of the racing industry. It began in 1992 when the Conservative Federal Opposition, led by John Hewson, announced their intention of introducing a Goods and Services Tax, were they to form government after the next election. Chapman recognised the damage that such legislation could do to racing and became the industry’s most outspoken opponent. After a heated meeting with the Coalition over their proposed Fightback package of proposals including the G.S.T., Chapman declared: “I never ever thought I’d vote Labor, but if the Liberal Party go to the polls with the G.S.T. the way it is, I’ll hate to do it, but I’ll vote Labor!” Chapman expounded further: “The G.S.T. means if you are not a professional owner, as 95% of owners are not, you will pay 15% extra tax on all prizemoney. This combined with 15% extra on your training bill, will mean the government owns 15% of every horse that races in the country.” However, it wasn’t so much the effect of the G.S.T. on horseracing that brought Fightback undone, but rather the effect of the G.S.T. on a birthday cake, following the maladroit explanation by John Hewson on TCN 9s ‘A Current Affair’ with Mike Willesee. In the election a few days later on March 13, 1993, Prime Minister Paul Keating led the Labor Government to a record fifth term. Of course, the introduction of a G.S.T. was merely delayed rather than denied but The Doc’s strenuous advocacy garnered many admirers.

Long after retirement and reflecting on the craft of training horses, Chapman once observed in an interview: “If you’ve got an outstanding horse, it’s pretty nigh impossible to bugger it up.” True, but I suspect there are evenings as The Doc sits in retirement on his Gold Coast patio imbibing a favourite red and watching the sun go down, when he still broods wistfully about the ‘might-have beens’ in his training career and particularly in relation to his two Derby-winning colts. If so, I suspect that he broods more about his first Derby winner than his second. For as good as Dr Grace was, Myocard was much the better horse. The Doc dealt himself a remarkably good hand when he bought that athletic son of Ivory Hunter at Karaka on a Wednesday afternoon in January 1985. Like a game of poker, life upon the wicked racecourse is a constant gamble. What if he had played his ‘Myo’-card differently? Hindsight, of course, comes with 20/20 vision; but what if The Doc had sent the horse to the spelling paddock immediately in the wake of his sensational A.J.C. Derby victory and not gone onto either the Sydney Cup or Brisbane? As a mature four and five-year-old, what might Myocard not have done? How great might he have been?