It’s the age old pub discussion, comparing champions across different eras. Is the current star better than the champion of 20, 30 or 50 years ago?
It is no different for race horses or trotters.
People will always speak of the best horse they have ever seen, the best crop of horses to race together or the best performance in a race.
For me, I have been fortunate enough to see all of the brightest stars since the late 80s and for me the best I have ever seen, for sheer brilliance alone, was Christian Cullen. But like footballers or golfers or tennis players, there is always one player that strikes a chord with the lounge room selector.
The Bathurst Harness Racing Club has come up with a unique promotion this weekend to honour the champion trotters to have competed at the Bathurst Showground Paceway.
This Sunday marks the final race meeting to be held at the riverside half-mile circuit prior to the club taking residence at it’s brand new facility.
Members were asked to submit the top five horses they have witnessed compete at the Showground with a prize to a winning member. A select panel was also engaged to select the field that will take to “the track” to decide the Greatest Ever.
In an excellent promotional activity that has captivated the trotting fraternity, it has crossed print, web and social media platforms as debate raged over who should be in the field.
The selection panel picked their field and at the penultimate meeting held at the Showground on Wednesday night there was a barrier draw of the selected runners for the race to the title of Greatest Ever.
A local bookmaker even priced the field that was posted as:
1. Our Sir Vancelot 7/4
2. First Kiss 16/1
3. Master Musician 3/1
4. Cocky Raider 12/1
5. Hondo Grattan 5/1
6. Grogan 12/1
7. King Frost 33/1
8. Rowleyalla 5/1
9. Smooth Satin 7/1
10. Karloo Mick 50/1
To add to the theatre, there will be a phantom call of the race on Sunday, covered by Kevin Thompson, Craig Easey and the now New Zealand-based Mark McNamara.
Easey will call the start and first lap, McNamara will chime into cover the middle stages, while the veteran of the three will put the 10 x 50’s down to call the finishing stages.
Growing up in Bathurst and spending plenty of time at the Showgrounds, I went through my memory to come up with my top five and some of those did not make the final field that the selection panel decided upon. Being a ’78 model myself, there is a few in the final field that I never saw race.
Interestingly, as young pup, I owned a rocking horse (that I still have) and I named him Cocky Raider. Considering he raced well before I was even born, it goes to show how much that horse must have still been talked about around the track, so it would seem a fair assessment that he is in the field.
Hondo Grattan, the Bathurst Bulldog was a dual Inter Dominion winner in 73 and 74. At over 20 years old he was still leading fields out and pacing a few laps on the big nights and I had him in my list and it is a very generous quote to have him at 5/1.
Our Sir Vancelot has been installed the favourite, largely for his barrier. Going out on a limb here, I think the three time Inter Dominion winner was lucky to make the field.
I still believe he never won his first ID in 97 at Globe Derby when I’m adamant Rainbow Knight won the race – talking through my pocket perhaps!
Rowleyalla will follow out Sandy, and to be fair, Rowley was a speed specialist. Although winning his share of middle distance events, his pure speed is remembered by many and he still holds some speed records today, a true testament of how fast he could run.
Smooth Satin certainly had an army of followers and he made Harold Park his own, winning an Inter Dominion, Chariots of Fire, Ben Hur, Miracle Mile and Sires Stakes Finals, all at the Glebe circuit. There will certainly be more of the younger generation cheering him on.
Karloo Mick managed to sneak into the field and a great Kevin Thompson call of one of his Harold Park runs always resonates with me when he said “ oh, Karloo Mick, he’s as tough as old boots”. Barry Lew and the tough horse from Dubbo would certainly be in for the fight.
First Kiss I know nothing of and can’t ever recall hearing his name in years gone by. King Frost was a noted stayer and as for Grogan, well any discussion I ever had about him involved the player for the Newcastle Knights. The equine version was well and truly before my time and I have never heard his triumphs regaled.
So the horses I selected that missed the final field?
One was Washakie. He only raced at Bathurst once and that resulted in a win. An old favourite of mine who was as honest as the day is long. Winning the Truer Memorial at Bankstown five years in a row, he has set a record that will almost certainly never be broken for a horse to win the same Group 1 event on so many occasions.
Courage Under Fire made my list and he too only navigated the Bathurst Showgrounds on one occasion for a win. Good horses get people to the track and he did exactly that. His tiny size and blistering speed ensured he was a crowd favourite wherever he ventured
The other was a real smokey, Red Sea. This horse had potential galore. However in the fickleness of racing, his injury plagued career never bore the fruits of big race success and held him back from competing at the highest level. He managed to finish his career with 21 wins and two placings from just 24 starts.
That leaves one question, the winner? For me it will be Master Musician.
Like so many discussions that armchair athletes engage in over a cleansing ale, my opinion may not be supported by anyone else. I don’t have to back them up with statistics, horses he beat, how many races he won. He will win, because he is the horse that has given me the fondest memory of all the race meetings I ever attended at the Bathurst Showground.
In 1990, at 12 years of age, Master Musician led me to where I am today. I was already a fan of the trots, but he was the can of petrol added to the fire and my love of the standardbred horse exploded.
Well done to the Bathurst club for such a brilliant promotion. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t get back to see the last race meeting held at the Showground and to hear those spine tingling words, Master Musician takes out the Greatest Ever.
Alas, will everyone be happy with the result. Therein lies another discussion.
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