In the latter stages on my thoroughly enjoyable 14 years covering sport on radio station 2KY in Parramatta the name Darren Gauci kept going to air.
There were three damn good reasons – it was the racing station, the ‘Gauch’ was a champion jockey, and a champion bloke.
But Darren’s first love was soccer, and while all his mates grew taller, Darren didn’t so the round ball game went off the board.
His older brother Mick was apprenticed at Caulfield, so Darren jumped a train across town after school in Melbourne to clean stable boxes.
That led to riding the stable pony, and then track work – Darren Gauci was well and truly hooked.
His illustrious career as a jockey began at Caulfield at 13, and ended last Saturday at Caulfield 38 years later with the fittingly named Darren Gauci Farewell Handicap over 1400 metres,
But in between was what made Darren Gauci a household name.
His apprenticeship stats are extraordinary, winning an Australian record 506 races that included seven Group 1 successes, the first for Bart Cummings with Taj Eclipse.
“No one will ever get close to Darren’s apprentice record,” was how his racing manager Peter Meilak described the feat.
“During his apprenticeship he won 12 jockey premierships – three senior and three apprentice city premierships, plus three senior country and three country apprentice premierships – he was unbeatable,” Meilak added.
But it wasn’t always peaches and cream with two bad accidents.
Darren was in a coma for eight days after a heavy fall at Yarra Glen, while at Mornington his mount suffered a heart attack and crashed through the running rail.
Darren didn’t ride again for ten months.
If there’s an unfulfilled bucket list it would be the Melbourne Cup.
Darren finished second on three occasions – Chagemar in 1984, Super Impose in 1989, and On A Jeune in 2005 – so close yet so far.
But he’s won 35 Group 1 races in a career that can’t tell us with any accuracy how many rides he’s had, and how many career wins.
The closest we can get is over 26,000 rides, and over 2500 winners.
The reason? While every other sport has detailed stats dating back forever, thoroughbred racing only started detailed stats in the late 1990s, well after Darren’s career was underway.
But no stats are needed to describe how Darren Gauci is universally revered by peers and punters alike in the Sport of Kings.
So I’ll leave the final word to Peter Meilak.
“There will never be another Darren Gauci, the perfect choice to head up the Victorian Racing apprentice school.
“Among his many great moments, he went 38 consecutive meetings with winners, sometimes with doubles and trebles.
“He was my boss, and my idol”.
Without a Fight completed the rare Caulfield Cup-Melbourne Cup double on Tuesday as star jockey Mark Zahra went back-to-back in the big one after…
The race that stops the nation is upon us again. Every horse in the Melbourne Cup has reasons they can win, and reasons they…
Those who want to have a really big collect on Australia’s greatest race, without risking too much, have to look at the exotic bets.
While most of the attention is on Ciaron Maher and David Eustace's Gold Trip, there's no reason why stablemate Future History cannot upstage him.
Champion jockey Damien Oliver is quietly confident his Melbourne Cup mount Alenquer will be passed fit to give him a farewell ride in the…
Melbourne Cup day is here again, and it’s never anything less than exciting. The Cup itself will of course be full of drama and…
