Slipper Day has lost a little racing tradition

This year the ads for the Sydney Carnival tell us that “the tradition continues”. And there’s nothing quite like Slipper Day.

Born and bred in Sydney’s west, I’ve been going as long as I can remember. It’s one of the great racing days in the world, in many ways a bit of a hidden gem.

On Slipper Day, there’s a particular little tradition that I’ve always looked forward to. Flanking either side of the winning post are two statues, each depicting a jockey. Every year on arrival, these statues are white.

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Then the first of Rosehill’s big two races, the race formerly known as the HE Tancred Stakes (now BMW), would be run and won. A bloke would walk out onto the course with a ladder and a tin of paint and colour one of the statues in the winning jockey’s colours.

After the Slipper, the other jockey would be painted and the two statues would remain the colours of the jockey’s silks for the rest of the year. I’ve even been to a trivia night where they asked which race is depicted on the left. It’s a wonderful tradition, and many years I would remain in the grandstand after the race, watching the statue being painted.

I’d just sit there and enjoy the relaxing atmosphere, admiring the picturesque factories that dominate the back of the course. I’d sit and think to myself things such as ‘why didn’t I listen to Gai Waterhouse when she said how good Pierro was?’.

Or how Silent Achiever was such a better horse the Sydney way of going. What colours would be painted on the statue if there was a dead heat?

And, why am I sitting here watching a bloke paint a statue when John Singleton is shouting the bar after Belle du Jour just won the Slipper?

However, last year the Tancred and the Slipper were split and it’s just not quite the same without the winners of both great races having the honour of their colours on the winning post on the same day.

I know in the scheme of things it really means nothing, but it’s one of those quirky little details that I always remember and makes the day that little bit more special.

And so when the marketing spivs tell us “the tradition continues”, some of us feel it’s less than just a slogan.