Hesi Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 Seem to be quite a few appearing on YouTube, will post as they come up 1959 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1965 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1971 Silver Knight/Igloo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 And what a scandal, that videos of many of our famous races, are on film, decaying in a container, somewhere in Wellington Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1964 Another NZ quinella, horse and jockey even though they got the name wrong Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1970 Baghdad Note The commentator only mentioned the horse when he hit the lead a furlong out Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1972 Magnifique beaten by the Tassie longshot Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 12 Author Share Posted June 12 1954 Rising Fast Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 1952 Dalray Day of Dalray and the doll January 31, 2009, • 02:43pm Share With Melbourne Cup Day upon us, Tim Pankhurst recounts a story of a great win at Flemington 55 years ago when Kiwi horse Dalray brought home the bacon. COME on Jill, come on Jill, the group of Australian nurses screamed as the horses pounded into the Flemington straight in the 1952 Melbourne Cup. There was no horse of that name - they were cheering on behalf of tiny Kiwi nurse Jill Crossan, who they worked with at Dandenong and District Hospital on Melbourne's outskirts. "You're a Kiwi, you have to have the day off and go the cup," she had been told. She knew nothing about horse racing, but she knew enough to back the Kiwi horse, the great stayer Dalray. So did her Aussie friends and they cheered themselves hoarse as Dalray, lumping the huge weight of nine stone eight pounds (61kg), came from third last in the 30-horse field to storm to victory. No horse since the greatest of all, Phar Lap, had carried more weight to win the cup - 9 stone 12 pounds, in 1930. The nurses' celebration was nothing compared to that of owner Cyril Neville, a larrikin merchant and illegal bookmaker from Greymouth. A fearless punter, he had invested everything on his horse and he took the Flemington rails bookmakers to the cleaners. Dalray started 5/1 favourite and returned Neville a fortune, reputed to be as much as 62,000 - $2,415,000 in today's money. He had so much money it was stuffed into a pillowcase and he had a police escort back to his hotel. He was a generous man - he shared the 10,000 winning stake (today's first prize is $3 million) between Riccarton trainer Clarrie McCarthy and replacement jockey Bill Williamson, and gave 1000 to charity. Mr Neville also bought a special present, the latest walkie-talkie doll, for his four-year-old goddaughter and Greymouth neighbour, Gaylene Preston. Jill Crossan - my mother - was to have a closer Dalray connection. She returned to New Zealand a few days later on the steamer Wanganella to be wed, sharing a cabin with Cyril Neville's She remembers her as a "posh woman", well dressed and laden down with luggage and presents. Among them was a large doll, which Mrs Neville asked her to carry off for her, along with some other packages stuffed in her pockets, when the ship docked in Wellington. Miss Crossan assumed they included contraband banknotes, perhaps packed into the doll, but was too timid to ask. That doll was given to Gaylene Preston, who went on to become one of New Zealand's foremost film-makers. She still has it in her home in Mt Victoria, Wellington. My mother, now 85, met Ms Preston last week for the first time and saw the doll she last held 55 years ago. Ms Preston's childhood playmates included Dallas and Raymond Neville, whom Dalray was named after. The Prestons lived at No 10 Ida St in Greymouth, the Nevilles at No 8, and they were in and out of each other's houses. When Mr Neville returned home with his winnings, the party went on for days at both addresses. Dallas had a walkie-talkie doll that Gaylene coveted and she was overjoyed when Cyril, her godfather, gave her one too. "I had to be nice to Dallas for ages before she would let me hold her doll," Gaylene says. "When I got mine, Dallas went down to the garden and buried hers. "Obviously most of the fun was having the doll because I wanted it. All the fun had gone out if it. "I can remember us digging it up again. It was a symbolic act." There were other "relics" of the great win - an ashtray made in native woods in the shape of Australia and a ruler of Australian native timbers. "Cyril and Iris didn't live next to us very much longer," she says. "They bought a very nice house up the hill in Greymouth with a view and then they moved to Auckland, to St Heliers. "He certainly contributed to the greater economy of Greymouth that year." In those days 5 was enough to pay household bills for a month. The Prestons were not gamblers but Mr Neville had convinced them to have a bet. Gaylene's father, Ed Preston, was a milkman and he bought a new van with his share of winnings off Dalray. The old scrubbed kauri kitchen table was also given the heave and replaced with the latest red formica model. The doll came with a wardrobe but though there were little coathangers in it, there were no clothes. Ms Preston suspects that is where some of the cash was hidden and brought home to the West Coast. "I was very lucky to have had Cyril Neville as my spiritual guardian," she says. "He risked everything, which is what I do and what every film-maker does." She laments that Dalray's courageous win, one of the greatest by a New Zealand horse, has been forgotten. "Nobody has a fight about where his heart is buried. He's been written out." Not by Gaylene Preston though. She will always treasure Cyril Neville's act of kindness and the winner so long ago of Australasia's greatest horse race. - The Dominion Post Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 13 Author Share Posted June 13 1963 Gatum Gatum Bob Skelton ridden, Eric Ropiha trained Ilumquh second Death of famous NZ trainer 25 November 2013 by Racingandsports.com.au Eric Ropiha, the highly-respected and decorated New Zealand horseman who trained the 1960 Caulfield Cup winner Ilumquh, has died at the age of 88. Ropiha trained 716 winners during his career from 1948 to his retirement in 2001 and won the NZ premiership in 1959-60 with 43 winners. He had a number of top-class gallopers through his hands and was best known in Australia for his successful visits with Ilumquh and Fans. Ilumuquh was twice placed in the Melbourne Cup in 1960 and 1963 while Fans finished third to Rain Lover in 1968. Ropiha’s major wins in NZ included the 1952 New Zealand Cup (Conclusion), Roman Consul (NZ Derby), Routine (NZ Oaks), Baraboo (Railway Handicap), Ajasco (Railway Handicap), Silver Liner (Railway Handicap), Baloo (Canterbury Gold Cup twice), Harp (Hawkes Bay Cup) and Judge (Grand National Hurdles). Roman Consul became a top weight-for-age winner in Australia when he joined the Tommy Smith stable. Ropiha was honoured with an officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in 1996 and enjoyed a long association with the Fell family’s Fairdale Stud. “Eric was an absolute master at setting a horse for a race and having it peak on the day, a great conditioner with a great instinct about horses,” said Gerald Fell. “He trained for some of the aristocracy of New Zealand racing - two Governor-Generals and Sir Woolf Fisher and people of the like. “Eric was self-made and was a shy, but very proud person. He was a real gentleman, widely-respected and was always immaculately dressed. “After he retired from training in 2001 he became heavily involved in the show jumping world and again was well-respected and successful.” Ropiha is survived by his son Eric junior, also a trainer based at Toowoomba in Queensland, and daughters Anne and Judy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightning Blue Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Thanks for the video's Hesi. Some great runs in those. Here's my favourite. The very first Melbourne Cup I watched live and drew Gurners Lane in the first Melbourne Cup Sweep ever took 😁. And he mowed down a champion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 2016 Almandin Huge run by Auckland Cup winner Who Shot The Barman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hesi Posted June 21 Author Share Posted June 21 1979 Hyperno Ill fated NZ bred (Decies) Dulcify, and a couple of NZ'ers, Cubacade (4th) and Magistrate Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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