Record-breakers and gentlemen of the turf

Tag : slipper used

"He came down in the 1950s at Canterbury and was never the sameafter," Brian Killian, a friend of "Long Jack's" for more than ahalf-century, recalled.
Killian was a former champion apprentice (1950-51) and laterstipendiary steward with the Australian Jockey Club and Racing NSWas well as in Macau. In more recent decades he has watched RobertThompson develop. "I used to go to the races with my father, atrainer," Killian recalled. "I was around 10 and in the jockeys'room I would look after the saddles for Jack and old Bart Sinclair,he was a good jockey came down from Queensland with Moore andNeville Sellwood at that time. I used to clean their saddles like avalet.
"As an apprentice I rode Putoko in the 1950 Sydney Cup against Jackon Sir Falcon. I followed him in the race and couldn't believe theruns he was taking. My horse didn't have the steam to go with him,and he won the race. Soon after, Jack left for Ireland and rode forPaddy Prendergast. Norman Larkin, a Sydney vet, had connections inIreland and wrote over there to a chap to look after him. He wroteback and Jack didn't need any looking after, he was the best theyhad seen for years.
"Jack was in a vintage period, against Darby Munro, Billy Cook andMoore. Munro was the best I've seen, but Jack, particularly beforethe fall, was up there with them."
Robert Thompson, too, has had his pain and was off the scene fortwo years only recently. His return to form this season,particularly on AJC Oaks winner Heavenly Glow, is testimony to hisapplication and never-say-quit spirit. However, Long Jack's vintageyears are hard to beat. At the end of the 1941 season Thompson,still an apprentice but without an allowance, notched the first ofhis five Sydney [then with provincials] premierships and recordedremarkable figures: 105 wins and a dead-heat, 105 seconds and twodead-heats and 105 thirds from 709 mounts, beating Bill Cook (101),Ted McMenamin (75.5), Andy Knox (52.5) and Munro (52.).
Long Jack's feature successes included the AJC Oaks five times,four AJC Champagne Stakes and Doncasters, three QTC Sires' ProduceStakes, the VRC Derby, the VRC Oaks and AJC Derby, the Adelaide Cupand STC Golden Slipper. However, the Melbourne Cup proved a jinx.He finished second three times, once on Dark Marne. The photofinish showed he had gone down by a nose to Rimfire. Make nomistake, Long Jack was a good loser. Four months later a fault wasfound with the photo-finish camera at Flemington.
Another sore point concerned his arrival in Ireland. Thompson,according to Jack Pollard's Australian Horse Racing , was reported as saying English jockeys lacked brains, though hestrongly denied saying it. A quote like that just wasn't his style.His words were chosen carefully and steeped with wisdom.
Like the time I asked him in the 1960s about a losing streak.
"You get on good horses and they have the ability to take runsinside, travel wide and get over quick," he answered. "They makeyou look good. Get on one that is only average and he'll take younowhere and there's a not a great deal you can do to help him."
On the improvement in New Zealand jockeys, once regarded here asbetter suited to camels?
"Videos," he replied. "Now they come over here and not only knowthe style of riding but the form, the pace of races and what toexpect from the opposition."
And once on dismounting from a beaten favourite? "He'll never beweighted down by the size of his heart..."
Which was always a problem for Long Jack, and Robert is in the samecategory.