It was a very small affair for the first few years after it had been launched upon the sea of time. The race was run under the auspices of the Victoria Turf Club, the Derby and Oaks under the aegis of the Victoria Jockey Club.
The stake for the great Cup was of the value of two hundred pounds, and it was won, for the first couple of years after its inception, in 1861, by Mr. E. De Mestre’s Archer. This was a fine horse by William Tell (imported), a bay son of Touchstone from Miss Bowe, by Catton from Tranby’s dam, by Orville. There seems to be some doubt about Archer’s dam, but Mr. Wanklyn states that she descended through Bonnie Lass (by Bachelor (imp.)), to Cutty Sark, whilst the first and second volumes of the Stud Book give his dam as Maid of the Oaks, by Vagabond from Mr. Charles Smith’s mare by Zohrab. In 1869 the stake was increased to £300. In 1876 the value had mounted to £500, a sum which had already been far surpassed by the Tasmanians as a prize for their championship at Launceston. This was already worth one thousand. The thousand limit in the Cup was reached in ’83 for the first time, Martini Henry being the winner for the Hon. Mr. James White. After this prize-money ascended in leaps. In ’86 there was £2,000 of added money; it jumped to £2,500 in the following year; £3,000 in ’88; £5,000 in ’89; and £10,000 in 1890. It was the summit, the “suprema dies,” the grand climax of all things. This year compressed all the bests on record imaginable into its calendar.
There was a record sum of money added to the race, a record field (thirty-nine starters), a record weight was carried by the winner (ten stone five), and the time for the race (3 minutes 28¼ seconds) was another best ever seen up to that time. That has since, however, been far surpassed, Artilleryman, in 1919, having smashed up a great collection of good horses in most decisive fashion by very many lengths in 3.24½. And the winner of 1890 was undoubtedly a record horse—the brave, consistent, staying, immortal Carbine.
In the three following Cups, Malvolio, Glenloth and Tarcoola each swept in ten thousand sovereigns for their owners, but in Auraria’s year, and when Gaulus, Newhaven and The Grafter won, racing affairs had met with “an air pocket,” and had consequently suffered a heavy “bump.” The added money fell to three thousand pounds. The depression, however, during the seasons following the collapse of the land boom, did not last long, and ere the war drums boomed across a horrified world in 1914, the prize had once more risen to upwards of seven thousand pounds. Even whilst the struggle for life and death was progressing, the V.R.C. and the A.J.C. both strove nobly to maintain racing on the highest possible plane in every way, and the value of the great Cup never fell much short of five thousand pounds. And this, too, in face of the fact that the Committee of the V.R.C. presented to the numerous Patriotic War Funds the magnificent sum of over one hundred and two thousand pounds.
Since the early days of the V.R.C. other clubs have arisen in great numbers. For many years, all through the country districts, no township was too small to hold a race meeting. Even country public houses far outback could manage to give away sums of money, and gather a crowd of people for the benefit of boniface under the pretence of a day’s horse racing. But now, under the wise hands of the ruling body, “sport” of that nature is severely restricted, and the formation of District Associations, working under the V.R.C. is doing immense good in improving the whole thing, and in seeing to it that racing is carried on in the cleanest and fairest manner possible. There are many excellent up-country gatherings throughout the State. Warrnambool, with its annual Steeplechase, is splendid. Wangaratta and Benalla, where they have raced since before the flood, both provide capital sport. Ballarat, once second only in importance to metropolitan headquarters, is perhaps not the force that it used to be in the old days when mining was flourishing, and was one of the most prosperous industries in the country. But it is once more on the up-grade, and is well managed. Bendigo has always maintained a high standard. Camperdown is good, as is Colac, while Geelong, after suffering a partial eclipse, is also again climbing the ladder. And in the metropolitan area there are several clubs that have done, and are doing, a great deal for the sport. The Victorian Amateur Turf Club is in the foremost rank, and is only second to the V.R.C. in influence and importance. The Caulfield Cup has been in existence since 1879, when two hundred sovereigns was the amount of its prize-money. In 1920 this was represented by £6,500, and a gold cup valued at £100.
The V.A.T.C. was originally formed in 1876 by a number of enthusiastic riders and owners, whose opportunities for amateur jockeyship were too restricted for their vaulting ambitions. The promoters were the Messrs. Hector, Norman and Arthur Wilson, J. O. Inglis, Herbert and Robert Power, and others, and so well have their affairs prospered on that beautiful course at Caulfield that the original object of the Club has been entirely lost sight of long ago. It is a splendid institution.
Then there is the seaside racecourse at Williamstown, which has had a long and creditable history. The course is a fine one, and is being improved yearly and the annual Cup is now worth between two and three thousand pounds. Moonee Valley is possibly the most popular of all the suburban turf resorts. Its affairs are splendidly administered by Mr. A. V. Hiskins and an influential Committee. It is so close to the General Post Office that anyone now finds it an easy journey to the entrance gates. The course is a good one, well kept, and the prizes are liberal throughout the year. The Committee is entirely up to date, and this Club, like the V.A.T.C. and Williamstown, are not only steadily increasing their prize-monies, but each and all of them gave with ready and overflowing hands to the patriotic funds. There are other and numerous—too numerous—courses within reach of the metropolis. Epsom, situated close to Mordialloc, is also a club, and its affairs are ably controlled, but Mentone, Aspendale and Sandown Park are of the nature of proprietary concerns whose surplus funds revert to the pockets of the promoters, and no doubt pay ample dividends. But with these, so far as the actual history and welfare of the Racehorse in Australia is concerned, we have nothing to do.
Chapter IX.
The Great Men of Old.
And now that we have these accurate records to our hands of all our turf history since 1865, and with the Stud Book giving us the family tree of our thoroughbreds, so far as it can be obtained, from the present day back to the times of King Charles the Second, we can so easily, from that high perch of knowledge, take a quick, bird’s-eye view of the happenings of our own brief days in Australia. Shortly before this era of historical accuracy dawned upon our thoroughbred history, certain importations of blood stock took place which have left a deeper mark upon our annals than any other events since the arrival of the mare Manto.
It was in 1860 that Mr. Hurtle Fisher procured, from England, a stallion and several brood mares, and formed a breeding establishment at Maribyrnong. This is an estate composed of flats and rising ground, hill and dale, on the banks of the Saltwater River, within an easy morning’s ride from the main streets of the Victorian capital. Here Mr. Fisher built, high up upon a convenient and commanding eminence, excellent stabling for his valuable imported stud, and a house for his manager. It was an ideal spot, beautifully laid out, and so substantial that the main buildings stand to-day with every appearance of having only been erected yesterday. The mares which Mr. Fisher imported were from the bluest blood of the day, carefully chosen, with the soundest judgment, and regardless of expense. His stallion was one of the best-known horses in England, a mighty winner, a great stayer. This was Fisherman, a brown horse, by Heron out of Mainbrace, by Sheet Anchor out of a Bay Middleton mare. He had won upwards of sixty races, most of them over a distance of ground, and although, when you trace his blood lines carefully out, you might be led to believe that they are scarcely those of a stayer, yet he undoubtedly did possess that quality in a marked degree, and so, too, did the stock which he left behind him.