Last week, James McDonald – the best jockey in the land, maybe even the world – was fanboying about his mount, Loft, in the Melbourne Cup.
“I had my first sit on him and I’m so happy I did,” he told me during a lengthy interview. “He’s in the race up to his ears. He worked beautifully the other morning. He’s not big in stature, but he’s a very athletic, clean-winded horse. He’s got form over two miles, very adaptable in his racing style, goes on the wet, the dry. There’s not much to dislike apart from the unknown.”
The “unknown” to which McDonald was referring was the fact the German import was unraced in Australia. As it turned out, a mandatory CT scan revealed an unknown tendon injury, and vets put a line through Loft the following day.
It didn’t just rule out the second pick in betting but left the best thing going for racing, a superstar hoop already drawing comparisons to George Moore, without a ride.
A day earlier, the sport’s other superstar – Sydney trainer Chris Waller – released a statement revealing a mandatory CT scan had shown a “grey area” in Caulfield Cup winner Durston’s left hind leg. So vets ruled out Durston on suspicion of an injury, leaving Waller without a runner.
On Friday, Makram was ruled out by, you guessed it, a CT scan. On Monday morning, Point Nepean was scratched after returning elevated blood results, which suggests the horse is getting sick. Lunar Flare won’t run until passed fit by vets on the morning of the race.
James McDonald on Verry Elleegant wins Melbourne Cup at Flemington last year.Credit:Joe Armao
These are the inconvenient truths overlooked by the opponents of racing who will protest outside Flemington on Tuesday while others fire off cranky social media posts saying “Nup to the Cup”. The critics who slam horse racing probably aren’t aware of them, but they are significant.
Seven racehorse deaths between 2013 and 2020 was turning the beloved Melbourne Cup into a stain on Australian sport.
When English Derby winner Anthony Van Dyck died in 2020, and it was later revealed the horse had been lame a month before the Cup but still raced, dramatic change was required. Subsequently, 41 new measures were introduced, including mandatory CT scans for international runners.
James Ferguson, the trainer of this year’s favourite, Deauville Legend, believes the stringent vetting requirements are putting off international trainers from entering the race but, frankly, he’s fighting a losing battle. Racing Victoria didn’t just have to save face – it had to save its arse.
Kerrin McEvoy rides Deauville Legend during track work.Credit:Racing Photos
That vets were prepared to deny the country’s best jockey and trainer a start in the $8 million race this year — and at a time when the Cup carnival is under attack from cashed-up Racing NSW — shows the measures aren’t just a box-ticking exercise, although the issue is so polarising and emotive that neither side of the debate is likely to concede an inch.
Those outside of racing consider the sport barbaric and archaic and want it outlawed. Those involved with the sport argue the stomach-churning examples of animal cruelty illuminated in ABC TV investigations are not representative of the thousands of participants who make up the industry.
I’ve been to countless stables, ranging from those belonging to battling bush trainers to the best in the business (Waterhouse, Waller, Cummings and Freedman) and never witnessed anything but a deep respect, even love, for the animal from the trainer and, particularly, the staff.
I’ve also seen first-hand the importance of horse welfare programs, including those of Racing NSW, which has invested millions in stables across the state. A few years ago, I watched a former Royal Australian Regiment solider who fought in Afghanistan quietly brush Vashka, which had raced in Godolphin’s colours, while telling me about all his mates who had committed suicide and how close he had come to joining them.
Vashka meant he did not. “People think we save the horses,” he said. “They saved me.”
I’ve also been at Flemington on Cup Day when horses have died and seen, from close range, distraught strappers and handlers – the ones who become more attached to the animal than anyone else – break down in tears as though they’ve lost a member of their family. Because, as far as they’re concerned, they have.
These are the scenes that animal welfare people don’t see nor appreciate, as well-intentioned as their concern for racehorses might be.
Despite this, there’s an uncomfortable truth about racing beyond the Birdcage and wallpaper of corporate bookmaker advertisements that racing people won’t openly talk about.
Racing is a dangerous and sometimes lethal pursuit, largely for the animal and the grossly underfed human sitting on its back.
Animals weighing about half a tonne race around tight racetracks at high speed just millimetres from each other before being whipped feverishly down the straight as they all drive to the line. The margin for error is negligible. Horses break down and are euthanised. Jockeys fall and die.
The difference, obviously, is that the jockey has the choice not to compete. Unless you’re Chautauqua, the legendary sprinter that refused to leave the barriers, the horse does as it’s told and if it’s not fast enough or promising enough quickly becomes unwanted. Not all are rehomed and given new lives.
The Melbourne Cup brings an extra layer of danger, not least scrutiny as our most famous sporting event.
There aren’t many flat two-mile races in Australia any longer, which speaks to our penchant for sprint races, so there’s always a query about whether a horse will be able to handle the distance.
Only six of Tuesday’s entrants have raced over 3200m. Only Vow And Declare, which won in 2019, has won at the distance.
For that reason, the Cup has become attractive for international raiders – but the enormous risk is whether they can handle the long trip here, the Australian style of racing and the harder, tighter tracks.
If some had their way, there would be no Melbourne Cup, no racing, no gambling. That’s not going to happen in our lifetime, but the industry needs to continually change if it’s to have a future.
This year, so far, it’s shown that it can.
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