By Najma Sambul and Michael Manley
For horse racing lover Daphne Benaud, this year’s Caulfield Cup will mark a special occasion as she will be cheering on Benaud, named after her late husband, former Australian cricket captain and legendary commentator Richie Benaud.
“I’ll have the racing on from both Sydney and Melbourne as soon as it comes on tomorrow, as I do most Saturdays,” she said on Friday. “I love watching racing and have done so most of my life.”
Daphne Benaud with late husband Richie’s baggy green cap and Caulfield Cup contender Benaud.Credit:Steven Siewert
Earlier this year Daphne spoke with trainer John O’Shea and first met the grey gelding.
“I’ve been around racehorses quite a lot and they’re not all as friendly. But somehow or other this particular horse and being a grey, I think everybody loves a grey horse, that was an instant connection,” she said.
“I loved the naming of the horse because he’s by Reliable Man out of Baggy Green, which was a very cricket connection.”
Reflecting on her late husband’s career as national cricket captain and one of Australia’s most well-known cricket commentators, Daphne believes the naming of the horse is a part of continuing Richie Benaud’s legacy.
“Richie was a great racing person, not from the betting point of view, he studied form and he spent a lot of time during his week when he wasn’t working on cricket, studying the racing form,” she said.
“He didn’t bother betting unless we went to something like a Melbourne Cup or, say, Royal Ascot in England, which we did for several years, then we would put a little money just to keep an interest in the day of racing.
She added: “Young people often don’t remember that Richie was also a cricketer before he did commentary.”
Louis Mihalyka, a part-owner of Benaud, said when you looked at the horse’s breeding there was no other name you could give the galloper.
Mihalyka said the part-owners involved in the naming of the grey gelding unanimously agreed that it would be fitting to name him after Benaud, who passed away in 2015 at the age of 84.
“Being out of Baggy Green we went down the cricketing path and Benaud was available, which I thought was a great name.”
Randwick trainer John O’Shea believes his stayer has a great chance of winning Saturday’s Caulfield Cup.
O’Shea said Benaud had benefited from his sixth-place finish behind Anamoe in the Caulfield Stakes last week and was in a race he had been set for and could win.
O’Shea said he handled Caulfield well and would benefit from the experience.
“Sydney horses always take a lot of benefit from having a spin around Caulfield,” he said.
O’Shea said he placed the blinkers on him last week to make him a bit sharper, but in the end the slow tempo didn’t help him.
The trainer pointed out that Benaud was a lightly raced galloper and although he had only won one race from 12 starts, he said in reality he hadn’t run in many suitable races.
