DERBY DAY transition and memories

[Black Kirrama 1,590]

Ellerslie Derby day, eve. A race that still gets us " bodgies and our woodshies , sheilas "  born in the 1950's excited.

The race previously the Great Northern Derby  was  raced on Boxing Day. It has meta morphed itself since 1973.

This was not intended to be a History lesson.

It was always raced Right Handed until Sharp n Smart's win last year at Te Rapa for Debbie Rogerson and a co Trainer.

There will be Racing Tragics on Race Cafe , like me, who were on course when Sobig won in 1964  and then saw his mighty black Son Kirrama win the  Derby in 1970 .

Others of you  ( maybe 4 ) may have been on course when I  filmed Balmerino in 1975 with a hand held super 8 mm camera.

But the 1981 Derby  day will be with me forever.

Altitude, the great horse   had won his previous  8 starts going into the Derby.

No other horse before him, going into a Derby anywhere in the world had won eight races straight. 

SIr Steven Autridge was unbeaten on the Bill Ford trained Altitude.

Altitude ( Sammy Boy ) had a fatal bleeding attack and died 21 minutes after the Derby.

More memories  post here.

 

 

 

 

 

[Charlie Bukowski 420]

20 minutes ago, Black Kirrama said:

Ellerslie Derby day, eve. A race that still gets us " bodgies and our woodshies , sheilas "  born in the 1950's excited.

The race previously the Great Northern Derby  was  raced on Boxing Day. It has meta morphed itself since 1973.

This was not intended to be a History lesson.

It was always raced Right Handed until Sharp n Smart's win last year at Te Rapa for Debbie Rogerson and a co Trainer.

There will be Racing Tragics on Race Cafe , like me, who were on course when Sobig won in 1964  and then saw his mighty black Son Kirrama win the  Derby in 1970 .

Others of you  ( maybe 4 ) may have been on course when I  filmed Balmerino in 1975 with a hand held super 8 mm camera.

But the 1981 Derby  day will be with me forever.

Altitude, the great horse   had won his previous  8 starts going into the Derby.

No other horse before him, going into a Derby anywhere in the world had won eight races straight. 

SIr Steven Autridge was unbeaten on the Bill Ford trained Altitude.

Altitude ( Sammy Boy ) had a fatal bleeding attack and died 21 minutes after the Derby.

More memories  post here.

 

 

 

 

 

Yes Rev, still makes you cry blood thinking of Altitude and the horse he was and was going to be.

Weston Lea , breaks a leg in an exhibition gallop at Waipa just days before the Derby.

Accountant relegated for Wayne Morris and the delightful Joy Bell ..

But the good memories far outweigh the tragic ones.

Balmerino , Bonecrusher , Uncle Remus, Xcellent and all the rest not far behind, maybe not Cavalierri .... did he eventually win a highweight 50 starts later .....

[Black Kirrama 1,590]

Thanks Charlie. Good man you, for mentioning all those other great horses.Thank you.

Altitude, being a colt could have left a dynasty.

I was also  videoing the Waipa Trials when that awesome galloper  Weston Lea broke his leg.

Tony Allan had won the lead up races to the Derby on him

I didn't  film any more trials that day. I went and sat with Laurie in his car.

Tough bloke . Cried hard. Then he went to check Sheila had tightened the girth on a maiden 5 trials later. 

 

 

[Chestnut 3,218]

Altitude... so sad.   My brother was working for Waikato Stud at the time and I remember his phone call to us following the race, absolutely devastated.  Such a loss.

[Chestnut 3,218]

Silent Achiever and Habibi winning it back to back for the fillies was great   and that ability to handle the softer going came to the fore...   and in such great company as Tidal Light and Popsy before them        I'm by no means all out for gender equality.. I think it has to be earned to say you stand equal .. and in such wonderful tbred company and coming up trumps, sensational, they were all stellar efforts  

[rdytdy 5,358]

Rev

The NZ Derby was the amalgamation of two races in 1973.....The Great Northern Derby run since 1875 at Ellerslie and the NZ Derby run at Riccarton since 1860. 

 

 

[pogo(aus) 937]

Balmerino(nz) 

 

[Chestnut 3,218]

11 minutes ago, rdytdy said:

Rev

The NZ Derby was the amalgamation of two races in 1973.....The Great Northern Derby run since 1875 at Ellerslie and the NZ Derby run at Riccarton since 1860. 

 

 

Fury's Order ...  what a horse     

[Memphis3 1,320]

Secured Deposit ? Big long horse head down low. 

[Chestnut 3,218]

5 minutes ago, Memphis3 said:

Secured Deposit ? Big long horse head down low. 

Beaut horse    I remember his Auckland Cup win  wonderful.  . Not sure he won the Derby though, he might have placed ?

[Memphis3 1,320]

Yes Chestnut second. Behind the good filly Our Flight. 1982. I backed Secured Deposit so of course it got second. 

[stodge 2,112]

Interesting to see mention of BALMERINO.

He was one of the few who came to the northern hemisphere and held his form. 

He may not have won in his European campaign (he lost an Italian Group 1 in the stewards room) but he was second in the Eclipse and the Coronation Cup while his best run in Europe saw him chase home ALLEGED in the 1977 Arc de Triomphe.

Unusually, the Arc that year was run on fast ground and Lester Piggott made every yard on the Leger runner up judging the 2400m pace brilliantly. BALMERINO, trained by John Dunlop and ridden by Australian jockey Ron Hutchinson, himself very much in the twilight of his career, ran second in front of the Jockey Club winner CRYSTAL PALACE, the 1977 English Leger winner DUNFERMLINE and the 1976 Leger winner CROW.

ALLEGED was a stable mate of THE MINSTREL who had won the 1977 Derby and Irish Derby but by the latter part of the season ALLEGED had improved significantly to become the main Vincent O'Brien colt. After winning a second Arc in 1978. ALLEGED got a rating of 138 (for comparison, FRANKEL got 140).

BALMERINO was perhaps unlucky to come up against such a talent but ran with great distinction and was himself given a rating of 133 by Timeform.

[Mr Spyro 412]

 Will never forget Altitude, got news from race course inspector before it was announced.  He had been up there trying to help in saving the horse.   Big John said to us "   I have never ever had a drink while working but if ever I did today would be the day "   He looked sick. 

[Shad 1,587]

18 hours ago, Memphis3 said:

Yes Chestnut second. Behind the good filly Our Flight. 1982. I backed Secured Deposit so of course it got second. 

Very good filly Our flight, from memory by imperial guard, wonder if she ever left any progeny.

[Tauhei Notts 1,428]

Memories.

Corroboree in 1972 was memorable.  It was the day of my maiden century.  The first time I made $100 on the punt on a raceday.

I have seen most Derbies since then.  Orchestral is one of the best.  I am confident that she will do better in later life than Sherwood Forest, Crown Prosecutor, Coniston Bluebird and Cut The Cake.

[Tauhei Notts 1,428]

Had I not been to see Orchestral at Ellerslie I would have been playing golf with a burgling MIDGET from Clark's Beach.

[rdytdy 5,358]

On 3/2/2024 at 11:57 AM, stodge said:

Interesting to see mention of BALMERINO.

He was one of the few who came to the northern hemisphere and held his form. 

He may not have won in his European campaign (he lost an Italian Group 1 in the stewards room) but he was second in the Eclipse and the Coronation Cup while his best run in Europe saw him chase home ALLEGED in the 1977 Arc de Triomphe.

Unusually, the Arc that year was run on fast ground and Lester Piggott made every yard on the Leger runner up judging the 2400m pace brilliantly. BALMERINO, trained by John Dunlop and ridden by Australian jockey Ron Hutchinson, himself very much in the twilight of his career, ran second in front of the Jockey Club winner CRYSTAL PALACE, the 1977 English Leger winner DUNFERMLINE and the 1976 Leger winner CROW.

ALLEGED was a stable mate of THE MINSTREL who had won the 1977 Derby and Irish Derby but by the latter part of the season ALLEGED had improved significantly to become the main Vincent O'Brien colt. After winning a second Arc in 1978. ALLEGED got a rating of 138 (for comparison, FRANKEL got 140).

BALMERINO was perhaps unlucky to come up against such a talent but ran with great distinction and was himself given a rating of 133 by Timeform.

 Balmerino did win two races in England Stodge. 1977 Vadoe Stakes and the 1978 Clive Graham Stakes both run at Goodwood. 

 

[stodge 2,112]

9 hours ago, rdytdy said:

 Balmerino did win two races in England Stodge. 1977 Vadoe Stakes and the 1978 Clive Graham Stakes both run at Goodwood. 

 

I sit corrected, my friend.

Clive Graham was a racing journalist (wrote for the Daily Express under the pseudonym "The Scout"). He was an integral part of the BBC racing coverage in the 60s and early 70s alongside Peter O'Sullivan who did the commentary and also wrote for the Express. Graham was the form analyst and paddock commentator and he and O'Sullivan covered BBC racing until Graham died in the early 70s after which we had the appearance of Julian Wilson and recently retired jockey Jimmy Lindley (who died in March 2022) who covered the flat racing.

On ITV we had John Rickman who wrote as Gimcrack for the Daily Sketch. He had worked briefly on the BBC with O'Sullivan on television in the early 50s until ITV started in 1955 when he fronted their racing coverage for over 20 years. He was very much old school and always greeted the viewers with "Good afternoon Ladies and Gentlemen" and an extravagant doff of the trilby he always wore. 

The 1970s was the Golden Age of television racing coverage up here - both BBC and ITV covered racing and both had both midweek and Saturday afternoon coverage. They did it slightly differently as you might imagine - BBC more restrained with very little mention of betting in the early years and the races often having to fit around test cricket, golf or rugby matches. ITV had a segment wholly devoted to racing in mid afternoon with the iconic "ITV 7" (which has been resurrected since 2017) in which the public could enter to win a cash prize if they could puzzle the winners of the seven televised races. ITV did betting as they recognised most of their viewers enjoyed having a flutter on the horses.

The Clive Graham Stakes was run at Goodwood in memory of the BBC racing man until it became the Festival Stakes in the mid-90s. While BALMERINO was a very good winner, the best was probably future Arc winner MTOTO in 1988. The race still exists - it's Listed and run at Goodwood's May meeting.