What is it about the Caulfield Guineas? Why does this race keep throwing up head scratching results? From genuine champions winning to genuine champions flopping, and then you can throw in a few protest hearings that, too many, defied logic.
The Caulfield Guineas was first run in 1881, and no, I wasn’t there. It was won by the Queensland-bred Wheatear, who had also taken out the AJC Derby that September. Incidentally, he went around in the 39 horse Melbourne Cup only to be brought down by a dog running onto the track. Another way to do your hard-earned.
The Guineas has been won by some of the absolute stars of the Australian turf including Tulloch, Mahogany, Luskin Star, Manikato, Surround and Red Anchor, but the list of beaten favourites is equally impressive. Kingston Town and Pierro to name a couple. And So You Think wasn’t favourite but went like a busted Chaminda Vaas.
It’s just that sort of race. Rank outsiders keep bobbing up too. Mighty Boss was 100/1 in 2017, Abaridy was 250/1 in 1986 (his regular jockey went to the provincials that day) and Binbinga, trained by taxi driver Frank Quan, was 100/1 when he put Australia out of the quaddie in 1981.
Yet, despite the huge stars who both shone and failed in the race, the Guineas is often best remembered for some of the most astonishing protests in Australian racing. The most notable came in 1987, when the Geoff Murphy trained Marwong finished a length behind New Zealander Our Poetic Prince, who had skipped four lengths clear before being eased down well before the line by Noel Harris. Jockey Brent Thomson protested for interference on the home turn and, to the astonishment of the free world, was awarded the race. Even Lindy Chamberlain expressed her shock at the verdict.
Almost a decade earlier, in an equally baffling decision, Bold Diplomat, with Gary Murphy aboard, led all the way yet had the race taken off him when Pat Hyland protested on Runaway Kid despite finishing two lengths behind. The year before, Murphy had been quite vocal when his protest on Karraman for interference by the winner Manikato fell on profoundly deaf ears. Manikato’s jockey Gary Willetts got 12 weeks. Murphy got a kick in the guts twice.
These were the days when betting on protests was legal. Most bookies in the ring put up a market on the outcome. Protest hearings had been closed to the media for decades, but in the mid 1980s the stewards had a rush of blood and opened them up. Not a good idea. Within a few weeks a well known racing journo was seen leaving the stewards room at the conclusion of a hearing before the decision was announced. He then ran 9.8 seconds for the 100 metres to the bookies’ ring and had a reasonable wager on the protest being upheld, which of course, it was. Betting on protests was banned the following week.
And with The Ashes just around the corner, it’s worth remembering that after Australia lost the Ashes in 1926, captain Herbie Collins, a keen gambler, was stripped of his captaincy of Australia, New South Wales and his local club Waverley after the deciding Test ended in suspicious circumstances. Collins later forged a career in racing, somehow balancing dual roles as a bookmaker and a steward. That was until he was sacked as a steward for a small issue involving him raising and lowering the blinds of the stewards’ room to alert a certain punter to the result of a protest. Clearly an integrity issue but, by jingo, you’ve got to admire his creativity.
