TALES OF GREATNESS

Q What is your impression of your first Cairns Cup Carnival? A We are very lucky that both the Cairns Jockey Club and Cairns Amateurs have had a really good carnival. But, I think we can do better again. I would like to see a scenario where the Cairns Cup is on a Saturday and not a Sunday. I think you would get better crowds again and better use of the program. We have put a request in to do so and we will see when the race dates come out. The Friday and Saturday program works well for the Cairns Amateurs but for us we need to be Saturday then the next Saturday. We would have the first Saturday as Ladies Day and then the Cup. Racing Queensland will be considering all the submissions now.

Q You have a story about the great Phar Lap I am told, tell me the details? A When I was general manager of the Wellington Racing Club back in NZ, I found Phar Lap’s bones in an old museum that had just been left there. There was a new museum being built and there was a transition period between the old and the new. I offered them, on behalf of the racecourse, $20,000 and they said at that stage they were not interested. We then looked up the insurance, found out the bones were insured for a huge amount, so they could not sell me the bones. But they decided to lease me his bones for three years. We got a few sponsors together and restored the glass case that he was in, got new colours made up and got new brochures and put it on display for three years. They took them back after that and put them on display at the museum. That is the closest thing I have ever come to owning a Melbourne Cup winner (laughs).