A proud day but no cup fans ‘weird’
The only Kiwi-trained runner in the race that stops two nations will have New Zealanders shouting at their TV sets – because it’s as close as they can get. Mat Kermeen reports.
Tuesday’s ‘‘ weird’’ Melbourne Cup will be an emotional rollercoaster for the owners of the lone Kiwi-trained hope, The Chosen One.
On one hand, syndicate manager Tony Dennis says they are incredibly lucky to have a horse in the great race for the second year in a row.
But on the other, it’s devastating that the Covid-19 pandemic means they can’t be at Flemington to see the pride of Southland run in one of the world’s most prestigious races.
For the first time, the Melbourne Cup will be contested without a crowd.
‘‘It must be weird. It’s got to be weird, I can’t imagine it really. There will be no atmosphere,’’ Dennis told the Sunday StarTimes.
He was part of a group of between 30 and 40 owners and their families in Melbourne last year, and Dennis predicted this year’s support team would have been even bigger had it not been for the pandemic.
Last year, The Chosen One was 17th from a wide draw with a luckless run.
Dennis, who bred the horse with his brothers Ray, Martin and Joe, is optimistic the 19 owners who have a share in The Chosen One can look forward to a far better result in 2020, and that was enhanced when he drew five last night.
This year, the Dennis brothers – widely known and highly regarded in racing circles for more than six decades – will gather with the other Southlandbased owners and their families in Invercargill to watch the race.
As the big day draws nearer the phone has been ringing off the hook and the Dennis brothers can’t go anywhere in Southland without being stopped by someone wishing them luck for the big day.
The goosebumps will still be there and there may even be the odd tear too, but Dennis doesn’t believe it can compare to last year when they were soaking in the atmosphere at Flemington.
Watching the family colours, first used by the Dennis brothers’ father around 1950, on one of the world’s biggest stages was an incredibly special feeling for the family.
‘‘ I got quite emotional to be honest,’’ Dennis said.
‘‘I probably didn’t realise just how proud I was to see the colours in the Melbourne Cup until it happened.
‘‘Here you are in the world’s biggest race with your colours that you’ve had for years going around.’’
Despite where he finishes in the race, all of his owners will be like proud parents at the end of the 3200-metre journey.
‘‘He’s an owners dream of a horse,’’ Dennis said.
‘‘ He’s a horse that’s raced in Derbys, Listed races, Sydney Cups, Melbourne Cups, Caulfield Cups — how often can you get a horse so tough he keeps on wanting to do it?’’
Dennis said it was special how Kiwis always got behind the New Zealand horses in the Melbourne Cup – as he has done himself many times over the years – but it becomes very humbling when it’s your own horse, he said.
‘‘I’d love everyone in racing to have an experience like this but obviously they’re not.’’
The brothers have bred a number of Melbourne Cup runners, including the 1990 runner-up The Phantom, but it took until The Chosen One in 2019 for their first as owners.
‘‘I always say to people when you get a horse like this you have to go to the big races because you never know if you’ll get another one that good.’’
The Chosen One cheer squad made a name for themselves by making so much noise at the parade in the Melbourne CBD the day before last year’s race.
‘‘They told us afterwards we made the parade because we made so much noise,’’ Dennis said.
Three people in The Chosen One syndicate have never owned a horse before.
‘‘We keep telling them, ‘you guys don’t know how lucky you are,’’’ Dennis said. ‘‘Some people spend their life in racing and never get this.’’
Tony Rider, of Milan Park stud in Cambridge, shares in the ownership of The Chosen One and will host a get together for the North Island owners.
There are strong South Island connections to The Chosen One’s chances, despite being trained at Cambridge by Murray Baker and Andrew Forsman.
This year the jockey will be former South Island rider Daniel Stackhouse, who relocated to Australia in 2011.
Many of The Chosen One’s owners are based in the South Island and Baker/Forsman stable foreman Aleisha Legg is orig
inally from Mosgiel. Dennis said Legg deserves special credit for doing all the work with the horse as Victoria remained in lockdown.
The third placing in the Caulfield Cup last month behind partKiwi owned Verry Elleegant and Anthony Van Dyck was the perfect lead-in to the Melbourne Cup for The Chosen One.
‘‘He’s a lot stronger, he’s built up a lot this year,’’ Dennis said.
Baker and Forsman were always confident The Chosen One, who this year will carry 53.5kg, would improve with age.
Dennis said they have also been thrilled with the way he has come through the Caulfield Cup run.
Dennis credits Baker for much of the success they have had with the five-year-old son of Savabeel, despite the Dennis brothers’ hugely successful breeding operation. ‘‘He’s a freak of a trainer,’’ Dennis said.
The Dennis brothers bred The Chosen One out of their mare The Glitzy One and they believe that’s where he gets his toughness to run out the two miles from.
‘‘She was tough as nails and he’s a bit like that,’’ Dennis said.