Best buddies honoured
ONE of Australia’s most cherished Melbourne Cup winners, Subzero, along with his best friend and owner Graham Salisbury, were both posthumously honoured at this year’s Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductions ceremony in Adelaide last night.
The Australian Racing Hall of Fame has previously honoured racing participants with the presentation of a Chairman’s Award. However, this marks the first time that two individuals have been honoured and with the newly created Spirit of Racing Award.
Salisbury and Subbie, as he was affectionately known, had an indelible impact not only on the immediate racing community, but also the broader general public.
After Subzero retired as an Adelaide Cup, SA Derby and Melbourne Cup winner, one of racing’s strongest equinehuman bonds was formed when the pair came together as Salisbury teamed up with Subbie for clerk of the course duties at metropolitan race meetings.
Following his stint as clerk of the course, Salisbury and Subzero took on the role as ambassadors for Racing Victoria, in conjunction with the Australian Racing Museum.
The inseparable duo visited schools, nursing homes and hospices, and regularly attended events that not only shone a bright light on the duo, but on racing in general.
When Subzero died last year, Salisbury admitted it had left a hole in his heart that could not be filled.
Representing the two on the night was Graham’s son Tony, who left the 200-strong audience at the Adelaide Convention Centre with no doubt that Subzero was an integral part of the Salisbury family.
This year’s line-up of inductees included four horses, and all were punters’ favourites from varying eras.
Tie the Knot, a 13-time Group One winner who claimed stakes races from 1200m to 3200m, was a standout and overdue inductee, along with fellow champion galloper Beau Vite, who notched 31 wins, including two Mackinnon Stakes and two Cox Plates.
Red Anchor won a Caulfield Guineas, Cox Plate and Victoria Derby in his 3YO season and was named Australian champion racehorse in 1984-85 to easily justify his inclusion, and Sailor’s Guide earned his place, having won multiple Group races as well as five wins in America and being only the second Australian horse, after Phar Lap, to win in the US.
One of Australia’s most popular racing identities, Bob Charley, joins the elite club as an Associate, and prominent industry contributor and top thoroughbred breeder John Messara also finds his way into the club as an Associate.
One of the nation’s most celebrated Indigenous jockeys, Richard “Darby” McCarthy, had his name included on the list of the nation’s stars of the turf, and fellow rider Bill McLachlan, who won three Melbourne Cups, joins his great grandson Lee Freedman as a Hall of Fame inductee.
Trainers Guy Walter, who trained Tie the Knot, and Les Bridge were popular inclusions, with Sydney mentor Bridge a veteran with more than six decades at the top level.
Walter notched more than 1300 winners, including 36 Group Ones, before his death from a heart attack in 2014.