Southerners Ride Luck - And Win - In The Wild West

The Age

Wednesday November 12, 2008

TONY BOURKE

THE biggest influx of eastern states horses in more than 20 years has arrived in Perth for the summer carnival.

For those of us lucky enough to go to Perth in what at that time were very heady days in the west, the mixing of work and leisure was a welcome let-down after the rigours of the Melbourne spring carnival.

At the same time, with the likes of trainers Tommy Smith, Bart Cummings, Colin Hayes and Geoff Murphy usually represented at the carnival, there were plenty of good horses to write about.

Kingston Town went to Perth, and Cummings cut a swathe through the feature races from the early '70s, starting with Dayana in 1972.

Murphy had mixed success in the west with his Victoria Derby winners Sovereign Red and Grosvenor.

In 1980, Sovereign Red ran second in the West Australian Derby before winning the Australian Derby, while two years later Grosvenor had to settle for third in the WA Derby.

Former champion jockey Simon Marshall this week recalled his trip to Perth with Murphy in 1988.

Marshall's brilliant riding career was cut short by increasing weight but in 1988 he was a 17-year-old apprentice who could comfortably ride at 52 kilograms.

Marshall rode Marwong in the weight-for-age Lee Steere Stakes the week before the Railway and finished an unlucky fourth.

He returned to scale in fear and trepidation, knowing Murphy's reputation for not holding back his wrath if he believed a jockey had ridden a bad race - and he was not let down.

"He tore strips off me, and I was thinking I'd be put on the first plane back home," Marshall said.

"When I got changed and was leaving the jockeys' room, Murphy was waiting for me outside and I feared the worst.

"He grabbed me by the arm and took me around the corner and said, 'Listen son, you stuffed up today, but I still want you to ride the horse in the Railway'.

"Marwong galloped brilliantly on the Tuesday and Murphy said to me, 'Just keep your mouth shut', but there was high drama on the Saturday when the club vets said the horse was lame and wanted to scratch him.

"Geoff went off his rocker and said the vets didn't know what they were doing and demanded that the horse be tested when he got to the barrier.

"The stewards agreed, and he told me to hunt him up on the way to the start and when we got there I could hardly pull him up."

Marwong was allowed to run and, starting from the outside gate in the 16-horse field, Marshall rode him perfectly to win easily, starting at $21.

"I did a lot of riding for Geoff after that and I quickly learned his bark was worse than his bite and, more importantly, he was a bloody good trainer," Marshall said.

Incidentally, Marshall will be seen in a new role at Sandown on Saturday.

With his wife Sally-Anne, they will sing the national anthem before the running of the Sandown Classic.

"I can't sing a note, but Simon fancies himself," Sally-Anne said.

© 2008 The Age

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