VIEWED - 2008 In getting Viewed to the barrier ‘trained to the minute’, Bart reinforced his genius. He later quipped at the presentation speech that someone had noted he made a habit of having his horses primed for the first Tuesday of November. “I said it was a good habit to get into.” The Cups King’s one-liners took on a life of their own over the years, but he didn’t have the best one at the presentations. That honour belonged – accidentally – to winning jockey Blake Shinn who was so overcome by the occasion that he jumbled his cliche. ‘I’d like to thank my friends,” he said. “They know who I am.” Shinn’s enthusiasm for victory sometimes won him the wrath of stewards but his talent has never been in question. At 21, he already had a Scobie Breasley Medal and a Melbourne Cup and his pedigree as a horseman shone through with his heartfelt thanks to Viewed for the triumph they shared. From a line of famous harness racing reinsmen and thoroughbred jockeys, Shinn was raised by mother Carol and stepfather Lee Hope, both of whom earned an emotional tribute from him. I’d like to thank my friends, they know who I am. ” “ Completing the recipients at the presentation ceremony was Viewed’s owner, Dato Tan Chin Nam, a long-time friend of Bart and four-time winning Cup owner. Beginning with Think Big in 1974 and 1975, he added Cup number three with Saintly in 1996 then paid $50,000 for Viewed as a yearling after his racing adviser Duncan Ramage picked him out of a paddock. For a while, it looked like the young stayer by Scenic would be sold to Hong Kong but, after he scored two wins at Rosehill, Chin Nam decided against selling. Bart and Chin Nam joked their way through an entertaining press conference in which the owner accused the trainer of having “long pockets and short arms”. Bart told of how they once played two-up and Chin Nam had a winning streak of 10 tosses in a row. “I thought I’d better stick with this bloke, he’s lucky,” he said.
Viewed and Blake Shinn out last the courageous efforts of the grey Bauer and jockey Corey Brown to hand Bart his twelfth Melbourne Cup in 2008. (STR/AFP/Getty Images)
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