1924 - 2024
Even they were not the first. One hundred years ago the Irish- bred Backwood, with good form on English racecourses, won the Melbourne Cup—after travelling to Australia by sea and spending eighteen months acclimatising. Back in the 1890s and early 1900s a fashion had emerged to send successful Australian thoroughbreds to race in England or stand at stud. These included Melbourne Cup winners Newhaven, The Grafter and The Victory. Now the plan was reversed. The Australian-born stock-broking partners who raced The Victory, Lionel Robinson and William Clark, lived and worked chiefly in England. In Australia they could race horses as joint owners. In England, sole ownership was the Jockey Club rule. Their horses in England raced under W. Clark’s name. And it was Clark who paid the goodly sum of 2500 guineas for Backwood at auction in late 1922. Backwood had already won the highly- ranked Ascot Derby. Most recently he had finished a close second in the prestigious 1¾ mile Ebor Handicap at York.
ABOVE: Backwood. (Australian Racing Museum) OPPOSITE: 1924 Melbourne Cup finish (VRC Collection)
15
Made with FlippingBook Digital Publishing Software