1924 - 2024
‘Prince’ Baillieu, receives the prized ‘Loving Cup’ from friend and VRC Chairman, LKS Mackinnon. This framed image hangs in the VRC Committee Room today.
Clark, with Robinson, had used this strategy before, of buying tried horses for Australia. Back in 1913 they purchased St Spasa, a two-year-old winner at Newmarket, son of a Derby winner, and shipped him to Australia. He won the 1914 Metropolitan at Randwick and took the Adelaide Cup in May 1916 before finishing third in the Melbourne Cup. Of course the partners were not the first to import thoroughbreds, and to race them here if circumstances permitted. Technically, Sol Green’s Comedy King in 1910 was the first import from Britain to win the Cup, but he came with his dam as a foal. His Cup success started a trend. When first entries were taken for the 1912 Cup, no less than nineteen aspirants were imports. One of them, Hallowmas, finished second to New South Wales horse, Piastre. Constraints on racing in England during the First World War saw an influx of well-performed horses shipped to Australia where racing continued with fewer impediments. Australian horsemen Frank Bullock and Dick Wootton, with outstanding British careers, were at the forefront of selecting and exporting these horses. Shepherd King won the 1916 Caulfield Cup before his second in the Melbourne Cup to New Zealander,
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