that “a number of bodies joined forces with the government to promote spring racing in Melbourne. This followed a visit to the USA by [Chairman] Peter Armytage who could see benefits for the Victorian racing industry similar to those that arose from the Kentucky Racing Festival.” A pre-race bugle call had long been part of the Kentucky Derby razzamatazz before the crowd sang “My Old Kentucky Home”. Back in the era of “A Day at the Races”, a visiting Australian journalist was sure it would never catch on here: “The Kentucky Derby has some associations that would make the Australian public laugh. A herald all dressed up like the armour-bearer of an Eastern potentate blows a bugle to tell the people that the Derby is about to be run, and those who want to see the race rush to seats and other points of vantage.” Kentucky wasn’t the first with the bugle. At the summer Saratoga races in up-state New York the pre-race bugle fanfare reportedly dates back to the 1860s. No one seems exactly certain when it began. The original military purpose of the First Call was a flourish shortly before the buglers launched into the Reveille, the army’s wake-up call to the troops. The US Navy also uses First Call. At Flemington, First Call is a wake-up call with a difference. It concentrates the mind.
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