Well, ok it wasn’t quite as big an upset as that Australian Cup when that senior Jim Cerchi, then 76, and father of 13, upstaged the Vo Rogue-Bonecrusher show, “goodness gracious me” with 125-1 shot Dandy Andy at Flemington back in 1988.
It was just the picnics, but Australia Day at Balnarring is something, well very Australian, and much more than just “a picnic” meeting, and don’t tell anyone who was there the contrary.
Such was the fervour, they even had to shut the gates after the first, couldn’t get any more into the Emu Plains Reserve, off the Cooltart Road, where those Australian Flags that couldn’t be bought at Woolies, pegged out territorial claims under the shade of century old stringy bark trees.
Amongst them was the Cerchi clan and a healthy extended list (perhaps about 70 of them), a name entrenched in Australian racing almost as long as the Balnarring Club has been on the Peninsula (that’s about 160 years, the Hastings and Balnarring cub as it was then and racing only on Boxing Day).
Jim Jnr, one of those 13, where it is said five of the boys became trainers and seven of the girls’ married jockeys, had Legenda in the Oz Day Cup, first run by the picnic club in 1948 when the mare Helenette was written into the record books, and they still do things a little by hand at Balnarring.
But this year’s script had another local mare, Red Stiletto sentimentally and form favorite for the Cup in the family black and lime colours of recently departed tipster and universally respected racing man Deane Lester.
It was a departing message given by Lester to his close friend and another ubiquitous media personality Hamish McLachlan, who has a property nearby, to win the Balnarring Cup in Lester’s colours. (Hamish is having a gap year in the south of France and had to listen via phone as the dream teased and was then shattered.)
Along comes Cerchi with his eight-year-old gelding Legenda, just a 47 rater, but one of the best in his teen size stable and noses out that Red Stiletto. No Dandy Andy odds Legenda, returned $4 against the $2.60 favorite and yet they do say some money was won.
Not that the dollars mattered much to Jim Jnr though it is suggested there was some $7 taken.
“I’m a Cerchi mate, what chance did I have to do anything else?”
“I don’t do this for the money, I just love the horses, but how good is this you’ve got to love the picnics.”
So, try team Legenda on Friday, Legenda, well he was a $26,000 yearling and has a pedigree, but that doesn’t stand for much at the picnics, you are amongst your own. A couple of throat operations ensured ambitions for Legenda were picnic and best and there is nothing wrong with those.
The sprawling Cerchi clan had a barrier trial on the Thursday night, gathering on the peninsula to be well prepared for Australia Day before taking block with a well catered for and handsomely appointed base camp amongst the trees and other racing and good time devotees.
Legenda was back to atone on his second in the Cup three years prior when picnic legend and Balnarring committee member “Razor” Ray Douglas was in the saddle. (He’s won 10 of them but couldn’t ride Saturday, neck in brace, shoulder strapped up, battered and bruised from a recent fall was a little obvious for that.)
“He didn’t look that good when I rode him,” muttered Razor tenderly joining the celebrations.
He was in good company.
There was TV host and mounting yard pundit Lizzie Jelfs and daughter on a first trip to Balnarring, but clearly Legenda was their pick of the yard.
“Yeah, Lizzie is one of us,” said Cerchi. “She’s been like one of the family ever since she came over from England. Aunty Merle has always looked after her.”
Lizzie perhaps made a near fatal decision to offer her driving services at Balnarring (before the Cup), but as professional as ever she was back in the mounting yard at The Valley on Saturday for Channel 7.
And there was April Matthews, daughter of jockey Alf, perhaps a touch overly dressed for strapping duties. She’s extended Cerchi family too.
And Lloyd Kennewell, no Karaka inspections for him, he’s in the mounting yard too, but he is family, well has married into it. His wife Melissa is Jim Jnr’s sister.
And somehow Slim Homann was in all the photos, Slim of course one time strapper to the champion sprinter Schillaci, and still eeking out an existence in the game as a trainer and as enthusiastic as ever, picnics or wherever.
This is what the picnics is all about, and then of course there is the jockey – “I’d never met him before,” said Cerchi – that’s Henry Jaggard.
Not many had, perhaps with a name like that he could have been playing the back courts at the Australian Open or coaching golf on a sand belt course.
The laughing jock, Peter Hutchinson, remember him? - Fraar’s Caulfield Cup, that Cox Plate fall, Palace Reign in Naturalism’s year, well he had.
Hutchy is now the mentor to all picnic jockeys been doing it a decade, keeping an eye on all their talents, progress and abilities and gave Jaggard the “most improved award” last season.
When he’s not improving or winning a Balnarring Cup, Jaggard is a barrier boy or a trackwork rider for Anthony and Sam Freedman, or studying, doing a personal training course in health and nutrition.
“I couldn’t even get in today,” he said.
“I only had the one ride, and the gates were shut when I got here so I had to get a special pass to get in, parked half a mile away so I’ll have to lug all my car back, but it will be worth it,” he said.
“I just love everything to do with the horses, whether it's in the barriers or riding them, as long as I’m fit and young, I’ll keep doing it,” he said, keeping his ambitions to his 65kg weigh range.
He left fellow jockey and the “king of the picnics” Shaun Cooper lamenting on Red Stiletto, but he too has had an amazing journey that underlines the many stories of the picnics.
Cooper won the first on Saturday (Gone Ahead), despite the float originally carrying it “shat
itself”, before trainer Don Dwyer picked it up following in his float, before popping a tyre and finding his jack wasn’t working, until strangers on the highway came to their assistance and though hardly invoking Phar Lap scenes on Cup Day, they just made it in time. That’s true picnics.
Cooper has dominated the picnic scene since giving away a career as a chippy and calling on hometown (Waitara in New Zealand mate) Michael Walker for assistance.
“My family had the local taxi business for 21 years, they had to get Michael to school, I used to go and watch and maybe strap a few but had no background at all apart from riding a few ponies and hacks, I ended up as a chippie in Perth then Brisbane before deciding to give it a red-hot go, and Michael helped me get my licence.
“You don’t do it for the money that’s for sure, we work hard, I ride work (for Jerome Hunter) six days a week, my partner works in the VTR (race day ambulances), we save our money and try and get a holiday each year,” he said.
“But I remember coming here (Balnarring) and parking down the end of the straight and watching them race. It gave me butterflies, these are great days, sometimes you want to be on the other side of the fence when it’s like this but it’s a great day.”
And on that other side of the fence is what the picnics is as much as it is about - a snapshot from Australia Day, the usual bucks' parties, Charlie (Oogs ) Long and his crew and those Coolabah wine casks seemed appropriate or the Catfish party, you can imagine the dress code.
“Big Swan’s 50th”, that’s Points Bet CEO Sam Swannell was next level. The private limo bus was waiting outside after, thanks punters.
The on-course TAB was out until after the third, but 14 bookies catered for the punters, the internet didn’t, former Cranbourne trainer Sharna Valli was manning her “Lick Your Lips” food truck and with a near on monopoly the $20 for the Angus Beef Burger was better than putting a saddle on one.
The Punter’s Club ($20 a ticket) turned $4720 into $4000 so there was a small handling fee let’s say to get your $17 back. The raffles, just $5 a ticket to win $500 with only 200 tickets sold – winners all round (and three times around at that).
Mind you I didn’t think the “Security Guard” - #515 had much need to be playing with his rosary beads near the bar, this was all good humour and at reasonable prices ($5 a can) even though you could bring as much as you like in.
Chris Symons bought a bird he inherited from Joe Hall, father of Melbourne Cup winning trainer David Hall, as well as Crickey the croc from his nearby Funky Farm, for the kids to stroke and play with. “I went for a funeral and came back with the bird,” said Symons, looking as fit as he could ride again if allowed.
But if there was something that summed Oz Day at Balnarring up it wasn’t that the horse Need A Bigger Boat was trained by John Gilligan.
It was the hard-working volunteer crew at the Balnarring Picnics is chaired by Brendan Fraser, now a local café (Phase Two) owner, who was a part-owner in Red Stiletto as was former chair and long-term committeeman Terry Mulcahy.
When the Cerchi Legenda party were posing for photos and sharing the spoils, it was Fraser and Mulcachy that were holding the winner’s sash.
That's Australian, that's Australia Day, that's Balnarring.
Comments