Flemington is a wonderous place.
Filled with history as much as its brilliant vista that tells us all how lucky we are to be on Crown land so that any inkling of selling such prime real estate is doomed. Thankfully – try contemplating rebuilding anything like it.
Yet such enormous expanse is hard to fill and as such can also breed a sense of emptiness no matter the size of the crowd.
Except when they ran the 151st Yulong Newmarket Handicap.
The Victoria Racing Club may have let themselves go and allowed members in without jackets and ties and run the feature as the first after noon, but they are very good at this.
They couldn't script the story, but Godolphin, Cylinder and then especially Jamie Kah delivered us all a special one in winning the race (that she was meant to take last season on In Secret) after a long and testing year and taking out the inaugural Dean Holland Trophy that the VRC commissioned in his memory (because he did so that day) and wasn't there to witness this one.
You've seen the pictures, heard the interviews, almost vicariously lived the emotions.
As much as this was an "it's OK Jamie" time to really come out and share the real you, that Flemington mounting yard area was filled with rare refulgence and of course Harley, Luca, Frankie and Lily Holland blissfully behaving as only four kids under six can and Lucy Clampin, doing only what comes naturally to mother's trying to herd them up for those photos.
It was as if Dean Holland wasn't missing, but of course he was, but without too much cliche, he and this was not a moment to be forgotten.
Briefly put aside in the hectic aftermath to the Group 1 was that the favourite Imperatriz was beaten, albeit gallantly, and her expansive ownership group may have commandeered the winner's stall pre, during and after the race, but now was their (rare) time to second their emotion.
When you see Jamie Kah a little uncomposed, and that's after winning, saying things like "I don't think I'll get a better day than today…..I thought I was a tough person, I'm not today…. my goal was just to get through the day …. I can't really remember the last 100 metres because I think I was crying, my goggles were a bit wet," you know what she means when she says now that she is only trying to become the best version of herself.
That was her on Saturday.
"Now I value life more," she had said. "Enjoying the good parts. My circle (of friends) is a lot smaller now … just people that I find important and that care about me."
Remember, Kah is just 28, a career well established but balanced by her horsey life around it. (There she was Sunday morning shooting over to Adelaide to prep the kiddies for today's pony race).
And she knows how lucky she is, not some of those self-induced interruptions but that horrendous fall from Flyball in the Sires that left her in a coma, with bleeding to the brain, not to mention a broken wrist, foot, and nose.
And leaving Holland to take her ride on In Secret, make it his own and without fanfare he said: "The last thing I wanted to do today was carry on – win, lose, or draw – it's very unfortunate what happened to Jamie and Willo (Williams)."
And so, he carried on as Jamie lay in hospital recuperating, so much so that he had penned an application to the Hong Kong Jockey Club seeking a licence with the assistance of his mentor and friend James Winks. As we know, sadly on April 24 last year, that application remained not sent, Holland killed in a race fall.
Winks was at Flemington on Saturday with his three kids, running alongside the Holland quartet and continuing the amazing, shared support that racing and its family offers.
The VRC had announced "The Dean Holland Trophy" in May last year. Dean's father Darren wanted to present it. He read the speech from pages as crumpled as his heart on Saturday before his grandkids handed over the trophy to Kah.
"Today has been hard but we are glad we have been able to get through it," he said, Holland now a steward on South-Australasia's south coast, wife Belinda running Penola Race Club, and shotgun with Lucy and the kids on Saturday.
"We are doing OK," Lucy said as she tried to keep herding the kids on Saturday. "I haven't really got anything to do with racing, but I can't believe what they have done, it's very special she said.
Trips back home to England to see her parents (Keith and Jane) have helped alleviate the grief, if not loneliness, she was there at Christmas, and is expected to take the children back again soon, but meanwhile, the wheels of support remain firmly fixed and continuous here.
Financially there was the celebrated GoFundMe page set-up by owner Allan Ottobre, which spurred on a stunning $1.9m in donations, behind the scenes some of Melbourne's wealthiest have anonymously worked together to ensure the four children have private schooling through to year 12.
"Lucy and the kids have unlimited support," RV's Jockeys' Association chief Matt Hyland said.
"It's a fine line between smothering them and just being there. It's not intrusive, it's more always keeping in touch."
As Clampin, noticeably fiercely independent, said at Dean's funeral last year: "As reality sets in that Dean won't ever be walking through the door after a day's riding, we'll continue to do the best we can and what I can best describe as the ‘tsunami of support' I've received will make that easier than it otherwise would have been."
Not that anything is meant to be easy but then some days are like Saturday and maybe meant to be.
Try stringing this together.
The Kah/Holland synergy is already well detailed.
And as an aside, Godolphin sold the mother of Impertriz, Berimbeau for $180,000 back in 2017, and the champion mare became the first to race from the mare, after selling for $360,000 to David Ellis' Te Akau and she's now earned $6m plus and has nine Group 1s.
Back to Godolphin, of course In Secret won the race as a three-year-old last year. Their boss Vin Cox collected the trophy then. Vin is now boss at Yulong, sponsor of the Newmarket and
had to present it to Godolphin's new boss Ross Cole on Saturday.
Exceed And Excel is the sire of Cylinder, as well as their 2020 Newmarket winner Bivouac, also as a three-year-old.
Darley, Godolphin's breeding arm in Australia had pensioned Exceed And Excel only last Thursday. Before he became a world class sire and a Newmarket winner, he won the Todman Stakes as a two-year-old (won on Saturday) by current Golden Slipper second favourite Switzerland. Cylinder was the Todman winner last year.
Cylinder's mother is Circular, she's got a weanling by Bivouac already named, called Sphere (they are good at naming them right and true at Godolphin, thanks' Suzanne Philcox).
Circular also produced two-time Group winner Parisal, while the older full brother to Cylinder, Wheel, was plain, sold online for $26,000 and ended up winning a couple in Singapore.
Circular's family will continue with a Brazen Beau colt and she's in foal to Extreme Choice.
But as a racehorse for Godolphin, she was handy, winning five races, her best being the Matron Stakes, at Flemington on Newmarket Day 2017, when Redkirk Warrior won.
The Matron was won on Saturday by a horse called Eternal Flame. Doesn't that seem appropriate given all that happened at Flemington at the weekend.
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