Singo famously “shouted the bar” when Belle Du Jour won the 2000 Golden Slipper at Rosehill.
But only in the public area: “we’ll even throw any members out,” larrikin ad guru John Singleton said at the time.
Mind you, he became a bit of a recidivist promo shouter Singo. Gave it a go when Tuesday Joy won the 2008 BMW, spruiked again if Kiss And Make Up won the 2016 Golden Slipper (saved), Hawaii Five Oh in a Stradbroke and then an Everest (dry again). Even when he went to the trots it was on for whoever won “The Singo” lead-in to the rich Eureka at Menangle (00).
But it was always only the public bar. Crowds went back then too, 35,000 plus in Belle Du Jour’s year, ok, Singo did have $1m to $100,000 on the filly, with Col Tidy, so, even with former PM Bob Hawke by his side, it was an easy free kick for other punters.
On similar singular name terms as Singo, (Chairman John) Kanga promised his Melbourne Racing Club would shout the bar if Horse Of The Year, Pride of Jenni, made a winning return in the Peter Young Stakes.
All the public and the members were given a drink ticket.
Jenni played her role magnificently, so did Kanga, practicing pre-race, apologising for a celebratory poor pour that would have had him thrown out of The Emerald.
Spoiler Alert: (Methinks the MRC were on for a crowd shout no matter what Jenni did).
Not the point. It was the gesture and the play. Sadly, not even Jenni and free beer could get that many through the gates on Saturday. Some “official” reports said 5000, but surely, they were counting legs, not bums on seats.
Ok it was hot, surely free drinking weather, but then 136,000 sitting on steaming plastic chairs were just down the Princes Highway at Albert Park, when it was little more than practice, righto qualifying for its main show, the Formula 1 Grand Prix. (A mere sidebar, only 23,000 were at The G Sunday for the Melbourne Demons!).
But Kanga was having none of that, nor was the Ottobre family and team Jenni.
And Racing Victoria promoted it as their annual Owners and Breeders Race Day, loads of money, bonuses and good stories, McGaw (who should have been spelt McCaw after the All Black hero) in the Showdown, Benagil, carrying the spirit of Mike Moroney one last day in the Guineas, Moroney’s name appearing in the racebook (where it will disappear alongside Glen Thompson’s) but in the records, with a double on the day.
Not in the racebook though were the names, Melissa Stack, Janet Clark and Tracey Taylor, as the owners of Pride Of Jenni - but there they were - in the committee room, mounting yard, Thomas North winner’s room, alongside Tony, Lyn and Michael Ottobre, as part of a Kanga promotion for a special race day experience - very unSingo like - only open to MRC members.
(Just a quick aside, in that winner’s room, there was a little silence before the speeches as the we watched Mickio, in the Jenni colors at Geelong - that’s Michael Ottobre Mickio, plugging into fourth) and pack to the boisterous Jenni’s things going on and our MRC Chickies.
So, while everyone else got a drink, the loyal members and racing aficionados from Patterson Lakes and Bonbeach, got $2000 but more so, a money can’t buy day out. And didn’t they love it.
“I was just at the bar buying our first bottle of champagne when I got the call from Andrew (Parker, MRC head of customer) who said we’d won the prize, next thing we are in the committee room meeting everyone,” said Melissa Stack.
“There are normally about six of us. We come every week, same table, bring some nibbles, we love it, we have a “Messenger” group called “MRC Chickies.”
So, you don’t think that group chat got bombarded with pictures about what was afoot - with one going to the beach, one to a son’s cricket grand final and the other AWOL, when the girls were on the champers holding the Peter Young Trophy and getting photos taken with the Ottobre family.
“It has been pretty emotional really and then she won, everyone has been so good to us,” Clark said.
Emotional though, as always was Tony Ottobre, the face of Jenni, in more ways than the obvious.
Ottobre always wears his heart and Jenni’s purple and sky-blue colours openly, there are team ties and socks.
Race day Saturday was only 125 days after Ottobre said there would be no more after Pride Of Jenni bled in the Cantala Stakes at Flemington.
Here he was on Friday, as up front as always, heading into Jenni's return: https://www.clarkofthecourse.com/post/jenni-is-back-so-is-tony-ottobre-breathing-fire-and-passion
He still hears the knockers but doesn’t listen.
In typical Tony speak after the race he described it as “we didn’t bring her back to….” well I can't use the exact quote, but it had something to do with spiders.
“I understand people enjoyed belting us over the spring, we cop all the flak, especially myself from people who think they know what they are talking about but they don’t really have any idea, he said sitting in what seemed the naughty boy back corner of the Caulfield Committee room, admiring the trophy post race and a glass of Penfolds - where they are always free.
“I’m a horse person. I understand horses better than I understand people.
“People don’t really know who I am. Yet they make comments on what I do - this is vindication to say, guys - you got it all wrong, I got it right and you can go to hell.
“I knew she was going well, she’s healthy and strong, she’s a racehorse who loves to compete. She has a big heart and lung capacity, a machine. I did expect that,” he says, not with the smugness with which it may read.
Down in stall 6 pre-race, Australia’s most popular horse was hardly attracting a crowd pre-race, well there wasn’t much to attract. Sammie Waters, Jenni’s ever-present partner was as meticulously turned out as the best horse in the country was.
Get to the mounting yard, the old one turned new again, and the only other change was Craig Newitt wearing Jenni’s colours, as laconically laid back as a father of five with the experience of 33 Group 1’s and not much else to worry about then getting his done.
“Craig is the perfect fit, Declan (Bates, who has been Jenni’s regular hoop) has done a good job, no problems with him, but Craig has got so much experience at this level and hasn’t had the opportunities his record deserves. I wanted someone not aligned to the bigger stables, and Froggie is right up there with the best.”
Jenni - no first-up wins, but no tries of them at 1800m, all part of the Ottobre-Ciaron Maher race plan, based on loads of data and preparation.
So, there is Froggie rolling at “Goldilocks” tempo - not too fast, not too slow, just right. Suddenly Plenty Of Ammo is out of bullets halfway. Jamie Melham on the betting favorite Zardozi was using binoculars not her goggles to find Jenni. Opposition, as Les Carlyon once wrote in Vo Rogue days, were suddenly making appointments their bodies could not keep.
Newitt, once relentlessly regarded a whip offender, was merely waving it at flies on a hot day and a close up in the run home between the big screen and the camera close-ups showed looks of a cheeky Austin Powers smile - very groovy baby!
The mounting yard soon has grown adults behaving as if there at a music festival. Kanga is popping champagne corks that the responsible service people may query but you get and hopefully have seen the buzz. All worth celebrating and sharing.
So, will we see the Australian horse of the year in the Australian Cup next? Flemington certainly needs a crowd puller.
“That would be the obvious one, but we don't make decisions on race day anymore,” says Ottobre knowing he retired Jenni the previous time she was on a racetrack at Flemington.
A return to Sydney to emulate that demolition job in the Queen Elizabeth again?
Most likely, but not yet, though we know it won’t be a 58 at Wangaratta.
Another season perhaps? She will be eight.
A pause: “I wouldn’t think so, but she has been a phenomenal horse, highly unlikely, but then you never know, that the great thing about a horse like her, she continues to deliver and surprise and if she’s happy we are.”
And so is racing. Free beer or not.
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