October
DecemberNot within cooee
Paul Richards (27/11), your attack on Tulloch was almost spiteful.
I attended race meetings for 42 years and I’ve never seen a horse get within cooee of Tulloch, whose record would have been out of this world if jockey Neville Sellwood hadn’t dozed off in the 1960 Melbourne Cup, when the champion carried 64kg.
Near last until the home turn, Tulloch finished better than any runner in the race for a respectable seventh. It’s unbelievable the VRC stewards didn’t ask questions of Sellwood.
As for Tulloch not meeting any quality as a two-year-old, what about Todman for one? Tulloch absolutely thrashed Prince Darius twice before that galloper ran a good second to Straight Draw in the 1957 Melbourne Cup.
There is no doubt Tulloch would have won that cup with ease. Every racing guru agreed it was a great shame for bickering to cause him to be scratched.
Added to his 1957 Caulfield Cup and 1960 Cox Plate, the two Melbourne Cup wins would have set in concrete Tulloch’s greatness.
The race I remember most was Tulloch, after almost two years’ severe illness, beating weight-for-age star Lord first-up over 2000m at Flemington after a gutsy head-and-head battle all the way up the straight.
Write another column when So You Think ends his racing career, Paul, and see how that champ measures up then.
Hoofnote: While he’s comparing stars of different eras, Paul should check the opposition Kingston Town faced, compared to the high-class stars Saintly raced against.
Wyndham Green (Vic)