October
JuneTime flies
What a wonderfully nostalgic story by Paul Richards on Divide And Rule and the "Filipino Tiger" Filipe Ysmael (24/5). Gee, is it 44 years ago? I have discovered as you grow older, past years seem extremely compressed.
Excellent research, as I believe Paul may not have been born at that time, or if so would have been too young to be taking an interest in our great pastime.
I well recall the great betting ring duels between Filipe and Bill Waterhouse which regularly made headlines on the front pages of our leading daily journals. Then of course the consequent intrigue and insinuations of malpractice that surrounded Ismael and Dick Roden, which led to Ismael’s disqualification and dispersal of his substantial stable of quality-horses which had frequently been the subject of sensational headline-creating betting-ring plunges in unbelievable figures for those days. When converted to today’s values, they may well have been in the seven-figure bracket.
However, I have one little criticism of Paul’s story — in relation to the photograph of Divide And Rule’s Doomben Cup win in 1970. In the foreground are several racegoers, all male, apparently in the members/saddling paddock enclosure as they are right at the finish line.
Paul goes on to say that obviously mounting-yard dress standards were more accessible and lenient in those days compared to other bigger courses around the country.
Paul bases this comment on the three guys in kilts and beefeater hats amongst the other gentlemen, all attired in suits and many with hats, which were more fashionable in those days.
On the contrary, I can assure Paul the dress code in 1970 was even stricter than is the case today, where clubs are now making several sensible concessions, particularly in Brisbane’s hot, humid months.
The tone of Paul’s comment seems to imply that the three guys in kilts and beefeaters were in some kind of hired, fun, fancy dress as often seen at the Melbourne Cup.
I feel quite sure those three guys would have been members of a pipes-and-drums army band, who together with a variety of service brass bands and community bands would play popular tunes on the lawn in front of the grandstand every Saturday and major race days on all metropolitan tracks across the land.
They would also present marching displays in the straight on important days, in place of the sometimes poorly rendered national anthem of modern times.
This was a regular feature, which certainly added a sense of occasion, and enhanced the carnival atmosphere on featured days.
I would be surprised if those three kilt-attired gentlemen were not in a recognised full army dress uniform, quite acceptable under any dress code.
I recall from my distant youth just one line of a poem I read by an unknown author describing Derby Day at Randwick. That one line read, "There’s a band playing tunes on the lawn, where the latest of fashions are worn." I wish I could recall the rest, or find a copy.
Brighton (Qld)