Having succeeded in his endeavour the colours of pale blue, white sleeves, pale blue and white quartered cap have been sported around several local tracks since their return to the turf, but it was not until Saturday, March 15 this year that they tasted success, at Scone, with the win of the Greg Bennett trained and family owned Lullaby Baby.

 As I mentioned family owned, the three-year-old daughter of Youthful Legs was bred by Greg’s wife Wendy who races the filly in partnership with her daughter, Chloe and son Harry along with Verna Metcalfe who reared the filly at her Middlebrook Valley Lodge.

Within a week the famous colours were aired again when the Wendy and Greg Bennett owned Oh My Papa won the final race at Newcastle on Newmarket Day.

I think I can report, without fear of contradiction that the win at Scone would have been the first time a set of Melbourne Cup winning colours would have been carried to victory on a Scone racecourse over the 172 years of racing.

TJ and George

As the BMW Racing Carnival rolls around I thought we might look at one of the great achievements in racing and probably the more impressive domination of two men, diminutive in statue but, as the old saying goes, capable of casting a giant shadow.

The clear imprint stamped on this carnival back in 1969 was that of mercurial trainer Tommy Smith and dynamic jockey George Moore.

The history of racing in Sydney spans more than 200 years, and within that period no two men have dominated the sport as the flamboyant Smith and the equally colourful Moore.

We will let this story roll to just prior to the 1969 Sydney Autumn Carnival, Moore was 46 and too old to ride in races, said the backstabbers, plunging in the knives and giving him the odd serve with the cutlass when they felt particularly vicious. 

Moore, was well aware of the rumours, although the knockers weren’t game enough to mention to his face that they believed he had lost his confidence or that he didn’t have the touch anymore to be in the saddle.

The mugs knew all about the champion jockey’s salad days in Sydney and his success abroad but they knew nothing about the rebel in the man himself. 

Superbly fit - and taking advantage of the rock-hard condition of the horses in Tom Smith’s Tulloch Lodge - Moore rode to silence his critics, winning 15 races from 25 rides at the carnival.

Meanwhile the coldest and most expensive champagne was flowing at the Smith yard. 

He had trained 14 winners from the AJC carnival’s 29 races. 

What Moore said, and did, made headlines, in the same manner as Tommy Smith. 

Inevitably, there were times when the two men were at loggerheads. 

A constant argument kept fuelled by the Sydney press as to whether ‘Smith made Moore’, or ‘Moore made Smith’. 

There was never a question of ‘who made who’ - Smith and Moore would have been champions in any era.

The great faith and respect that Tommy Smith had in the champion horseman could be reflected in 1972, prior to the running of that year’s Golden Slipper. 

Asked about the filly’s chance in the race, Smith commented, “I’ve got one advantage, I’ve got George Moore riding for me”.

That was Tommy Smith and George Moore, a fiery relationship, but tempered by their respect for the other’s ability. 

Together they re-wrote the record books, and changed the face of racing in Sydney. 

Peter Robl weighs out

At the Scone meeting on March 25 people on track and watching at home were stunned as Greg Ryan and his mount crashed to the turf around 100 metres from the winning post in race two on the program, many visualising a similiar incident that occurred at Scone in January.

Luckily for Greg Ryan both horse and rider walked away unscathed.

The incident I refer to was when senior rider Peter Robl was placed on a spinal board and airlifted from the Scone racecourse to Newcastle’s John Hunter Hospital. 

Robl walked out of hospital on the evening of January 16. 

Only hours earlier he lay prone on his back on the back straight at Scone with no feeling in his legs.

As he waited for medical assistance, Robl feared he would never walk again, let alone ride. 

But as the afternoon wore on, Robl’s condition improved so much that most believed his injuries would only keep him sidelined for a matter of months. 

Unfortunately time has passed by and Robl still gets pins and needles in his limbs and doesn’t have anywhere near the strength he once had. 

Peter Robl, who has ridden for 27 years, is booked in for an important MRI scan in April. 

It will not only decide whether he will ride again, it will also determine whether he needs surgery to improve his life away from racing.