be more parties like this one in the months to come, courtesy of Manikato.
The establishment’s midnight curfew arrived, and it was time for everyone to head home; Bon was typically one of the last to leave. The atmosphere and the adrenalin of the evening was staving off feelings of tiredness through the night. Driven home, he managed to fit a couple of hours of sleep in before the rigours of Saturday morning trackwork commenced at around 3.30am.
Following trackwork, it was time to prepare for the major Saturday race meeting. Moonee Valley was the venue on Saturday 29 April, with the running of the Moonee Valley Cup as the main event on the program. It was a race that would not be forgotten by many who saw it, for it famously featured Roy Higgins drop his hands on Hyperno in the home straight when seemingly having won the race. The opportunity saw Clear Day rush late and get up to win by a narrow margin.
The runners returned after the race to a ripple of applause and a chorus of boos. Some didn’t notice what had just happened, but some did. The look on Higgins’ face as he unsaddled Hyperno suggested he knew he was in trouble. Hoysted, a mere onlooker for the race in the stands, couldn’t believe what he had seen. It was a mistake you could forgive a rookie apprentice for, but was definitely not expected from Victoria’s leading rider in a prestigious race.
The stewards unsurprisingly took a dim view of Higgins’ actions and promptly suspended him for ten city race meetings, spanning the best part of two months. The story of the race was Higgins, not the performance of the winner, Clear Day. For Higgins, it was the embarrassment and the potential damage to his reputation that concerned him more so than the ten city meetings he was going to miss.
Hoysted and Higgins didn’t cross paths at Moonee Valley, but Bon quickly reached out later that evening by calling Higgins at home. The next day, Bon, accompanied by his wife, May, went to Higgins’ home to keep him company. Still dejected, Higgins sought advice from Bon regarding a possible appeal, which could reduce the suspension. Bon wasn’t going to have Higgins wallow for long.
‘Look Roy, you haven’t lost an arm or a leg and everybody knows that you didn’t do it on purpose,’1 Hoysted told Higgins. Hoysted urged him to try to put it behind him, take a little holiday if any appeal was unsuccessful and come back motivated and fresh. However, Higgins’ downbeat mood persisted and the Hoysteds ended up staying much longer than they had anticipated.
Higgins promised to call the next day informing them of his decision regarding an appeal and eventually, the Hoysteds departed. By the time they arrived home and Bon had done a check on the horses at his stables, he was exhausted.
It had been a massive weekend. He had hosted a party on Friday night and barely slept, followed by trackwork and races Saturday. That then led into Sunday, which started with the usual horse swimming routine, followed by cheering up a mate.
Bon entered his house around 9pm and asked May to make him a cup of tea. The tired horse trainer found his favourite armchair in the living room and slumped himself in it. He took a deep breath and felt pain.
May Hoysted walked into the room with the cup of tea and found Bon rubbing his chest.
‘Are you okay?’ she asked.
‘I don’t feel very well,’ uttered Bon.
For May, an admission of illness was not customary and was cause for immediate concern. ‘Shall I take you to a doctor?’
‘Get a doctor to come here,’ demanded Bon.
May was now alarmed; Bon had never bothered with doctors before. She knew it must be serious.
An ambulance was called. May, shaking with panic, contacted both daughters. Margaret, along with husband Ross were quick to arrive, as was the ambulance to take Bon to Mordialloc Hospital.
‘Better give those horses an easy day tomorrow,’ were the final instructions given by Bon as he was loaded into the ambulance, his breath short and sweat trickling off his forehead. Bon knew his predicament was dire and that he wouldn’t be at Epsom to oversee the morning’s duties.
During the short drive from Edith Street to Mordialloc Hospital his condition deteriorated further. A transferral to the Alfred Hospital (which had a specialist heart ward) was hastily arranged. But Bon never made it there. The treating doctors had no options left. Bon Hoysted was pronounced deceased just after midnight on 1 May 1978, aged 58. He lived just long enough to unearth the champion he’d waited his entire life for, but barely had the opportunity to enjoy the glory.
Understandably, his passing would be a major shock throughout the racing community, especially to the many that had encountered Bon in the days leading up to his death. Roy Higgins was one of the last to see Bon alive and struggled for some time to comprehend it.
‘I am shattered. I just can’t think now that he is dead, I can’t believe it,’2 Higgins said.
Gary Willetts would be one of the very few to receive a phone call in the middle of the night. He too had called in to see Roy Higgins at his home on the Sunday.
‘I thought it was a bad dream when I first heard,’ Willetts recalled. ‘It took quite a while for the news to sink in and I didn’t go back to sleep.’
Bon Hoysted left behind a wife (May), two daughters (Margaret and Patricia) and in the eyes of many, Australia’s best racehorse.
* * *
As staff arrived to work on the Monday morning, they were informed of the tragic news. It was the last thing anybody expected to hear. Removing emotion to prepare horses for trackwork became a challenge for many. Ross McDonald assumed the role of caretaker trainer and those horses requiring work were put through their paces while others stayed in their boxes. In typical stablehand fashion, the staff were more concerned for the horses than themselves. It still didn’t remove any of the sadness.
Somehow, all the work for the stable was completed. Radio stations were leading their news bulletins with Bon’s passing by mid-morning, spreading the sombreness well beyond the Epsom neighbourhood. Manikato was becoming just as well-known as Malcolm Blight and Greg Chappell, making the tragedy a newsworthy event.
Not a lot changed throughout the week; Edith Street remained quiet and mournful. Those close to the family and the stables rallied around Bon’s widow May and both daughters, Margaret and Pat. While activity continued in the stables, there was no vibrancy. Without fuss, the daily duties of horse husbandry were maintained by those employed, but the short-term fate of horses and staff remained in limbo. Nobody knew whether the horses were staying or going and consequently, if jobs would be lost.
The man left running the operation, Ross McDonald wasn’t yet able to put anyone’s mind at ease. Recently granted a trainer’s license, he was positioned to take over. And while not making any public comments so soon after Bon’s loss, he wanted to have the role.
He knew most of the horses already, having been Bon’s stable foreman and having broken-in many of them. As unfortunate as the circumstances were, what an opportunity it would be to train horses such as Jury and Manikato. McDonald would then get the chance to prove his worth as a trainer.
However, the decision on each individual horse rested with the owner. McDonald could vouch for his credentials, but at thirty-two years old, he lacked the experience of many of his neighbours at Epsom. While some owners made up their minds quickly, others carefully considered who may train their horses from here on.
On Wednesday 3 May, barely forty-eight hours after Bon’s death, his funeral service took place at W.D. Rose and Sons on Charman Road, Cheltenham. Most of Melbourne’s racing community attended.
As tragic and sudden as Bon’s passing was and with the funeral conducted, it was time to move on with life. Logistically, there was much to sort out with the business. Stable returns had to be amended to reflect the change of trainer for each horse. From Thursday 4 May these were submitted, but it was too late to enter any horse for the Saturday meeting at Caulfield, with acceptances taken the same day (only one of McDonald’s own horse’s, Bold Realm, would run). By week’s end, McDonald would have fifteen horses in his care to train from