with travel plans but had everything in place for the horse to make it to Sydney. Very late on the Thursday night, barely thirty-six hours from race time, Manikato was loaded into the cargo hold of a flight to Sydney. Bon Hoysted, Gary Willetts, Mal Seccull and Ross McDonald were all on the same flight. McDonald, the trusted foreman, was to strap the horse for the race as Leeanne Smith had several other horses to look after at Epsom.
Manikato had drawn gate nine for the rich race—right in the middle of the eighteen-horse field. Having gotten wind of the travelling arrangements for Manikato, bookmakers were keen to push the horse’s price out. The day before the race there was 6/1 available. Most horses travelled early in the week and had at least one look around Rosehill for familiarity. The fact that Manikato would not be sighted at Rosehill until race day was of concern to the experienced racegoers of Sydney. If it worried Hoysted, he wasn’t showing it.
‘I appreciate he’s got a task ahead of him, but I think he’s equal to it.’2
More than 31,000 racegoers filed into Rosehill on that clear, sunny Saturday, 11 March 1978. After 6/1 was flashed around the previous day, bookmakers opened Manikato at 9/2 for the Golden Slipper Stakes as he attempted to be the first Victorian-trained winner since Vain in 1969.
As the start time of 2.55pm neared, the anticipation built considerably. Many liked Black Opaque—a local hope who had won all five starts—but there was also interest in the Tommy Smith-trained Jubilee Walk, Inventive (Ray Guy), Jewel Flight (Bart Cummings) and another Victorian, Toolern High (runner-up in the Blue Diamond for Geoff Murphy). However, despite the so-called ‘hoodoo’ of not previously seeing Rosehill, punters voted late with their wallets and backed Manikato into outright favouritism. He firmed from 9/2 into 7/2 in the final minutes of betting.
The crowd hushed somewhat as the last of the eighteen runners were loaded and the starter called final instructions. The barriers then opened, and it was on. Black Opaque jumped marginally quicker than Manikato and assumed the lead. As they raced each other early, many could see the mismatch in size; Black Opaque was greatly shorter than the 16.2 hands of Manikato. The blistering early tempo stretched the rest of the pack like an elastic band. Many of those who were drawn wider and worried about deep, tough runs suddenly found themselves slotting into midfield positions, purely because of the hot speed up front. Jubilee Walk was the only runner, who having copped an early check, already seemed too far back.
The field came out of the chute and headed past the 800-metre pole while the leaders charged on. Black Opaque on the rails had a narrow lead over Manikato. Black Opaque’s rider, Ray Selkrig knew he was going fast, and while riding a smaller horse with a shorter stride length, he’d be forgiven for thinking a track record was about to be set. And it was heading that way. The first half of the race was covered in a smidgen over 34 seconds. Selkrig could hear Manikato pounding the ground and breathing next to him and realised he was in trouble.
‘[Black Opaque] had a good run but was taking three steps to Manikato’s two,’3 Selkrig would later say to the media.
Behind the two leaders as they headed to the home turn, the frenetic and remorseless pace had already taken its toll. Inventive had dropped out, Jubilee Walk had no chance of getting near the front, Toolern High struggled the Sydney direction and Jewel Flight was under pressure despite having a perfect trail.
For Manikato, there was no issue rounding the final turn. Willetts, without taking his hands from the reins, gave Kato a slap on the shoulder with the whip. An extra gear was immediately exposed. It was a gear that little Black Opaque simply did not possess.
‘I knew I was in trouble at the 400 but hung on until about the 200 and that’s when Manikato just raced away and I could see nothing was going to catch him,’ remembers Selkrig. ‘He was too big and powerful. I quickly realised how good he was.’
That burst had put three lengths between Manikato and any other competitor. Willetts had used the superior physique of Manikato to obliterate the others. If they weren’t worried about his size and demeanour pre-race, they had no match for the sustained speed showed within the race. The lengthy stride of the chestnut created ‘air time’, whereby all four legs were off the ground as he galloped.
Many in the stands had put down their glasses halfway down the straight. Willetts’ only encouragement was the occasional slap on the shoulder, no more was needed; the race was all but over. Tiring slightly in the last 100 metres and with Willetts easing up, Manikato’s winning margin was cut down to a length on the line by 20/1 outsider, Smokey Jack, who’d made late ground with Jewel Flight running third.
While the first half of the race was run in just over 34 seconds, the second half was around 36.5, further outlining just how brutal the speed was early. Despite this, it took a while for Manikato to return after the race. Many of his gasping rivals had long returned to the enclosure, but Manikato had an adventurous few seconds immediately after crossing the line, as Willetts explained.
‘Manikato had got onto his ‘wrong’ leg several times in the race. As an apprentice in New Zealand, I’d been taught how to pick up on this and correct it because they race both ways over there, depending on the track. When I let him go at the top of the straight, I could feel he wanted to shift up the track and change legs again. That’s one reason why I was just hands and heels. As I eased him up on the line, he did manage to switch legs. [He] ran to the left and ended up scattering all the police horses as we came to a stop in the 2000-metre chute.’
The short-statured figure of Bon Hoysted waited for his champion to be ceremonially led back across to the winner’s stall. Given his size, he could barely peer across the top of each petition separating the first five placegetters. The trainer, from one of Australian racing’s best-known families—the man with no neck who, for thirty-seven years had been yearning for the moments that had enveloped him over the past two weeks. His biggest thrill in racing a fortnight earlier had suddenly been eclipsed; his champion horse had provided him with the rarely achieved Blue Diamond/Golden Slipper double. Tears rolled down his face as he watched Manikato walk across the mounting yard to him.
Willetts, carrying his saddle, moved past the beaming faces of Mal Seccull and Ross McDonald and gave an acknowledging nod to Hoysted, who had been beset upon by reporters from both Sydney and Melbourne. In the Sydney versus Melbourne sporting rivalry, it was the Melbourne scribes who had bragging rights on this day.
After gathering himself, Hoysted remarked that the Australian Jockey Club (AJC) Sires’ Produce Stakes and the Champagne Stakes were both under consideration in coming weeks, depending on the health of his chestnut.
Manikato had surpassed $150,000 in prize earnings—a first for a two-year-old in Australia. Yet it appeared there would be no rest for the youngster with the next two legs of the Sydney two-year-old Triple Crown approaching (the Golden Slipper being the first leg).
While the horse cooled off, the festivities were just getting underway amongst the winners. The only exception was Willetts, who had a booking to return to Melbourne the following morning. For the others, dinner turned into late evening drinks and a night during which not much sleep was had. Hoysted did remember to make a phone call, however, knowing that one important member of the team was not there with them.
Leeanne Smith was flown to Sydney the next day, leaving other staff to cover her absence from Edith Street. Hoysted also needed her there for vigilance, as he was required back in Melbourne to saddle up a runner in the Australian Cup on the Labour Day Monday (Jury, finished sixth) and needed to return home. Leeanne and Ross McDonald would oversee Manikato for his time remaining in Sydney. There was nothing sophisticated with his training routine. It was a simple trot and canter exercise most mornings to curb any rustiness and maintain some continuity. McDonald had recently been issued with his trainer’s license and with his horse handling skills, along with Leeanne’s attention to detail, Hoysted knew there was nothing to worry about.
Manikato had settled well at trainer Albert McKenna’s Palbi Lodge establishment at Randwick just opposite the 800-metre mark. McKenna had recently welcomed both Raffindale and Reckless as lodgers for Sydney campaigns, with each of them winning feature races.4 Manikato’s stay there would afford him one luxury that he didn’t have prior to the Golden Slipper: