cheesebeast
24-12-2003, 13:15
Racing: Bonecrusher taking a bow
24.12.2003
By MIKE DILLON
Shaune Ritchie is drawing the line at the flared pants.
But on Friday everything else will be as it was in 1985 when Bonecrusher went through the Ellerslie birdcage before winning the Derby.
Bonecrusher, now 21 and one of the greatest racehorses New Zealand has produced, will make his final public appearance by leading out the field for the $500,000 Mercedes Derby.
Regular jockey Gary Stewart, now a trainer on the Gold Coast, is being flown over by the race sponsors to ride Bonecrusher and his longtime devoted attendant Shaune Ritchie will be there too.
"I'm not going anywhere near the place if I have to wear flares again," joked Ritchie when asked to be involved.
Son of Bonecrusher's trainer Frank Ritchie, Shaune Ritchie trained in partnership with his father after the Bonecrusher era, branched out on his own then went to Sydney to train. He returned last year to prepare a team in Cambridge.
The highs and lows of Bonecrusher will never leave him.
"When he nearly died in Tokyo on the eve of the 1986 Japan Cup, it's remarkable to think that 30-odd days earlier he had been centre of the world stage when he beat Waverley Star in the Cox Plate, which they still call the race of the century."
Bonecrusher's enormous athleticism won him 18 races, nine of them group one level, and $2.54 million, finishing almost every race with his trademark tongue sticking up the side of his head.
He had a cult following way beyond the periphery of racing.
In 1986 the then Sports Minister, Mike Moore, declared him an official New Zealand sporting ambassador, quipping: "I'm the first to elevate a horse since Caligula [referring to the notorious Roman emperor who made his horse a senator]."
After retiring from public appearances, Bonecrusher will retire to a paddock. Through the last decade the horse, known to his handlers as Red, has been kept fit by owner Peter Mitchell's wife, Shirley, and their daughter Sharlene and is still immensely popular in Australia when he makes a public appearance.
He is in remarkable condition for his age. Senior jockey Bruce Herd was flat holding him to a reasonable speed when he led the field out for the recent group one Bayer Classic at Otaki, cantering down the home straight.
The normally taciturn Herd was so excited he took one hand off the reins at the winning post to salute the crowd and Bonecrusher bolted with him. "Bloody hell, if he's that good now, how good was he as a 3-year-old?" said an astounded Herd.
Ritchie was 16 and still at Penrose High after Bonecrusher's Tancred Stakes win in Sydney in 1986.
When his headmaster found he'd had a celebratory dinner the night of the race with Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a huge fan of racing, he asked the teenager to address the morning assembly.
"I did that, but the headmaster was less than impressed about what I remembered," says Ritchie.
"Bob Hawke was sitting opposite me and I said: 'Hello, Mr Hawke' and fell asleep - I didn't even get to eat my entree.
"We were working 17-hour days and sleeping, or trying to, guarding the armed guards who were sitting in front of Red's box each night. I couldn't stay awake ... The headmaster didn't talk to me for a while."
Michelle Messent, daughter of retired jockey John Messent, works as personal assistant at Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud.
It is a hectic time at the stud, but Messent has Boxing Day off just to see Bonecrusher's swansong - her first chance to see him in the flesh.
The ex-champion is the sole reason Messent is still involved in thoroughbreds. "When dad lost a leg in a race fall I would have disappeared from racing, but I fell in love with Bonecrusher watching him on television ... My partner, Casey Dando, is the same." Dando thought of leaving racing after the death of his father, Ron, a Matamata trainer, but he couldn't forget the mighty horse, said Messent.
"He's a Bonecrusher nut."
Stepping stone to million-dollar career
The Derby at Ellerslie on Boxing Day has been the stepping stone to greatness. It cemented Bonecrusher's champion status as it did for Balmerino, Beaumaris, The Unicorn, Sobig and Dalray before him.
The winner on Friday is practically guaranteed a million-dollar racing career, or a sale to overseas buyers.
Derby Day is all about glamour as well - the popular Fashion in the Field, with its main prize of a $65,000 Mercedes-Benz C180K, is expected to draw hundreds of hopefuls.
The four-day carnival is expected to attract record betting figures.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pics/ACFHFAmzaigC.JPG
http://www.bonecrusher.co.nz
24.12.2003
By MIKE DILLON
Shaune Ritchie is drawing the line at the flared pants.
But on Friday everything else will be as it was in 1985 when Bonecrusher went through the Ellerslie birdcage before winning the Derby.
Bonecrusher, now 21 and one of the greatest racehorses New Zealand has produced, will make his final public appearance by leading out the field for the $500,000 Mercedes Derby.
Regular jockey Gary Stewart, now a trainer on the Gold Coast, is being flown over by the race sponsors to ride Bonecrusher and his longtime devoted attendant Shaune Ritchie will be there too.
"I'm not going anywhere near the place if I have to wear flares again," joked Ritchie when asked to be involved.
Son of Bonecrusher's trainer Frank Ritchie, Shaune Ritchie trained in partnership with his father after the Bonecrusher era, branched out on his own then went to Sydney to train. He returned last year to prepare a team in Cambridge.
The highs and lows of Bonecrusher will never leave him.
"When he nearly died in Tokyo on the eve of the 1986 Japan Cup, it's remarkable to think that 30-odd days earlier he had been centre of the world stage when he beat Waverley Star in the Cox Plate, which they still call the race of the century."
Bonecrusher's enormous athleticism won him 18 races, nine of them group one level, and $2.54 million, finishing almost every race with his trademark tongue sticking up the side of his head.
He had a cult following way beyond the periphery of racing.
In 1986 the then Sports Minister, Mike Moore, declared him an official New Zealand sporting ambassador, quipping: "I'm the first to elevate a horse since Caligula [referring to the notorious Roman emperor who made his horse a senator]."
After retiring from public appearances, Bonecrusher will retire to a paddock. Through the last decade the horse, known to his handlers as Red, has been kept fit by owner Peter Mitchell's wife, Shirley, and their daughter Sharlene and is still immensely popular in Australia when he makes a public appearance.
He is in remarkable condition for his age. Senior jockey Bruce Herd was flat holding him to a reasonable speed when he led the field out for the recent group one Bayer Classic at Otaki, cantering down the home straight.
The normally taciturn Herd was so excited he took one hand off the reins at the winning post to salute the crowd and Bonecrusher bolted with him. "Bloody hell, if he's that good now, how good was he as a 3-year-old?" said an astounded Herd.
Ritchie was 16 and still at Penrose High after Bonecrusher's Tancred Stakes win in Sydney in 1986.
When his headmaster found he'd had a celebratory dinner the night of the race with Australian Prime Minister Bob Hawke, a huge fan of racing, he asked the teenager to address the morning assembly.
"I did that, but the headmaster was less than impressed about what I remembered," says Ritchie.
"Bob Hawke was sitting opposite me and I said: 'Hello, Mr Hawke' and fell asleep - I didn't even get to eat my entree.
"We were working 17-hour days and sleeping, or trying to, guarding the armed guards who were sitting in front of Red's box each night. I couldn't stay awake ... The headmaster didn't talk to me for a while."
Michelle Messent, daughter of retired jockey John Messent, works as personal assistant at Sir Patrick Hogan's Cambridge Stud.
It is a hectic time at the stud, but Messent has Boxing Day off just to see Bonecrusher's swansong - her first chance to see him in the flesh.
The ex-champion is the sole reason Messent is still involved in thoroughbreds. "When dad lost a leg in a race fall I would have disappeared from racing, but I fell in love with Bonecrusher watching him on television ... My partner, Casey Dando, is the same." Dando thought of leaving racing after the death of his father, Ron, a Matamata trainer, but he couldn't forget the mighty horse, said Messent.
"He's a Bonecrusher nut."
Stepping stone to million-dollar career
The Derby at Ellerslie on Boxing Day has been the stepping stone to greatness. It cemented Bonecrusher's champion status as it did for Balmerino, Beaumaris, The Unicorn, Sobig and Dalray before him.
The winner on Friday is practically guaranteed a million-dollar racing career, or a sale to overseas buyers.
Derby Day is all about glamour as well - the popular Fashion in the Field, with its main prize of a $65,000 Mercedes-Benz C180K, is expected to draw hundreds of hopefuls.
The four-day carnival is expected to attract record betting figures.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/pics/ACFHFAmzaigC.JPG
http://www.bonecrusher.co.nz