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Perhaps the worst instance of being too lax where it matters most was perpetrated by Roy Higgins –and there are few, if any, better jockeys – on his hoodoo horse Hyperno in the 1978 Moonee Valley Cup.
Higgins was caught napping and beaten in the last stride by Clear Day, for which he received a 10-meeting suspension.
Heart-stopper: Black Caviar hangs on to win the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Ascot.Credit:AP
Described by Higgins as a “real old bastard”, Hyperno later in his career went to Bart Cummings, who was a player in the sensational 1984 Missile.
Bart Cummings, of course, is the grandfather of James Cummings, the trainer of Alizee, who maintained the famed family calm after Saturday’s pulsating experience.
The 1984 Missile will be difficult to top in the provocative stakes because, due to the barrier stalls being bogged, a flag start was instituted for the first occasion in living memory by most at the time.
The official starter attempted to get the field to face up in a straight line, and the race commenced when he dropped the flag.
No barrier for Bart: The flag start of the 1984 Missile Stakes.Credit:Fairfax
Fortunately Plus Vite, prepared by Bart Cummings, had the services of Peter Miers, a jockey with experience out of open barriers riding in the north of England, where strands are used instead of gates.
Plus Vite got a fly at the break, described by the master in Bart – My Life as a “thrilling win that gave me my longest priced Stakes winner (200-1)".
Punters who backed others in the race howled “no race” and produced a spirited demonstration now long gone on the Rosehill fence, bleating about an unfair start. It fell on deaf ears.
Without the flag, Plus Vite hardly shone later, but others involved in hands-dropping – Hyperno and Black Caviar – were not impacted negatively by the experience, which is a positive for Alizee, who was flighty and above herself in condition on Saturday.
Hyperno went onto to take the 1979 Melbourne Cup under Harry White by a short half-head from Salamander, ridden by Higgins.
Black Caviar returned to Australia and triumphed in another three races for Nolen, keeping her unbeaten record intact.
In fairness to Nolen, Black Caviar sustained a muscle tear during the Diamond Jubilee and there was more nursing than negligence in the performance.
Certainly Nolen maintained pressure on So Si Bon, who has a reputation corresponding to the Higgins opinion of Hyperno, to score in the Aurie’s Star at Flemington on Saturday.