‘There’s room on the mantelpiece’: a century of women in the Melbourne Cup

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Melbourne Cup Day, 1915. Edith Widdis and her daughter Muriel watch the race from the back of the members ladies stand.

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They are cheering on Patrobas (Wallace), a horse Widdis and her husband John, both keen students of pedigree, had spied in a Sydney yearling sale catalogue.

They also took note of another horse and paid 300 gns for each with the idea that John would race one, Edith the other. She was a fan of Patrobas' sire Wallace, son of the 1890 Cup winner Carbine (NZ) and she was also religious, a daily bible reader.

The relevance of that bit of information? She bestowed a biblical name upon her horse. “He who pursues the steps of his father” = Patrobas.

After an easy Victoria Derby win on the Saturday, Patrobas was in the market; duly saluting after a battle with one of the outsiders. Widdis thought her horse had been narrowly defeated and sat down to gather her thoughts.

When the result came through she was reported to have declared to those around her 'that's my horse!' but such was the disbelief that nobody stood aside to let her through and she was so late to the yard that the first official female owner of a Melbourne Cup winner missed the presentation with her husband awarded the trophy.

New Zealand to the fore

In 1893 New Zealand became the first country in the world to grant women a right to vote, and to vote equally. It took Australia another nine years. And it was not until 1982 that the infamous white line in the members, one which women were not to cross, disappeared.

Australia was well and truly behind New Zealand in regards to respecting women in the racing industry. Hedwick Wilhelmina 'Granny' McDonald was, in the 1930s one of New Zealand's most successful trainers and over the course of that decade was represented by 196 winners, making her the fourth most prolific trainer in the country.

She won races with youngsters, with older horses, with sprinters, with stayers and with jumpers, her husband Allan an accomplished jumps jockey.

There was no doubting the recognition she received at home when her horse Catalogue (NZ) (Lord Quex {Ire}) won, by 3l in front of over 95,000 racegoers, the 1938 Melbourne Cup. The many congratulations received by telegraph (including one from the New Zealand Prime Minister Michael Joseph Savage) were all directed to her.

Despite the fact that the VRC refused to recognise her as the trainer, a strict no female trainer policy adhered to. It was her husband's name in the race book.

For no other reason than being a woman!

Much to the dismay of Catalogue's owner Tui Jamieson (the second female owner of a Cup winner) who considered withdrawing her horse, quoted in Bill Ahern's marvellous work “The Saga of 127 Cup Winners” as saying “when we learned that Granny would not be allowed to go on training Catalogue for no reason other than that she was a woman I was mad.”

“The VRC committee was quite prepared to allow women, as owners, to support racing in Victoria, it was quite prepared to take women's money at the gate, but to allow them to train? I was mad and told Granny we would scratch him but she would not hear of it. But she was not happy about it.

“She did the spade work, she is the first train a Melbourne Cup winner and I told the Governor-General so!”

The newspapers of the day took no step backwards in who they thought the winning trainer was with the headline in the Argus reading...

And the headline read...

“SUCCESS FOR NZ OWNED AND TRAINED BY WOMEN”

And that paper's racing writer “Doncaster” (Frank Dexter) began his report with...

“A victory for women - that is the story of the 1938 Melbourne Cup. Catalogue, the winner, is owned by Mrs A Jamieson, of New Zealand, and in that country he is trained by Mrs AW McDonald, who, however, is not allowed to train in Victoria.”

Ethereal's historic victory

Fast forward to 2001 and another New Zealander is at Flemington on that first Tuesday in November. She has copped some jokes and some criticism about her training methods; surely it was going to be hard for Ethereal (NZ) (Rhythm {USA}) to win the Cup at her first run since taking out the G1 Caulfield Cup?!

Even Bart Cummings had his say, when asked if she could win his curt reply being “not enough miles in her legs.”

Sheila Laxon laughs at the memory of those comments and still thinks back on a conversation she had with that legendary trainer after the press conference where he uttered those words.

“I explained what I was doing and why and after that he said he thought she could run third! He just said I could do things on a farm he couldn't do training in the city.”

On the day Ethereal wrote her name into the record books as she charged late to wear down the leader Give The Slip (GB) (Slip Anchor {GB}) Laxon was rightly being lauded for her stunning achievement.

But even on the day she was keen to pay tribute to Granny McDonald, proud that it was a fellow New Zealand woman who had paved the way.

And she is happy to hear that “in the pipeline” is possible VRC recognition of McDonald's achievement.

Absolutely proud and humbled

Not being considered the first female Cup winning trainer will in no way detract from Laxon's feelings about her Cup win; “I will always be absolutely proud and humbled by it,” she said.

“Winning the Melbourne Cup was a life-changing experience," she said. "It not only made me feel that I could do this, but it made others realise I had those skills; it was empowering.”

Along with Gai Waterhouse, Laxon returns to Flemington on Tuesday for another crack at the Cup. Her charge Knight's Choice (Extreme Choice) is one of the outsiders of the field but has earned his place.

“He is as well as we can get him, it will just be whether he is good enough,” she said, pointing to the run that made her dare dream that “lightning might strike twice!”

“His second in the G2 Q22 against really good horses was a great effort. He is not a big horse so he wasn't suited at weight-for-age.”

Behind Knight's Choice that day were several horses have performed well since including his Tuesday rival Kovalica (NZ) (Ocean Park {NZ}).

Regardless of the result Laxon is justifiably proud not only to have got, along with her husband and training partner John Symons, a horse into the Cup but two to the final weeks with Mission Of Love (The Mission) scratched by Racing Victoria vets just a few days ago.

“John bought three yearlings that year and to have two of them make it this far is amazing, he is a great judge.”

With Knight's Choice an $85,000 buy from the Magic Millions with his breeders amongst the ownership, Laxon is delighted by the fact that it is still possible for “the ordinary Australian owner to have a runner in the Cup.

“I think that in itself is a nice story.”

Right at the top of the pile

It was 12 years after Ethereal's success that Gai Waterhouse was able to realise her Melbourne Cup dream. Her always effervescent smile was even wider, even brighter than usual as Fiorente (Ire) went one better in the race in which the year before he had run second to Green Moon (Ire).

It's 11 years on and she still lights up when asked about that day.

We caught up with Gai at the Living Legends Cup Eve parade and asked her where that win sits amongst her finest racing moments.

“It is right at the top of the pile,” she said.

“I was chatting with Robbie the other day about the races I have not won and he said 'who cares, you've won the Melbourne Cup' and I thought, yes you are right, that says it all!”

And asked how a second Cup would feel she said “I think I have room on the mantlepiece!”

A childhood dream fulfilled

Also enjoying the Cup Eve atmosphere was jockey Winona Costin who after years of dreaming about having a ride in the big race, partners with Positivity (NZ) (Almanzor {Fr}).

She is another horse being sent out at big odds but there are parallels with Prince Of Penzance (NZ) (Pentire {GB}) whose lead-up run had been in the G2 Moonee Valley Cup in which Positivity was solid in a race not really run to suit.

And of course Prince Of Penzance is rather famously linked to Michelle Payne whose breakthrough as the first female rider of a Melbourne Cup winner made headlines across the world.

The 30-year-old Costin has had (in the 1950s and 1970s) relations ride and train placegetters in the race, making the Melbourne Cup part of her family history.

“I have dreamed of riding in the Melbourne Cup ever since I was very, very small,” she said.

“It is a tough race to get a ride in so I am very excited and when I told my parents they were teary!”

Further parallels with Michelle Payne whose Cup win fulfilled a childhood dream and Costin said that Payne was an inspiration.

“It is great how everything has changed,” she said, “there are so many female riders in the jockey ranks now.”

“I was there the day Michelle Payne won the Cup, it was really cool to be there. She really helped bring everything along for female jockeys.”

Racing Victoria's female apprentices

Racing Victoria's Apprentice Jockey Coach Darren Gauci agreed, noting the domination of female apprentices in regards to numbers being trained by RVL.

“A lot of our apprentices come through pony clubs where the majority of riders are girls,” he said.

Which has been the case for a long time but once Payne won the Cup, there was the realisation from those girls that they could forge a career in racing.

“And that was escalated by the success of Jamie Kah,” Gauci said.

“It's not just the case in Victoria either, across South Australia and New South Wales female apprentices are making their mark.”

“In a recent apprentice series in South Australia there was only one male in a couple of full fields,” he said with another race day of interest being the Cup day meeting at Mildura where Jason Webb is the only male jockey taking part.

“There is not a great deal of difference in how female and male apprentices train but for the women there is still a sense from them that they have to prove themselves and I think they get their drive from that.”

New VRC CEO proud to be at the realm

Another woman with considerable drive is Kylie Rogers who said that she is “very proud to be the first female CEO of the Victoria Racing Club.”

“The more we can renounce barriers the better,” she said, appreciative of the fact that her first Cup sees a record number of female jockeys (Jamie Kah, Hollie Doyle and Rachel King the others) taking part.

“That is an absolute highlight for me,” she enthused, “and I am really looking forward to it.”

She loves that racing is a sport in which women and men can compete; “it is one of the few and certainly the biggest.”