My Nan, dad's mother, also passed away on my father's birthday (April 8th) back in 1983
"The Goondiwindi Grey" |
The Finishing Post: Goondiwindi Grey?
I was wondering on the morning of April 8th if anything was going to happen that day to remind me of my father, where I would be left scratching my head thinking it was more than a coincidence.
I wasn't really thinking in horse racing terms though, as I don't follow the ponies anymore, except on Melbourne Cup day in November each year for "the race that stops a nation".
I went to the movies Saturday afternoon to see two movies which I wrote about here -
Lo and Behold, Reveries of the Connected World
So, I didn't see any news stories until I got out of the second movie and the first news story I saw was this -
Jumbo Prince (inside) and Col 'n' Lil deadheat in the Weetwood Handicap at Toowoomba. |
My Nan died April 8th, 1983, 21 days before her favourite race horse, Gunsynd.
The weird thing also was that the number 8 horse was named 'Col n Lil' and while I don't know any Col, my grandmother on my mother's side was named Lillian, but was often called Lil.
And this was the first time that there has ever been a dead-heat in the Toowoomba Cup.
And while the Toowoomba Cup result put a smile on my face, it turned out to be a dark day for horse racing on April 8th in other parts of the country.
The Sydney Cup at Randwick was abandoned after a bad fall and on a personal note, my grandfather, father and myself all share the same middle name of Sydney.
Sydney Cup abandoned mid-race after chaos on first lap
And while the Toowoomba Cup result put a smile on my face, it turned out to be a dark day for horse racing on April 8th in other parts of the country.
James Doyle is briefly upright after he and Almoonqith came down heavily. |
Sydney Cup abandoned mid-race after chaos on first lap
And a jockey with the same first name as me was killed in another race fall in New South Wales.
NSW jockey Darren Jones killed in three-horse fall during Warialda SprintSubzero ("Subbie") |
I should have known it was going to be a bizarre day soon as I left my unit complex, as I was trying to remind myself to head to the ATM near a Subway sandwich shop to get some cash out for the movies, and as I'm pulling out of the driveway I hear Ryan Girdler on the local MMM radio station say I'm just going to "subway" into this, instead of saying "segway" into this, and then I saw a car on the road in front of me with the letters SUB *** in that order on its numberplate.
My favourite racehorse was named Subzero and I won the most I ever have in one race when Subzero won the Melbourne Cup.
Subzero was a grey horse that won the Melbourne Cup with #8 on its saddlecloth.
I think I'll remember this April 8th for some time to come.
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