17/06/15

Although the win of a magnificent black colt called Eskimo Prince occurred in 1964, it’s amazing that 51 years later that victory is still indelibly imprinted into people’s minds.

Eskimo Prince won the first Silver Slipper in late 1963 prior to his winning the eighth running of the Golden Slipper in April of 1964. Earlier Golden Slipper winners Todman, Skyline, Fine And Dandy, Sky High, Magic Night, Birthday Card and the mudlark Pago Pago had ensured that the 2YO feature already had an impressive array of winners.

A top class colt or filly was clearly needed to win the race and Eskimo Prince was a son of the first crop to race of inaugural 1957 Golden Slipper winner Todman, which had been retired to stud after his 5YO racing season, to stand next to his father, Star Kingdom, at Baramul Stud in the Widden Valley of New South Wales.

Eskimo Prince’s Golden Slipper victory landed a massive betting plunge, which was solely orchestrated by his big betting owner Perc Galea who was reportedly the former boss of several of Sydney’s biggest illegal gambling dens during World War 2. A 12,000 pounds lottery win in 1957 – a veritable fortune back then – helped fuel Galea’s punting and horse racing exploits.

Born and growing up in the then slums of Sydney’s Woolloomooloo area, Perc Galea in his teenage life had delivered milk to earn a pay packet. By chance, one of his clients was a man called Rod Dangar who just happened to own a horse called Peter Pan. Dangar suggested to Galea, as he delivered milk one day, that he should back Peter Pan in the 1934 Melbourne Cup at 14/1. A young Galea heeded his client’s advice and the resultant big monetary reward after Peter Pan’s victory, ensured the attraction and addiction of gambling and racehorses would last the remainder of his life.

As Eskimo Prince crossed the finish line in the 1964 Golden Slipper, he had left in his wake another top Sydney colt Farnworth and Victoria’s top youngster Star of Heaven, who was a representative from the stable of the great trainer of 2YO’s – Angus Armanasco.

Trained by Cec Rolls and ridden by Athol Mulley, the jet black coloured Eskimo Prince, adorned in his bright white bridle, epitomised the beauty of the thoroughbred breed as he returned to scale. Punters lined the fence of the enclosure to get a glimpse of the best 2YO in Australia. Perc Galea, who had a history of heart problems and was advised by doctors not to get excited, quickly ran to the winners stall to greet his plunge winner.

After the victory presentation, Galea was invited to the committee room for drinks and on impulse, as he scaled a flight of stairs, he turned to face the punters again – reached inside his suit – and produced a bundle of money and began throwing 10 pound ($20) notes to the crowd. His unprecedented and remarkable gesture saw him dubbed “the prince of punters” for the remainder of his life.

Perc Galea’s betting exploits with Eskimo Prince were not always winning ventures. He reportedly lost hundreds of thousands of pounds, which in today’s dollar terms would be over a million dollars, when Eskimo Prince ran unplaced in a Group 1 Stradbroke Handicap at Eagle Farm in Brisbane in the mid 60’s.

The Hill Stakes in Sydney in 1965 was the last Group victory of Eskimo Prince in Australia, after which Galea on-sold the galloper to allow him to race in America. Shortly after arrival in America, the top vets in that country examined the horse and concluded that Eskimo Prince had only one healthy lung and also had a paralysed throat valve – the discovery of which only made his Australian racetrack feats even more remarkable.

Due to Perc Galea’s work background as an alleged manager for illegal gambling dens, both the STC (Sydney Turf Club) and the AJC (Australian Jockey Club) rejected his applications for membership over a twenty year period from 1955. However Galea reportedly had a lot of friends in high places, one of whom was the Premier of New South Wales, Sir Robert Askin. In 1975 Galea supposedly asked Askin for assistance in gaining membership – and miraculously Galea was accepted into the STC membership ranks straight away and also became a “provisional” member of the AJC in 1976.

However the memberships to the STC and the AJC were short lived, as Percival John Galea died just one year after he’d been accepted – in August 1977 – from a third heart attack.

It was, to his family, a wonderful tribute that Perc Galea’s funeral cortège was over three kilometers long. It seemed that in life punters reckoned he was the best bet of the day – and in death they remembered his generosity.

Upon his passing, Perc Galea’s estate was worth more than $400,000 – proof that on the balance of probability he had been one of the few successful big punters Australia had ever seen.

On Golden Slipper day 1964, many punters walked onto Rosehill racetrack to simply have an afternoon on the punt, but in their wildest dream they wouldn’t have ever imagined that an exuberant owner would throw them a week’s wages over the fence in what must surely rank as one of the great stories of the Australian turf.

Whilst the $2million dollar Stradbroke Handicap was only run and won the other day, it’s taken as read that no owner decided to launch a nationwide plunge of over a million dollars, in today’s dollar terms, on a horse they owned in that race. In fact I doubt an owner ever will in the future either.

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s a racing quiz, which I fancy should stump most readers. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s an article that I penned some years ago after listening to world renowned thoroughbred vet Dr Reg Pascoe speak about what to look for when buying yearlings. But the constructive advice that Reg handed out to attendees never ages. Then on www.melbourneracing.com.au there’s an interesting test that I’ve put together for website readers. If you think you know jockeys to look at by sight, you may care to think again after seeing how many of these 20-odd past and present jockeys you can identify. As the vast majority of jockeys are Queensland based, that story will have particular appeal to Queensland readers.