TWO DOOMBEN CUP DAYS STAND OUT IN MY MIND

07/05/15

It’s Doomben Cup day on Saturday – just two more sleeps – for those that are getting excited by the alleged Group 1 field that will come together on the day. Acceptances have already been taken and a field of 15 will do battle for the race which this year is worth $650,000 in total prizemoney.

It’s funny how specific race days of the year bring memories flooding back. Stradbroke day is always my favourite day of the year – you can have Derby day at Flemington, or Golden Slipper day at Rosehill, but plain old simple Stradbroke day at Eagle Farm will do me just fine. A big crowd, with associated big fields on a Group 1 day of racing and a big long straight where every horse gets his or her chance – most of the time – that’s got my name written all over it. But I may or may not go this year with the race being run at Doomben for the first time ever. Probably won’t bother. I can just see it now – unlucky horses held up looking for a run in the home straight, or a horse that couldn’t necessarily run a strong 1400 metres at Eagle Farm winning the shorter 1350-metre Stradbroke version being run at Doomben in 2015.

First run way back in 1890 the Stradbroke wasn’t run between 1942 and 1945 inclusive because of World War 2, so put simply it’s “an Eagle Farm race”. After all “they” wouldn’t run a Melbourne Cup at Caulfield would they?

I’ve been to a lot of Doomben Cups in my lifetime but just two stick indelibly in my mind. The first was 1998 – a champion won the race – Might And Power. That “giant killer” Intergaze had him cold at the 200 but like all champions Might And Power got off the canvas for one last haymaker swing in Round 15 and had his head in front where it counted. “They” say good horses bring people to the races and “they” sure got that one right, as anyone who was there that wonderful day will attest. I didn’t have a bet in the race – didn’t need to – those at the track won the lottery just to be alive and healthy enough to make it to the track to see him win in the flesh.

The second and only other “real interesting Doomben Cup” I attended had nothing to do with a champion racehorse, or even an ordinary racehorse for that matter. It has to do with a person I met. She was sitting by herself outside the jockey’s room. I wrote her story just on eight years ago – on 24 May 2007 – Doomben Cup day that year to be exact and by request from email writers as to where to find the story it’s repeated here today.

The story reads:

She sits quietly and unassuming outside the jockey’s room – observing and absorbing. Occasionally she’ll get up and walk to the nearby tote window and produce a purple $5 note or a blue $10 note and have a bet. The world walks past her – 99% don’t give her a second glance, or have a remote clue who she is – myself included. Late in the day a well-known racing personality said to me, “You ought to go and do a story on that woman sitting over there in the corner”, to which my question was, “And who is she?” The answer comes back, “Glen Boss’ mother”.

And so it came to pass that Lorraine Boss and I were soon in deep conversation. Just about every Australian knows Glen Boss’ face, after three Melbourne Cup victories aboard the champion mare Makybe Diva. But every famous person has to have a mother and a father – and Lorraine did her bit to answer government pleas to help populate Australia and went through the pain of childbirth on six occasions in her younger days, bringing into the world – in age order, from oldest to youngest – Samantha, Glen, Kelli, Tina, Leanne and Bob.

The youngest of the family, Bob, is 25 years old and he gets married next year, which will then mean that all six of Lorraine’s children are married off.

Today is special for both Lorraine and her daughter Leanne. In racing parlance, a 365/1 bolter just got home, as incredibly they share the same birthday – May 24. Leanne turns 26 and Lorraine turns 57.

Lorraine has been “single for about the last 18 years or more”, but says she is still friendly with her ex-husband Tom, noting, “We keep in touch, he’s a good man”.

Born just south of Brisbane, Lorraine “spent time in Gympie where Glen started his education, before we moved back to Caboolture and that’s where he spent most of his childhood. Then he went back up to Gympie and that’s where he got into racing, as my ex-husband Tom’s father Merv was a trainer there”.

Lorraine said all her offspring rode horses as children, but Glen is the only one who went into racing.

Asked if she gets nervous when Glen heads off for a day in the saddle at a race meeting, Lorraine remarked, “No, he knows what he’s doing, he’s a very intelligent rider”.

Lorraine still lives in the Caboolture area and enjoys two other pastimes – dancing and running – in fact she was going straight from the Doomben Cup meeting last Saturday to dance the night away. On June 3, she will go for a gallop around Doomben racecourse as part of a 10-kilometre run on the day. “I’ve only been running for two months, but I’ve already competed in three events. On Mother’s Day, I did the eight-kilometre run for breast cancer at South Bank and I did that in 48.10 minutes, which is pretty good”, Lorraine advises.

Did Lorraine win on the punt on Doomben Cup day? No, she said she had a small win early in the day, but then lost $10 on Reigning To Win. “Gee I did $10 on him,” Lorraine said in a self-admonishing tone, as if to infer she should have not been so confident and loosened the purse strings to such a degree. Then she followed up that loss by kissing goodbye to $5 on another of Glen’s mounts – Musaytir in the last.

So next time I’m sure many more people attending a racetrack where Glen is riding, will know who the lady in the corner near the jockey’s room is. One can only close our eyes for a moment and imagine the incredible thrill that a mother would receive, when a child she carried for nine months – and raised from infancy to adulthood – rides a Melbourne Cup winner. Lorraine has had that feeling three times in her lifetime and who knows, there may be more wins to come. No wonder she has a warm smile most of the time for anyone who looks in her direction – she’s relaxed and right at home watching her son do his thing out on the racetrack of dreams.

Editor’s footnote: Glen Boss won’t be riding at the Doomben Cup meeting in 2015 – he’s riding at Flemington on the day.

Today on www.brisbaneracing.com.au there’s a photo montage from Toowoomba Cup and Weetwood Handicap meeting last Saturday. On www.sydneyracing.com.au there’s a story on the Aussie representative in the Australasian Young Drivers Championship which gets underway at Cambridge in New Zealand today, whilst on www.melbourneracing.com.au Matt Nicholls look back at Warrnambool yesterday – and at no extra cost, previews a race there today.

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