Volume III: In Our Time (2008)

In Volume III it is as much a history of Australia as a history of Australian thoroughbred racing. Racing is not just a sport in Australia, and not just one of our biggest industries: it is a way of life. It is our oldest sport and the only one pursued in earnest in every part of the nation, from our biggest cities to the most remote outback settlements. Melbourne Cup Day has long been recognised as a great unifying annual event, whether a formal or informal holiday – something distinctly Australian and free from the high purpose of other national days. Local racing cups and carnivals remain the high point of the calendar wherever and whenever they are held.

We meet famous jockeys – Hales and Corrigan, Bullock, the Munro brothers, Bobbie Lewis, Dempsey, Pike and Duncan; the trainers – Scobie, Hickenbotham, Bradfield and Holt; the jumpers – Redleap, Daimio, Mosstrooper and Redditch; and a galaxy of our great horses – from Grand Flaneur and Malua to Ajax, Whittier, Peter Pan and Manfred.

This book covers the social and political history of racing throughout Australia in the period 1939 to 2007, from war to equine influenza, totes and SP bookies to TAB corporations, champion horses, jockeys and trainers, scandals and glories, outback scrubbers to Bernborough, Tulloch and Makybe Diva…..and literally a cast of thousands. There are names famous, familiar and half forgotten: Smith, Cummings, Hayes, Freedman, Waterhouse, Higgins, Moore, Cook, Purtell, Breasley, Beadman, Selkrig, Mulley, Letts, Gunsynd, Leilani, Kingston Town, Comic Court, Raconteur, Rain Lover, Manikato, Fine Cotton….but not just names, rather an explanation of who they were and how they fitted into the scheme of things. It is thoughtful, detailed and comprehensive, an indispensable companion to all the information in the record books.