Young Ace Flush After The King Loses His Queen

The Age

Tuesday November 18, 2008

Patrick Bartley

THE 1960s were indeed a time of change. Decimal currency was introduced, war erupted in Asia and Beatle hairstyles were all the rage.

But in horseracing it was largely the same - bookmaker versus punter with tens of thousands of people flocking to the course each Saturday.

It was in this landscape that a relatively new trainer from Deniliquin, in NSW, devised a plan to execute a long-odds plunge.

Andy White, who was to become one of Victoria's finest trainers, was given a Major General filly by the name of Softly Thought to prepare for her owner, the then Essendon Football Club doctor Peter Lawrence.

Early one Tuesday morning White galloped Softly Thought and the normally conservative trainer was astonished at the time she ran.

White, however, needed more convincing that the gallop wasn't a one-off performance and asked prominent jockey, Ian Saunders, who later became a trainer in Melbourne, to trial the youngster against an open sprinter in a secret gallop.

Saunders was equally impressed and White then set the filly for a race at Caulfield a month later.

"When she beat the sprinter I thought, 'we'll keep this to ourselves, no barrier trial for her', so each Tuesday afternoon I would take her to the practise stalls in the middle of Epsom and after two or three goes she was fine and she had a certificate," White, now 77, recalled yesterday.

Once weights were released for the Caulfield meeting the trainer scanned the field and saw that a top-class Adelaide filly, Grey Hostess, who was to be ridden by John Hawkes, was the nominal favourite.

"I was fairly confident I could handle Grey Hostess, but I was worried about a filly of Bart Cummings' that had also been entered."

White sent his money to Sydney but told those close to him that he was very concerned at the prospect of taking on something trained by Cummings, who was steadily gaining prominence throughout Australia.

"And I got even more worried when I saw Bart's brother Pat was the sole owner, and I knew he was a big punter and they weren't coming to Caulfield for a day out."

As White arrived at the scales to take the saddle from Saunders, the siren went and it was announced that Cummings' filly was a late scratching after becoming cast in the float.

"I remember walking out of the mounting yard with the saddle thinking, 'there's an omen here, a little bit of fate. I think things are going to go our way today'," White said.

Starting at 66-1, Softly Thought bounced two lengths clear and held on to defeat another filly, Confirmed, trained by Des Judd and ridden by Brian Gilders.

"It's a lovely feeling when you pull those things off and they put the party on and I was the host," White recalled. However, he still reflects on just how lucky he was as Softly Thought won only two minor races after that, and the Cummings filly was named Storm Queen, a champion who won the Golden Slipper of that season.

© 2008 The Age

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