Letter To The Editor: Adrian Beaumont

In response to John Berry's Plenty On Offer For Euros in Sydney, TDN 01/26

The late Jim Fleming was Chairman of Sydney Turf Club from 1983 to 1990 and is probably best remembered for increasing the prestige, and prize money, of the Golden Slipper. However he was also instrumental in driving through the internationalization of the Tancred S., at Rosehill, which went on to become the BMW International. In the autumn of 1987 he asked the International Racing Bureau to organize the first-ever European shipment of horses to race and return from Australia– something that the shipping agents said could never be done. In order to recruit horses, quarantine centers in Europe were required and a section of Peter Cundell's yard, near Lambourn, and a yard in La Teste, near Bordeaux, were chosen as suitable locations. The IRB then lined up some suitable candidates and John Dunlop said he'd send the tough Highland Chieftain whilst Patrick Biancone promised Vaguely Pleasant. However, the star horse for the trip was Robert Collet's Le Glorieux. This German- owned galloper had already won the Washington DC International and the Japan Cup the previous Autumn and captured the imagination of the Australian racefans.

The next problem was the route the horses needed to take to get to Australia. Freighters only stopped off in countries where no quarantine protocols were then in place. I rang Jim and explained the situation and he said he'd put the money up to pay for a plane just to ship these three horses. I traveled on that first flight, in March 1988, and we started off in Bordeaux, stopped briefly in Stansted, UK, and then had to head west on a trip that took 36 hours. Our first stop was in Winnipeg, where the pilot warned us not to breathe too deeply when they opened the doors because of the freezing temperatures. Our next fuel stop was in Honolulu and no problems with the temperature there. The hot air gushed into the plane as we were greeted by ground staff who put leis round our necks.

Then onto Sydney and of course we'd be flying in the dark the whole way. The first time we saw the sun was when it was coming up over Sydney Harbour Bridge as we circled to land. What a memorable moment for all on board.

The horses were then allowed to stretch their legs on the tarmac before leaving for the Eastern Creek quarantine center in Sydney. They had to do three weeks of quarantine upon arrival, which included trips to Canterbury Racecourse for exercise.

In the race itself Highland Chieftain was an honorable second to the great Beau Zam with Vaguely Pleasant picking up lots of Aussie Dollars in third. Le Glorieux disappointed, having probably felt the effects of a hard campaign the previous year. The following year Top Class, trained by Clive Brittain, was second to Our Poetic Prince but the star attraction would have been John Dunlop's Almaarad. Sadly he was injured in his last piece of work at Rosehill and was moved to Colin Hayes's yard. He won the prestigious Cox Plate later that year. In 1990 Mountain Kingdom, again for Clive, was fourth but when Jim Fleming stood down from his Chairmanship the committee decided to abandon their international aspirations. The Victoria Racing Club began overseas promotion of the Melbourne Cup and Vintage Crop won their feature race for Europe in 1993, thus changing the international balance within Australian racing. Sydney is now fighting back with The Championships.

–ADRIAN BEAUMONT, International Racing Bureau