STAWELL Racing Club officials were hopeful the arrival of the Emirates Melbourne Cup Tour to Stawell last Wednesday would give residents an opportunity to get up close with Melbourne Cup winner and champion racehorse, Subzero.
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The cup was accompanied by a strapping big grey horse, but it wasn't Subzero. It was Danny, a Stawell Riding for the Disabled horse who belongs to Stawell's clerk of the course, Hugh O'Sullivan.
Danny was called in as a late replacement for Subzero, as the 1992 Melbourne Cup winner was unable to make the trip to Stawell due to a virus.
Hugh and Danny accompanied the Emirates Melbourne Cup to Eventide Homes, then on a march down Main Street, before arriving at the Stawell Racecourse for a community celebration.
Several hundred residents took the opportunity to have a hold of the 18-carat gold Melbourne Cup, which will be presented to the winning owners of this year's feature race.
The community celebration was also well attended, the Stawell Racing Club combining with the Stawell Lions Club to provide a free barbecue. Victoria Racing Club's Melbourne Cup Tour Manager, Joe McGrath, interviewed Stawell trainer Terry O'Sullivan about his experiences of having a Melbourne Cup runner (Dolphin Jo). He also interviewed Mick Robins, who trained Rain Lover to win back-to-back Melbourne Cups in 1968 and 1969 and Dale Monteith, former chief executive officer of the Victoria Racing Club.
School groups who attended from Concongella and Great Western were quizzed following the interviews and went away with not only new-found knowledge about the Melbourne Cup, but with plenty of giveaways. They also had the opportunity to have their photograph taken with the Melbourne Cup and with Danny the horse.
Danny's story is remarkable. A nine year veteran at Stawell's Riding for the Disabled Victoria centre, Danny is one of thousands of retired thoroughbred racehorses succeeding in their post-racing lives as equestrian and pleasure horses.
One of eight horses used by the volunteers at Stawell's RDAV centre, Danny, along with trained volunteer assistants and qualified coaches, assists in a variety of equestrian activities for people living with varying level of physical and mental disability.
RDA's thoroughbreds not only offer participants therapeutic and physical benefits but a rewarding and life changing experience, attempting to give people with disabilities a sense of independence and freedom as well as the harmony formed in the bond with a living creature.
RDAV horses come from a variety of backgrounds and Danny, now a 20-year-old gelding, was taken in by former jumps jockey Hugh O'Sullivan following his retirement from the track.
"Danny is a large grey so he often deals with RDAV's older, larger participants," O'Sullivan said.
"He's got a great temperament so he's also able to take riders which require a special lifting machine, which lifts them and places them in the saddle.
"It's certainly a rewarding program to be a part of and I'd encourage people to get themselves and their thoroughbreds involved."
When he's not busy with his duties at RDAV, Danny also works as a Clerk of the Course at more than 20 meetings a year at racetracks across the Wimmera and Western Victoria regions.
"I was a jumps jockey for 25 years and I had just commenced duties as Clerk of the Course when I came across Danny. Being a grey with a great temperament, I knew he would be perfect for the role," O'Sullivan said.
"I've got experience with training and breaking-in horses, but Danny was a natural and he took to his duties really quickly.
"Unfortunately I don't know much about his racing life - but he's certainly achieved a lot since then!"