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FAIRYTALE FOR A TRUE BLUE FOO By Mark Harding
Sunday Herald Sun – October 29, 2006

What is it about this trend to retire racehorses when they are still on top?

First it was Makybe Diva, bowing out to the cheers and tears of Flemington on Cup Day and now Fields Of Omagh, departing Moonee Valley and all racetracks after what can only be described as scenes of chaos yesterday.
Cheers, tears and whole lot more. Hugs and kisses between all of the connections, especially the men. Bewilderment from the impartial observers who couldn’t believe a nine-year-old had won our weight for age championship, but mostly sheer joy from the crowd because the Valley’s wonderful race, the Tattersall’s W.S. Cox Plate had done it again.
Now old FOO is off to the paddocks of Living Legends, a new retirement home for aged gallopers which has just received the best publicity it is ever likely to get.
As David Hayes said later, not many sportsmen get to retire at the top of their game and FOO has earned his permanent pasture.
But what we want to know is why? If this keeps up we’ll run out of Group One champions and before we know it racing will get a good name and a reputation for being compassionate and caring.
If, as they say, Fields Of Omagh didn’t know he was nine yesterday, he wouldn’t know he was ten next year … and what a story that would be.
We are tongue in cheek, of course. But the thing is, racing’s capacity to exhilarate, to produce the fairytale or the classic theatrical sporting masterpiece, is never more evident than when horses are asked to do the seemingly impossible. Like Makybe Diva being asked to win THREE Melbourne Cups, or Fields of Omagh being asked to run in FIVE Cox Plates, winning two (2003 and 2006) and finished second (2004), third (2005) and fifth (2002).
It would have easy for the connections of FOO to retire him after last year’s Cox Plate. He was eight, he’d run a honorable third in one of the all time great Plates and after two suspensory injuries he had surely done enough to earn that permanent pasture.
Thank goodness they decided to saddle him up again because yesterday truly was another sensational day at the track.
There were poignant scenes everywhere amidst the joy. Tony McEvoy, trainer of FOO in victory in 2003, has been relegated to number two at Lindsay Park behind David Hayes, but you wouldn’t have known it from the smile on his face and the way he was hugging everyone he could lay his hands on.
When the strapper went to collect her trophy (and make a speech) it was McEvoy who led old FOO around in her place.
“I was lucky enough to be on the podium back then, but this really does mean just as much to me,” he said.
The first thing David Hayes said in his speech was to thank McEvoy for handing back the horse in such great order. And McEvoy gently recalled that for Fields Of Omagh’s first win, way back in 2000, the trainer was the late Peter Hayes. “Peter is still a big part of Lindsay Park,” he said.
Allan Williams, father of jockey Craig, was smiling contentedly in the background as he watched his boy salute the crowd. Allan only ever had one ride in the Plate, on an outsider Quiet Snort.
He and Craig’s mother Glenda gave the winning jock a big hug when he finally broke clear of media pack and Allan reported that his heart was standing up pretty well despite a big scare a few weeks ago and an operation to insert a stent.
He was also protecting his wrist, which had recently been fused - a legacy of his long career in the saddle which was full of merit if not quite as headline-making as his boy’s.
And most poignant of all, disappearing up the mounting yard tunnel as the celebrations moved into full swing was the sad figure of jockey Darren Gauci, who rode the runner-up El Segundo.
Has anyone ever looked prettier cuddling a horse in running than Gauci? And yet the big race win continues to elude him.
He looked and sounded shattered on his return to face the microphones but was never anything less than the polite and humble man who has carried himself so well for more than two decades.
“It’s disappointing,” he said. “I’d rather be beaten a length than a nose but I’m proud of the horse. I think I did the right thing.”
On the line, he wasn’t sure about the result. One stride before, he was in front and one stride after, he was behind. You get the feeling that deep down he knew he’d been nutted. And gutted.
Gauci had waited until the 500 metres before asking El Segundo for his effort and the fact that Fields Of Omagh came from behind him, tells him he couldn’t have done much more.
He grabbed Pompeii Ruler with plenty of time to spare and after settling last couldn’t have banked on something else coming later still.
The only reason Fields Of Omagh started such a lucrative price ($19) was because of that little line in the racebook: 9yo b g. A nine year old bay gelding!
But age aside, there was no logic to his abandonment by punters. His form going into the race was every bit as good as last year and the feeling was strong that this field was not up to the standard of most other years.
Despite the joy of seeing FOO defy the odds and the statistics, his age is still the reason the 2006 version of the race will ultimately be filed under the heading “weak year” by the hardened experts.
Perhaps El Segundo can frank the form by coming back next year to win it. At six he will surely be young enough.
As owner Don Howell said: “There plenty of time yet.”

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