Community
28 August, 2024
Two-time winning jockey brings Melbourne Cup to Gregory
John Letts was full of praise for the small Gulf community.
Melbourne Cup icon John Letts says he had a ball in Gregory as he took Australia’s most iconic trophy to the remote Gulf outpost.
Letts, who won two Cups as a jockey and is perhaps better known for his post-race interviews on his old favourite ‘Banjo’, said he was thrilled to add another location to his journey of travels as the official Melbourne Cup ambassador.
“It’s been unbelievable,” Letts told North West Weekly on Friday, the morning after a day and night of activities in Gregory.
“The response we get is just exceptional. I always find that I get entertained more than I entertain them!”
While there might be better races on the Australian calendar, Letts says there is none bigger than the Melbourne Cup, held on the first Tuesday in November each year in what is known as the “race that stops a nation”.
“I won the Melbourne Cup in 1980 on Beldale Ball for (leviathan British businessman and owner) Robert Sangster and on the Saturday before the race I told him that he would win the Cup,” Letts said.
“He said, ‘John, it’s a two-mile handicap. I’ve won the Arc de Triomphe, I’ve won the English Derby, I’ve won big races in America ... I’ve won them around the world’ and I told him that the Melbourne Cup would be something different.
“I met him on the Wednesday after Beldale Ball won and we were sitting down having a coffee and I said to Robert, ‘what do you think of the Melbourne Cup?’
“He said, ‘this is the greatest race in the world’.”
Letts said the impact of the Cup was felt far and wide throughout the world and in far flung places like Gregory.
“We had a function last night at the racetrack and nobody wanted to go home,” he said.
“The ladies were fantastic; they just put on a spread that you would expect in one of the best hotels in a big city.
“What I loved was the night was all about the community and it was all done by volunteers. No one was brought in to supply the food; it was all done by locals.”
Letts added: “What I found interesting is that you go to a place like Gregory and there are locals who are actually Melbourne Cup collectors.
“They had collected all the write-ups from the Melbourne Cup and they were all on display ... they had the racing colours around the walls, so they know their racing.”
It was a busy day in Gregory as photos were taken at dawn at the racetrack, and at the river where billy tea and camp oven scones were served up for Letts and Victorian Racing Club representative Trish Burke.
A highlight for the visitors was seeing the Royal Flying Doctor Service plane land as the team arrived for their weekly clinic.
The Gregory Downs Jockey Club has nominated the RFDS as its charity of choice. Should luck go their way on Melbourne Cup day this year, $50,000 would be donated from the Victorian Racing Club to the RFDS.
