Anzac Day triggered memories of tough, battle-fit horses from a bygone era, but fresh in the minds of the O'Leary family were thoughts of their own warhorse, Who Shot Thebarman.
Owned by Whanganui dairy farming brothers Dan, Humphrey, Michael, Shaun and their respective wives, their eight-year-old campaigner ran a gallantsecond in the rescheduled running of the $A2 million Sydney Cup at Randwick last Saturday.
The time-honoured event had started two weeks earlier, but only six horses finished with their jockeys unaware the race had been called off after Almoonqith was fatally injured and Who Shot Thebarman lost his rider.
Rider Blake Shinn and Who Shot Thebarman came through well enough to line up in the 3200-metre event again on Saturday. The race was won by Polarisation, who had also been first past the post a fortnight earlier.
That strange sequence of events aside, the O'Leary brothers and expat Kiwi trainer Chris Waller have sent the galloper to the spelling paddock with eyes firmly fixed on spring riches in Melbourne.
"We are looking at aiming him at the Moonee Valley Cup, a race he ran second in last year to stablemate Grand Marshal who ironically beat in the Sydney Cup a couple of years back," Humphrey O'Leary said.
"Saturday was his fourth crack at the Sydney Cup and he will definitely have a go at his fourth Melbourne Cup in November. He was a very happy horse after Saturday's race. It was really only the weight that beat him on Saturday."
A fourth attempt at the Melbourne Cup holds no fears for the O'Leary lads, despite the words of recently retired legendary jockey Noel Harris.
"Noel said in his book that good horses racing at the top level only last about 18 months - we've been at the top four years now. Harry won three Wellington Cups on the mighty Castletown and in total Castletown ran in 15 two mile events, we have only raced in eight, so we have a few up our sleeve.
"To bounce back and run second last Saturday after that sequence of events showed courage and just how good a horse our boy is. He will be nine by the time he races again this spring, but we don't think that will worry him one bit."
And Humphrey and his wife Fiona are hoping to become rescheduled race experts with their own mare Ladies First this winter.
The daughter of Dylan Thomas has won four of her seven starts from Allan Sharrock's New Plymouth stable and he's eyeing next month's Listed James Bull Rangitikei Gold Cup at Awapuni for the four-year-old.
But longer range plans are for the Listed Wanganui Cup, a race that was abandoned last year after the track was deemed unsafe earlier in the programme.
"We seem to have luck in rescheduled races, so who knows?" O'Leary said.
