Caption: Sandown Park Greyhound Club chairman Neil Brown

Melbourne Cup (515M)

Sandown Park

Saturday, November 26, 2022

By PAT McLEOD

Start talking ‘Melbourne Cup’ with Neil Brown and almost immediately you understand why the greyhound version has its own unique aura.

Brown is chairman of race hosts, Sandown Park, but his passion and lived experience of Australia’s most prestigious greyhound race dates back decades before he stepped into that role in 2017.

He was a kid of 15 when his eyes widened at his first look at the Melbourne Cup. He has not missed one since.

“It has maintained its tradition,” he says. “It is still the race that owners and trainers across the country want to win. It has history … amazing history.”

The stories then start to roll, about the great dogs, the promotions, the people. Nothing sounds ordinary or mundane about the Melbourne Cup.

Of course, any highlights reel from a major event that has been around for a while will impress, but when Brown dives into his memory bank of Melbourne Cup clips it is difficult not to be captivated.

Let’s start with movie stars and then the giveaway gold Mercedes-Benz.

“The promotions for the Melbourne Cup over the years have been incredible,” he says. “In the ‘70s we had Robert Stack, from The Untouchables (a massive movie celebrity back in the day).

“He presented the trophy, but I think the club had to build him his own dressing room at Sandown Park.

“The following year it was the stunning, vivacious movie star Elke Sommer (Google her!) She went over a real treat. The place was packed to gunnels that night.

“Another year Greg Norman made the presentation. He had won an Australian Open and wasn’t yet quite the international golfing superstar that he became. At the time I was told he was paid ‘a monkey ($500) in cash’.    

“I reckon they wouldn’t get him for a monkey anymore.

“For the 25^th anniversary race (1971) the club gave away a gold Mercedes-Benz. Yep, they drove it around the track and some lucky patron drove it home.

“And of course we have had someone jumping out of a plane and parachuting in. There have also been motorbikes doing crazy stunts.

“Melbourne Cup night is a magic night and I don’t know anyone who has been there and hasn’t really enjoyed it. The crowds, especially going back a few years, were massive – more than 10,000.”

But the glitz and glamour that has surrounded the greyhound Melbourne Cup is just the appetiser. The dogs have always been the superstars and Brown has played a cameo in so many of their appearances.

“My eldest daughter Emma is 40 this year. When she was one my wife and I were checking out childcare for her and we went to a place at Noble Park, close to where we lived. When I pulled up, a bloke walked down the driveway with two greyhounds. I said to my wife: ‘This place will be just fine’.

“The bloke was John Weston, and his wife Margaret ran the childcare. John was a greyhound trainer and would often host inter-state trainers.

“A few weeks later Queensland trainer Peter Denaro brought his dog Rustic Venture to stay with the Westons. I got to know Peter well as we chatted each morning when I dropped off Emma.

“Rustic Venture made it through to the Melbourne Cup final and on the night of the cup we were barracking for Peter’s dog and backed it as well. It got up and we celebrated back at John’s house until about four o’clock in the morning. It was the first time I had been close up to the actual Cup. In fact we were drinking out of it that night.”

Brown owned and trained dogs for many years, just a couple at a time at his house in Springvale.

“I contested a maiden series at Bendigo. My two dogs qualified and I had boxes one and two. A dog called Highly Blessed was in the three,” says Brown.

“Well one of my dogs led the entire way … except for the final 25metres. Highly Blessed flew home to win. On the way home I remember saying ‘that dog (Highly Blessed) will probably turn out OK’.

“And she did. She won the 1990 Melbourne Cup and became a superstar.

“Of course one of the great Melbourne Cup finishes was when Dyna Double One ran down the great Fernando Bale to win the 2015 Melbourne Cup. I was standing beside the late Paul Wheeler, who owned them both, that night.

“What an amazing race and finish.”

Looking through the Honour Roll since the first Melbourne Cup in 1956 – won by Rocketeer – the greats of the industry appear, year after year.

Brown applauds the addition of new major races on the greyhound calendar such as The Million Dollar Chase and The Phoenix, but says the Melbourne Cup will always have its special place within the industry.

“The other races are great and it is fantastic to have them now on the calendar, but they don’t have the history of the Melbourne Cup,” he says.

“The Melbourne Cup still holds that special place because of its longevity and its tradition. It has always held that iconic position on the calendar.

“The race this year is worth one million dollars with $650,000 to the winner. I remember when it was $150,000 and to see it at this level is just blows your mind.”

Brown joined the Sandown Park Board in 2001 and had a lengthy stint as deputy chairman before taking over the top role.

For him, the Melbourne Cup still leaves him wide-eyed. The boyish excitement brought on by this special night hasn’t lessened.

“It’s just magical,” he says.