ometimes when researching articles for the magazine you come across something that stands out. We take form guides for granted these days, but they were not always available in yesteryear. Great papers like The Sportsman and The Sporting Globe filled this need. Even then, there are things that just are special, and the following is one of those for me. It is an extract from a Melbourne Cup Supplement in the Perth Daily News on Monday 31 October 1936 and written by the racing analyst that went by the name of Trenton. He did quite a remarkable job in the days before videos or race footage were available. His assessment of eventual winner, the 100/1 chance Wotan might not have been his finest moment, but then again he was in good company. A field of 20 lined up for the Cup with Talking, the VRC Derby winner the hot fancy at 3/1. I have included the prices against each of the runners together with their finishing positions. Wotan settled last in the race, a long way behind the tearaway leader, Young Crusader who at one stage was 20 lengths clear of the second horse. No-one could argue that Wotan’s was a lucky win though. He gave every runner a start and a beating, and did it in a time of 3.21.25 which was not
