THE termination of a ship’s career in her nation’s armed forces is an event defined by both a sense of immense historical significance and profound emotional ambiguity.
A celebration of service and achievement, it also marks the passing of an era.
It represents the final acknowledgement that despite a distinguished and often lengthy period of service, a once grand lady of the ocean has reached the end of her productive life.
Moonee Valley’s demise as a harness racing venue shares all the hallmarks of a maritime decommissioning.
Once a shining beacon in the night, the venue’s glamorous facade has inevitably faded over almost three and a half decades. The external cracks have widened, the rust eroded its core.
And much like its seafaring counterpart, which was launched with the grandest fanfare, ceremony and anticipation, the time has come to strike eight bells, haul down the colours and secure the watch.
Or in the case of our much-loved meeting place, to watch the replay over a final beer, have one last laugh and close the tailgate on a chapter of golden memories.
For those who at one time or another have experienced a magic “Valley” moment, the track’s February 6 finale evoked a sense of nostalgic mourning.
Moonee Valley was synonymous with Victorian harness racing since 1976 when it replaced the iconic Melbourne Showgrounds as the State’s metropolitan home.
They were gigantic boots to fill, but just over 27,000 industry diehards gave the new 800-metre track their stamp of approval at its opening meeting on October 30, signalling the start of something truly special.
What ensued was the building of a legend that will survive long after the all-clear has been semaphored on “Money” Valley’s reign as our premier harness venue.
Individual recollections of the spectacular course and its unparalleled views of the Melbourne city skyline by night are sure to vary as widely as opinions over the finest horse, driver and deed to compete or materialise there.
And with names like Gordon Rothacker, Popular Alm, Vin Knight, Pure Steel, Gavin Lang and Courage Under Fire just a few to grace the course at the pinnacle of their respective careers, it would be folly to question any individual’s subjective view of The Valley’s defining performer or performance.
Suffice to say The Valley Of Dreams – both fulfilled and broken – will leave an indelible mark on all who have ridden its roller coaster as an owner, breeder, trainer, driver, punter or journo.
Not to mention the venue’s many patrons, who’s first and perhaps only harness racing experience was the ultimate – watching the best of the best compete in a Hunter Cup, Inter Dominion, Victoria Cup or Derby under the bright lights at “the action attraction”.
Moonee Valley became redundant only in the wake of the development of Tabcorp Park at Melton, a purpose-built racing and entertainment complex which is wholly-owned and operated by the industry.
Tabcorp Park marks the fulfilment of Harness Racing Victoria’s dream to be master of its own destiny, an ambition which could never have materialised while sharing tenancy at a dual code course.
This fact, combined with the need to keep abreast of perpetually evolving developments in track design, led the HRV Board to negotiate its way out of a long-term contract with the Moonee Valley Racing Club and cease operations at the McPherson Street site adjoining trendy downtown Moonee Ponds.
Harness fans farewelled the Valley on February 6 where Bondy claimed the BIG6 Hunter Cup, Sundons Gift made it back-to-back Inter Dominion trotting crowns and Courage To Rule provided an Alabar Victoria Derby upset.
They were among the many highlights on a sensational evening that saw almost 20,000 people turn out, most of whom at one stage or another reminisced of their fondest Valley memories.
Three of Victorian harness racing’s top trainer-drivers share some of their fondest Moonee Valley Memories:
BRIAN GATH
“I spoke to Chris Alford about it one night and said, ‘ I think we’re going to miss this place’ and he said, ‘yeah, I think we are’.
It’s been very good to me and very good to a lot of people in the sport. I was so pleased when we moved there and I am a bit sad we’re moving out, but the memories are great.
I was the leading trainer and the leading driver there in the early years, which I’ll always treasure.
Markovina was a super horse and he gave us a lot of pleasure especially his win on opening night there. Everyone was waiting for opening night and we kept him for that race and all the greatest horses in the land were there – Paleface Adios and Pure Steel and others – and he put up a big run and was lucky enough to win.
The Victoria Cup wins were all good. Sinbad Bay (1989) was a super run, he was a great horse, and I’ll never forget the night (1992) Franco Ice parked outside Westburn Grant and was too strong in the run home. Shakamaker (2001) was a great run too, they were great memories those Victoria Cups, just terrific.
Koala King was a good little boy to me. He eventually won a Hunter Cup. I was actually engaged to drive him in two early ones because Brian Hancock was under suspension and I think he won an appeal on each one of them and I didn’t get to drive him. When my turn came up I thought third time lucky and he won. He got the split and he won well. He was a good pony.
There are other great memories too. Oscar Le Vant won the final of the Sires and then he won the Breeders Crown final there. That was great because we bred him and a few of my good owners owned him with me, so that was a very exciting time for us.
Old Harley Hanover gave us a lot of pleasure too. He kept going for many years and he was a terrific horse.
I liked winning an M0 there. It’s all good fun when you win. It’s not too often I go down there and don’t go close to winning a race.
What a sad thing to be leaving this place, but we’ve got a great track in Melton now.”
GAVIN LANG
Moonee Valley’s been a second home for a long time now and provided some great memories.
Like the night Preux Chevalier won the Inter Dominion when they locked the gates, it was a full house, and dad had been asked to time trial Scotch Notch.
I only drove the pacemaker, but they went just over 55 (1:55.6) for the mile and the reception she got when we came back – like I say, it was a nothing event, it was only a time trial and I was just a small part of it – but it really raised the hair on the back of my neck to come back to that reception.
She was a special horse to our family and the crowd really showed their appreciation that night. I think she got bigger applause than Preux Chevalier did for winning the Inter Dominion.
What she did and the controversy surrounding Preux Chevalier even starting in the Inter Dominion – there was reports he was crook leading up – it just made for a fantastic night and I’m sure that a lot of people will remember that night for a long time.
I also had a great association with True Roman and he’s the winningest horse there (with 35 wins). Sixty or 70 races he won (in total), he was a great trotter in his time and won nearly every feature there was including the Inter Dominion.
I remember he’d won his heat leading up to the final, and it was back in the days when we had one row across the front line, and we felt if we drew well we’d be reasonably hard to beat, but we drew the outside barrier.
Immediately we thought our chances were forlorn but the arms folded back and he speared off the gate, I went straight to the front and it became a procession after that. From having a feeling that maybe the barrier draw had decided our fate, it worked in our favour.
I was associated with that horse from when he was two to when he finished his career at 12, so that was one of the great nights I’ve had there.
The (2007) Victoria Cup win with Robin Hood was also great. That was when EI (Equine Influenza) was about and stopped a lot of the New Zealand and interstate horses entering Victoria, but he won.
It was a great feeling to win what’s regarded one of our top races in Victoria with a horse owned by some people I’ve known for a lifetime and trained by a loyal person to me in Peter Tonkin. It was a great race to win on many fronts.
LANCE JUSTICE
“I first came over from South Australia the weekend that Shakamaker won the Inter Dominion final and I was with (wife) Dianne and we went through central Victoria and stopped at Bendigo an looked at the northern regions for properties, but we stayed at (brother) John’s place and I said to Dianne if we’re coming to live in Melbourne and we want to race at Moonee Valley we don’t really want to be stationed two hours away from Moonee Valley.
If we’re going to be Moonee Valley trainers we want to be stationed as close as we can possibly get to it, so we moved to Melton and I only set myself one goal and that was to win the trainer’s premiership at Moonee Valley.
To have won it three times is really special because the legends that have raced at Moonee Valley – your Maori’s Idols, Pure Steels, Gammalites, Popular Alms, Sokyolas and Shakamakers – make it a place that has a certain aura.
Safe And Sound really started off my roll of good races at Moonee Valley. John (trainer) put me on standby to drive him, which I was quite happy to do, and to outsprint Shakamaker – we all know how good Shakamaker was – was just a fantastic win. If someone had have told me I’d be last with 200 metres to go and two lengths behind Shakamaker and would run him down I wouldn’t have believed them, but he did it.
The amount of wins that Sokyola had there was amazing. He loved the Valley, really appreciated the circuit.
The (2004) Victoria Cup was one of my great wins there with him. It was such a soft win and he did it so easy. The thing that made it so special was the fact that at the time he was in a zone and it didn’t matter (who else was in the race), he was never going to lose.
Soky’s last win there was another highlight. He had mixed form leading into the race and we took him to Adelaide and he only just won over there and I very nearly pulled the pin after that and said that was his last start, but we nominated for Moonee Valley and pushed ahead for the party.
Fortunately he was good enough to do it for us. It was just a fantastic way for him to finish off at Moonee Valley.”
