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Chapter Three

The First Comeback

Seven months after his first operation, having trialled nicely at Camperdown with Michelle aboard, Prince Of Penzance resumed in a 1410-metre contest at Flemington.

It was not an easy race for Michelle. Prince Of Penzance was caught wide throughout, finishing an unspectacular but solid seventh. The winner of the race was Sistine Demon, who Michelle had ridden to Donald and Moonee Valley victories at her two previous starts.

She’d had the choice of rides — she chose her boy.

And while on the day it must’ve hurt a little, her decision was quickly endorsed, Prince Of Penzance two weeks later stepping up to 1600 metres at Moonee Valley where, as favourite, he recorded his fourth and easiest win to date.

Joining in at the turn from midfield, Prince Of Penzance quickly rounded up his rivals, racing away by 2 3/4 lengths.

‘Prince Of Penzance is coming on very strongly,’ called the course broadcaster. ‘Here comes the Prince, he said see you later boys!’

‘He tracked into the race beautifully,’ Michelle Payne reported, ‘and he really hit the line well.’

‘He is a really nice progressive sort of horse,’ said Darren Weir, telling reporters that summer features, such as the Mornington Cup, were on the agenda.

Deane Lester, on the following morning’s Correct Weight show on RSN radio, said that ‘probably the most impressive winner of the day was Prince Of Penzance’.

Beaten but hardly disgraced when second as equal favourite over 1720 metres at his next start at Flemington, Prince Of Penzance got well back off a slow start, finishing off nicely.

Next came Prince Of Penzance’s first crack at a stakes race, the Listed Mornington Cup Prelude that in previous years had been run as the Victoria Gold Cup.

Contested over 2000 metres at Caulfield, the race attracted a field of eleven, with the Gai Waterhouse trained Laidback Larry, who had won four in a row, a hot odds-on favourite.

Prince Of Penzance’s owners were excited, though brought back to earth a little when in the race before his the lightly raced filly Kiss A Rose collapsed and died in the mounting yard, most likely from heart failure.

‘We just thought about those owners,’ Sam Brown said, ‘how shattering it was, how much grief they must have been feeling. My motto had always been to celebrate every win like it is your last. You never know what is around the corner in this game.’

Settling around midfield along the rails in the $120,000 race, Prince Of Penzance was at times a little keen, with the favourite getting his own way in front. There is a danger, in slowly run races, of horses getting caught up in the ruck, but Michelle had her horse sliding away from the fence in plenty of time.

Approaching the turn Prince Of Penzance was putting himself into the race, and a vocal group of owners watching from the mounting yard began to scream, ‘Go Prince, c’mon Prince, this is your chance!’

At the 300 metres he was third, with Oregon Spirit on his outside who for a few strides appeared to be travelling a little better. At the 200 metres the pair began to draw clear. For a hundred exciting, nail-biting metres it was a battle between two determined horses.

But it was Prince Of Penzance who most wanted the win. From the 100 metres he got away from his rivals, and as he crossed the line a 3/4 length in front, racegoers got a taste of how this horse’s owners could celebrate … loudly and enthusiastically!

‘A Listed win — we thought that was the achievement of a horse’s lifetime,’ enthused Andrew Broadfoot.

Michelle was beaming, her faith in the horse justified. ‘Right from the start he showed me that he had above-average ability, and he just keeps showing it at every start.’

‘He won in good fashion,’ Darren Weir said. ‘He is starting to put it together now. He did a few things wrong, but he is not over-racing as badly as he used to. He has had a couple of runs at 2000 metres now and won them both. Hopefully when he gets to a mile and a half he will be even better.’

Prince Of Penzance’s owners celebrated that night, their pride and joy was now a stakes winner. Sam Brown remembers being out late with Arthur Rickard and Darren Lonsdale, trophy in hand.

‘After a few bottles of red in celebration we sent Arthur home in the back of the taxi with the trophy. We laughed so hard when a message came in the next morning from the Weir stable; “Does anyone know the whereabouts of the trophy?”’

The next morning Prince Of Penzance was discussed on RSN radio, again on the Correct Weight show. ‘He is a beauty,’ said Warren Huntly, ‘it was a terrific win from a really promising horse.’ Deane Lester agreed, noting that ‘he is a young up-and-comer who looks as though the further he goes the better he will be’.

A couple of options awaited Prince Of Penzance: the Mornington Cup and the Launceston Cup. Darren Weir could see the benefits of both, a trip interstate likely to ‘make him grow up a bit, flying there and staying in a different stable’.

‘But the Mornington Cup gives you free entry into the Caulfield Cup, so we will need to sit down and think seriously about it.’

In the back of Darren’s mind was the fact that he had never enjoyed the best of times at Mornington … ‘I just don’t have any luck there; my horses just don’t seem to race well there for some reason.’

Nevertheless, the Mornington Cup was chosen as Prince Of Penzance’s next assignment, with connections looking forward to seeing what he could do stepping up to 2400 metres for the first time.

A big crowd was in attendance, Michael Wilson a bit in awe — ‘How’s this,’ he said to his fellow owners, ‘all these people coming here today to see our horse race!’

The owners took their place in the grandstand. John Richards at the time was having troubles with his eyes and struggled to see. David Wilson sitting next to him described the race: ‘He’s in front, he’s in with a chance.’

However, Prince Of Penzance had again wanted to race a little keenly and this was harder to get away with in a longer race. He had hit the lead, and while others were able to catch him late he fought on strongly to finish fourth, beaten less than a length.

While he was game, connections could not help but feel a little discouraged. His lead up form had been great, he was a short 2–1 favourite. ‘I have never seen Weiry so disappointed,’ Sam Brown recalled, adding that, ‘we hated being favourite; there was so much pressure, so much expectation.’

Another Listed race was next for Prince Of Penzance: the Roy Higgins Quality, run over 2600 metres at Flemington in honour of one of the country’s finest ever jockeys.

Again favourite, Prince Of Penzance sat third-last and ran on well, the winner Cooldini having enjoyed the advantage of being closer up during the running.

A couple of weeks later, Prince Of Penzance was again sore and back to Ballarat, Dr Ian Fulton performing surgery on both front fetlocks, bone chips again the issue.

Another period of recuperation followed and again connections had to wonder if their champ would make it back … and if he did, would he be the same horse?

He did not take long to answer that question.