Horse with south-west connections second in 1865 Melbourne Cup

Sol Green (top left) pictured with his family in the early 1900s.

A champion race horse owned by a Tarrone man may have been given its name for a specific reason.

Panic, owned by Henry Phillips, was narrowly beaten by Toryboy in the 1865 Melbourne Cup.

Before the race was won, Panic bolted quite a distance and had to be retrieved.

Mr Phllips later moved to a property at Purnim - Brian O'Lynn - where Panic is buried.

Several years later, another local horse Comedy King - which was bred and trained by Sol Green at Shipley Stud near Warrnambool's Deakin University - went one better.

Comedy King won the Melbourne Cup in 1910.

This horse's name may have been a nod to its owner.

When one of Mr Green's horses didn't cross the finish line in pole position, the bookmaker was known to tell his customers "I lost on Saturday".

When Comedy King won the race that stops the nation, Mr Green simply told anyone who asked: "On this day, I did not lose."

The prize money on the day was £6178.

In the lead up to the Melbourne Cup, Comedy King caught the flu.

This resulted in his chances of winning going to 10-1.

The training of race horses of yesteryear was chalk and cheese with the practices used today.

The manager of Shipley would allow his children to ride Comedy King into Allansford when they collected the mail.

Comedy King also produced 1919 Melbourne Cup winner Artilleryman and the 1922 Cup winner King Ingoda. He was also crowned Australian Champion stallion in 1920 and 1923.

Koroit's Jim Madden, Melbourne Cup ambassador Des Gleeson, Port Fairy's Damian Gleeson and Wally Sheehan at the launch of the 2023 cup tour. Picture supplied

When the Melbourne Cup is raced on Tuesday, November 7, 2023, Koroit and Port Fairy residents will have an added reason to watch.

The money would go to the Port Fairy Surf Life Saving Club and Koroit Lions Club.

The barriers were drawn in a ballot on Tuesday.

Victoria Racing Club chairman Neil Wilson said the club was looking forward to welcoming the 24 national sweep representatives to Flemington on Lexus Melbourne Cup Day.

"Since its inception, the Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour has travelled to over 600 destinations and helped raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charity and community initiatives," Mr Wilson said.

"The Lexus Melbourne Cup Tour National Sweep is an important annual VRC event, and we look forward to welcoming all 24 town representatives to Flemington to be part of the magic of Lexus Melbourne Cup Day.

"This is the fifth year of the national sweep, and we are delighted to see the $50,000 prize go to meaningful programs in the past four years such as the Royal Flying Doctors in Kangaroo Island, Sunshine in Bendigo and various local initiatives in Bunyip and Gold Coast.

"We can't wait to congratulate the winning town and see which charity this year's donation goes towards."

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