MV On Track 2018

ON TRACK MAGAZINE 33 “‘Cassidy controls the Cox Plate’. That was the biggest compliment I’ve ever heard from a caller... because it’s exactly as I planned it.” “At the 400 metres, Jimmy’s calling on the big horse… Jimmy lets him go on the turn. It’s Might and Power, two and three in front of Tycoon Lil. Northern Drake down the outside. Tycoon Lil can’t go on. Might and Power in front. He’s gonna get it! THE EARTH STARTS TO RUMBLE! Might and Power takes the Cox Plate!” Might and Power won in 2 minutes 3.5 seconds, beating the Cox Plate record set by the great Saintly in 1996 by almost two seconds. That equates to about 14 lengths. The record stood until Winx won the second of her three Cox Plates in 2016. “I’ve felt pressure over the last two weeks, but I think I handled it better than most jockeys,” Cassidy told reporters afterwards. “I try to use it to my advantage. But the Cox Plate really was do-or-die for me. I couldn’t afford to stuff it up. They wanted to play stockcars early — but I played back.” That’s what Pumper said to the press. They didn’t hear what he said to Dye: “You did all the talking early in the week, mate, but I did all the riding today”. Denham had not spoken a single syllable to the press for more than 20 years. But now he had something to say. “Might and Power just breaks their hearts and he nearly broke mine,” Denham said, tearing up. At the presentation, Cassidy was handed an oversized bottle of champagne and sprayed it over the throng of people like a victorious racecar driver on the winner’s podium. So, here we are, 20 years on, and Cassidy remembers that moment like it’s just happened — despite everything that’s happened to him since. Ask him what stands out the most and he says this: “The crowd. They were hanging over the fence, just going berserk. They all wanted a piece of him. I’ve never seen anything like it and it’s only something you can feel at a track like The Valley. We came into the No.1 enclosure and I looked up at the sea of faces. It was like being at the MCG”. AndrewWebster is the co-author of Pumper with Jim Cassidy , available at all good book stores.