Flemington

20 A STORY FROM THE VAULT Four years later these rival clubs disbanded, and the new Victoria Racing Club took their place. In those days it was the Cup that opened the spring racing carnival. Over three consecutive days in 1864 the brown colt Lantern won the Melbourne Cup, the VRC’s first Derby and the one-mile Publicans’ Purse. The actual name “Victoria Derby” first appeared in 1868, with the race switched to New Year’s Day. This explains how the champion colt Fireworks appears twice in the record books as the Derby winner, for he had already won the VRC Derby the previous spring. But spring in Melbourne was where the Derby rightly belonged. The VRC returned the Derby to spring after the following racing season, and for the first time it was scheduled for the Saturday before the Melbourne Cup. And this explains why there are two names on the Victoria Derby winners’ list for 1869. The filly My Dream won on New Year’s Day, and the colt Charon won the version in spring. Indeed Charon’s Victoria Derby became the first to open a four-day Melbourne Cup Carnival, much as we know it today. Weather: glorious (not always guaranteed). Costumes: elegant, brilliant. The sport: ‘capital’. Derby Day at Flemington. 1929 Victoria Derby Presentation to the winner Phar Lap and trainer Harry Telford. (VRC Collection)