Flemington

22 A STORY FROM THE VAULT His owner, Frank Shillabeer, was a wealthy building contractor, chairman of the Victorian Club in the city and a committeeman at Williamstown Racing Club. He announced that his favourite would spend retirement in ‘quiet and contentment’. Instead the popular Shadow King was back at Flemington on Melbourne Cup Day 1936 – in his new role as a police trooper’s mount. Ridden by Mounted Constable Roy Cameron, Old Shadow patrolled the steeplechase track behind the winning post. He returned to Flemington in this official capacity for the next three Melbourne Cups, to the cheers of the racing public. Stabled at the police barracks in St Kilda Road, he similarly officiated at other race meetings and undertook regular mounted police duties. A story arose after his death that Shadow King was neglected in his final years, but this is not so. He continued police work until at eighteen, in declining health, he was retired permanently to the Police Paddock, now Bundoora Park, under the supervision of Senior Constable Joseph Haygarth. Despite all care, Shadow King’s condition deteriorated and he was euthanised the following August, 1944. Shadow King was honoured in death, buried next to the great racehorse and sire Wallace, son of Carbine, from the days when Bundoora Park was a leading stud farm. Victoria Police immediately erected a memorial stone over the grave. The Heritage Park site can still be visited by the public today. Finish of the 1931 Melbourne Cup. Shadow King places second to winner White Nose. (Australian Racing Museum)