The back page of the Riverine Herald after the Flying Card’s win at Echuca.
Ahead of Echuca Racing Club’s Melbourne Cup meeting on November 2, sports journalist Meg Saultry looks back on former Tatura trainer Rob Ibrhaim’s win at the local track in 2000 with Flying Card.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Speaking from his home in Sebastopol, Ron Ibrhaim remembers letting rip a few choice words when jockey Lucas Dawson put his mare Flying Card in a front-running position during the Bundaberg Rum Redgum Cup class two handicap over 1600m in 2000.
Contesting the biggest race of the day at Echuca Racing Club’s Melbourne Cup day meeting, the then-Tatura trainer said he always liked Flying Card to come from behind.
“I know Lucas very well, and they get to the half mile and Lucas goes in front and I start swearing,” Ibrhaim said with a laugh.
“I had my wife (Iona) beside me on the fence beside the winning post, and I’m still swearing half way down the straight and all of a sudden I realise I better stop swearing because he was going further away from them.”
Dawson and Flying Card came flying home to win the cup by two lengths, and following the race, Ibrhaim went on to ask Dawson what had happened. Dawson’s response: “They were going too slow”.
Ron and Iola Ibrhaim moved away from Tatura in 2017.
Photo by
Contributed
The victory was Flying Card’s third win from 33 career starts, though Ibrhaim said it was a muted celebration that night.
“My celebration is just knowing we had trained a winner and put in the work,” he said.
“It was Melbourne Cup day which makes it a bit special.
“The next day we were back on the farm, and someone told use we were on the back page of the Echuca paper; well of course, I went and got a couple copies.”
While this year’s Melbourne Cup day at Echuca will fall silent without a crowd, Ibrhaim said the masses in 2000 added plenty of atmosphere to the day’s proceedings.
“It’s a big race day at Echuca, and even in the bush, you’d have people come around and look at you saddling up, and you might have a 20-1 chance but someone would come up and say, ”I’ve got $10 on this horse“ and have a talk to you,” he said.
As an wner-trainers, Ibrhaim remembers buying Flying Card for “not much money”, and said she was a “very well-bred horse but small”.
“She was very gentle and easy to handle,” he said.
“Anyone could ride, she was just so placid, like a kid’s pony.”
Moving to a farm in Tatura after their retirement, the Ibrhaim’s had two horses, with only one ever in work at a time.
Their second horse Razor Rose had four starts before she broke down, though showed plenty in her short career.
“Her last start was Melbourne Cup day at Wangaratta a couple years later (from 2000) before she broke down,” Ibrhaim said.
“She was going to be a good horse, and was never further back than fourth.”
Ibrhaim said he had enjoyed his time as part of the racing community, though concedes racing had changed a lot since his time in the game.
“I did it because I liked being with the horses, and you might break even,” he said.
“If you went to the Camperdown races, there was bush trainers and horses, and now you go there and David Hayes or young Matt Cumani are there with good horses.
“But I’ve got a friend, and they bought a horse for $600 a while ago, Curran and it’s won in town, so there is always a chance for someone to get a cheap horse somewhere.”
