The Scone committee organising a celebration for mid October, coinciding with a visit of the Cup to be presented to the owners of the winner of this year’s 150th anniversary Melbourne Cup at Flemington,  have arranged for three of the trophies secured by past winners of the race to be on show.

The most recent is the one collected by New Zealand bred Kensei in 1987 and it is being supplied by one of his owners Russ Lazarus, then a resident in Sydney but now at his Sutton Farm horse complex at Middlebrook, Scone.

Kensei’s Cup is to share the limelight with those earned earlier in the century by two Melbourne Cup winners bred in the Hunter Valley, namely Poitrel (1920 under ten stone) and the grand mare Evening Peal (1956).

A horse with shelly feet and a parrot mouth, Poitrel was bred and raced by the Moses brothers at their Arrowfield stud, now Coolmore, at Jerrys Plains. He won 17 races and sired some good winners.

Also a triple Oaks winner, the Delville Wood mare Evening Peal won her Cup in equal race record time but only narrowly from runner up Redcraze (10 stone 3 pounds) and third placed Caranna, an AJC Derby and Rosehill Guineas winner and later a Sydney and Brisbane Cup runner up.

The result of this Cup was one of the greatest triumphs in history for north western NSW owners who were representatives of great pioneer pastoral families.

Evening Peal was raced by Mr and Mrs Rex White of the Manilla-Barraba region and half length third place Caranna was bred and raced by his breeders, the Cobcroft brothers of Parraweena near Willow Tree.

Thrilled by Caranna’s efforts were two sons of one of the brothers, Gavin, who went on to be leading horsemen from their base at Parraweena, John and Brien Cobcroft.

Deceased in late 2005 at the age of 65, the youngest son John, became a prominent racehorse breeder, owner and racing administrator, while his brother Brien, a sad loss when he died at 75 this month, was one of Australia’s most accomplished equestrians.

He represented twice at Oympic Games, winning Bronze in the three day event at Mexico City in 1968.

Also prominent in polo and cutting competitions and equine industry affairs, Brien’s Olympic representation was honoured by the residents of the Willow Tree region by a grove of trees and a monument. His death, by the way, followed closely on that of John’s wife Denise.

Elle, the mother of John and Brien Cobcroft, was a sister to Reg Moses, one of three owners of Star Kingdom, and among the offspring of one the brothers who owned Poitrel. Reg’s son Reg ‘Tiggy’ Moses, also a fine horseman, also passed away recently.