OUR HERO
Ex-racehorse turned icon It was 1992, and a rainy, muddy Melbourne Cup day when Subzero streaked first past the winning post, writes JO MCKINNON, of the horse that’s gone on to win hearts all over the world.
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hat Graham Salisbury still remembers about his old mate Subbie, is that even during his racing career, he was a kind and gentle horse. Says Graham, who worked at Flemington as a Clerk of the Course: “When I first saw him at the races, I would get up alongside him on the way to the barrier and I would pat his head, around his legs and on the rump and there was absolutely no dirt in him. He was a beautiful horse with a nice big eye.” The Clerk of the Course horses that accompany the racehorses to the barriers are traditionally grey, and Graham kept his eye on the kind grey. When Subbie retired, after a stellar career of 48 starts and six wins including three Group 1s and winning just over $2 million – Graham’s long held dream of snaring him as a Clerk of the Course mount finally came true. With Subbie’s racing career over and after receiving permission from Subbie’s owners, his trainer Lee Freedman agreed to rehome the horse with Graham. To ‘formalise’ the arrangement the group asked Graham to pay them a dollar for the horse and sign a piece of paper. That agreement still sits in pride of place in a frame on his wall at home. 27 years on, and I can still remember that wet, muddy day when Subbie won the
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3,200metre race. He’s fascinated not just me but multitudes of others ever since. Not because of those racetrack heroics long ago – exciting as they were – but for the extraordinary life he’s led since, contributing to and connecting with the community in his unique fashion. Former champion jockey Greg Hall, who was his regular partner in the saddle and rode him to victory in Australia’s greatest race, lights up whenever he’s invited to talk about this equine hero. “He’s my favourite horse,” says Greg, “and he gave me my greatest gift, a Melbourne Cup. But it’s quite extraordinary what he’s gone on to do since. He just loves people. Someone said to me once, I wonder if you could replace him and I said you could never replace him. They’ll never find another horse like him in the world.” Subbie’s service to humankind – visiting hospitals, nursing homes and all manner of public places, has made him one of the world’s most loved Thoroughbreds. The incredible popularity he enjoys was evident in the depths of winter this year when he was suddenly fighting for his life at the Bendigo Equine Hospital after a bout of colic. Social media went into meltdown with updates and well wishes shared. Nobody could bear the thought of losing him. The
HORSEVIBES MAGAZINE - NOVEMBER 2019
vet clinic received get well cards and phone calls from people all over the world wanting to know if he was okay. Miraculously, and thanks to the unwavering dedication of veterinarian Dr Sarah Jalim, he survived the episode to see in his 31st birthday on August 1. “For a thoroughbred to get to 31 is absolutely outstanding and I think that’s because he’s a tough horse who has been looked after spectacularly well,” says Sarah, who thoroughly enjoyed nursing the gentle Subbie back to health. As I write this, Subbie is enjoying the peak of spring back at Graham’s home in Central Victoria where Graham is enduring his own set of serious health challenges with cancer. “I reckon if he could talk, he would say it’s great to be home. The old bloke is going better than me. He’ll outdo me at this rate,” he jokes, although it’s not a joke that sits well with me. Because this pair – horse and human – are inseparable, and they’ve been that way since Subbie’s retirement in 1993. It’s impossible to imagine one without the other. For the next 17 years after Subbie’s retirement from racing, Graham’s partner as a Clerk of the Course horse went on to work at race meetings all over the state of Victoria,
