Whips are worth keeping Gold-plated gift is a bonus for winning Cup jockeys By Keith Platt THERE is a good chance that over the past 22 years Brian Hartung has met more Melbourne Cup-winning jockeys than anybody else. While most attention is focused on the winning horse, the cup presentation, owners and prizemoney, Mr Hartung each year presents a gold-plated whip to the jockey who is first past the post. The whips have become sought-after racing memorabilia, with one used by Phar Lap’s jockey Jim Pike in the 1930 Cup being auctioned in 2000 for $36,000. Another was due to go on the auction block this month with an estimated price of $10,000-$15,000. The Wirths Whip is handed over the day after the Cup, in recent years at a ceremony held at Crown Casino. Last year’s winner, French jockey Christophe Lemaire, who rode Dunaden, flew out of Australia straight after the race and was handed his Wirths Whip in Mumbai, India, during a Super Trade Mission to the subcontinent led by Premier Ted Baillieu. Victoria Racing Club vice-president Amanda Elliott, who was part of the trade delegation, made the belated presentation. This year’s winner Brett Prebble rode the Lloyd Williams-owned stallion Green Moon to victory. Also an import for the race from Hong Kong, Prebble was able to put off his overseas commitments long enough to accept the whip from Mr Hartung. “We only spoke for about two seconds, but he wanted to know who made the whip,” Mr Hartung said the following day while sitting in his Shoreham house. Prebble makes whips for other jockeys and, like the previous Wirths Whip maker the late Peter Bakos, sees the trade as something to continue doing after life in the saddle. Mr Hartung has been paying for the production of the Wirths Whip since 1990. Research has revealed the tradition was started in 1888 by Royal Mail Hotel publican Paddy Reynolds, 27 years after the first Melbourne Cup. By 1896 the tradition had been taken up by Wirths Circus.
The whip was presented during a performance of the circus held annually on the night of the Cup. “People would pre-book seats at the circus because the event was such a big part of the night,” Mr Hartung said. Wirths brought down their big top for the final time in 1963, but the family kept on paying for the whip and having it presented to the winning jockey. “The circus dropped off the radar, but presentation happened in various places, including at the Southern Cross Hotel and on Graham Kennedy’s IMT show,” Mr Hartung said. As business manager of the Victorian Arts Centre in 1989, Mr Hartung put forward a proposal that the centre take over the Wirths Whip, running it in conjunction with the Cup. The arts centre owned “a lot of Wirths Circus memorabilia”, so Mr Hartung recommended decking out the Great Hall in a circus theme as well as “sending three young people overseas each year to get work experience in racing, the circus and the arts”. “It was all costed out, but the trust knocked it back,” he said. “I was pretty upset, so my wife Maureen and I decided we’d do it [produce the Wirths Whip] for a short time. It’s 20 plus years since then.” Mr Hartung, now 73, wants “someone else to drive”, but is wary of the whip being turned into a commercial proposition. The name Wirths Whip is a registered trademark and a website is under construction. Mr Hartung would hate to see a business name added to the title. He will not reveal how much he pays silver and goldsmith Terry County to mould and make each whip and says that he and his wife “just wanted to see tradition preserved”. Mr County makes the Geelong Cup and is contracted by Tennis Australia to make trophies for the Australian Open. Although through the Wirths Whip he is on first-name terms with many of Australia’s leading jockeys and racing identities, Mr Hartung rarely has a bet. “I didn’t bet this year. I just enjoy the spectacle and seeing friends,” he said. “I’ve probably been to 30 Cups, but would be lucky to have seen 15.”
Keeping tradition: Brian Hartung with the Wirths Whip presented to Brett Prebble, rider of this year’s Melbourne Cup winner, Green Moon. Picture: Yanni
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