A 15yo rode a maiden galloper to win the Rockhampton Cup

Two families synonymous with Rockhampton’s racing history captured one of Callaghan Park’s rarest victories seventy-four years ago.

It is unusual to see a maiden galloper win a feature race, let alone a Rockhampton Cup, but it happened when Beanbah romped home in 1952, at odds of 25/1.

Raced by brothers Clive and Russell Boland and trained by Roy Holt Snr, Beanbah was ridden to victory in Rockhampton’s most important race by Holt’s 15-year-old son, apprentice jockey Roy Jnr.

It was also a significant win for the brothers, whose previous best result in a hometown feature race was in 1937 when they won the CQ Derby with a horse named Alex.

A relatively inexperienced jockey, Holt Jnr sent the field on a chase from the mile (1600m) marker in the then 10f (2000m) Cup, and they set a record that went unmatched before and after them, with one of the biggest upsets in the Cup’s chronicle. 

Slowest Rockhampton Cup on record

Beanbah also set another new mark, which remains in place to this day.

On a muddy track, the galloper ran the slowest Cup time on record, clocking 2.17, 13.5 seconds outside the record of the day.

Almost a length separated the winner, Beanbah, and runner-up Gold Sound, with just a head back, Master Speed in third place. The outsiders handled the testing condition much better than the favourite, with the three fancied runners Kaneiri, placed second in the 1951 and 1953 Rockhampton Cups, 1952 CQ Derby winner Vane Fairy, and 1950 STC (Rosehill) Cup winner Carapooe, battling four lengths away from the placegetters.

Key figures in local racing history

The Bolands were both key figures in the Rockhampton Jockey Club’s history.

For many years, the RJC honoured the family name with a Rockhampton Cup prelude, named the Boland Handicap. The Boland name is as old as the Callaghan Park track itself, with Robert Cecil Boland, the Chairman of the RJC Committee, from opening day. His tenure was from 1898 to 1902. Clive and Russell both served on the RJC committee, and Clive was the Chairman of the Central Queensland Amateur Race Club committee. The RJC also named the now former administration building after Robert, Clive, and Russell Boland, honouring the family’s services to local racing over a period spanning 78 years.

Clive Boland travelled to Sydney to buy a potential Rocky Cup runner. On the recommendation of the Australian Jockey Club steward, Richard Agnew, he purchased Beanbah for just 600 guineas from New South Wales pastoralist Norman Fraser.

The four-year-old gelding by top stallion Midstream was named after one of Fraser’s properties. He was sold to Fraser as a yearling for 3,000 guineas, and although he was placed third twice on southern tracks, he did not live up to expectations.

The Rockhampton Cup victory staggered southern participants who made the trip to Callaghan Park. At his initial outings in Queensland, Beanbah failed miserably in a maiden race at Bundamba and was unsighted in an Eagle Farm maiden a fortnight before arriving in Central Queensland.

The Holts loved racing at Callaghan Park

Roy Holt Snr was an outstanding horseman. Based at Deagon for some time after a successful riding and training career in Rockhampton, he saddled two Rockhampton Cup winners, Beanbah and Proletaire (1955), and two Newmarket Handicap winners, Barfield (1948) and Shawdale (1949). He also won a Newmarket as a jockey partnering Genghis Khan to victory in 1944.

Beanbah was Roy Jnr’s most important Rockhampton success as a rider, and the Rockhampton Cup was his third win as an apprentice.

The 1952 Cup was unique for another reason

The 1952 Rockhampton Cup Day was also unique for another reason.

It was the first year that jockeys wore goggles to ride in the race.

The race goggles were in use for the first time by Reg Dux and Bill Welburn.

RJC committeeman Fred and Jack Harrup bought two pairs back from Sydney. The googles were an immediate hit, as they improved eye protection for jockeys on the sand track, where horses kicked up a lot of grit, especially in the big fields.

In February of the same year, jockeys wore race googles for the first time in Australia at Canterbury Racecourse in Sydney. Neville Sellwood, George Moore, Noel McGrowdie, and Arthur Ward are credited as being the first to use the equipment in a race. The jockeys also started wearing goggles in races in Victoria in May 1952.

• By David Aldred (CEO – RJC)