July 7, 2024 • 12 mins
Ahead of the Melbourne Cup going on tour, keeper Joe McGrath joined Piney to discuss the responsibilities associated with keeping an important award safe.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
The Melbourne Cup, one of world sports most iconic trophies,
is on tour in New Zealand under the watchful eye
of Joe mcgrah who was keeper of the Cup. Joe
has responsibility for the eighteen carrot gold seven hundred and
fifty thousand Australian dollar Melbourne Cup trophy whenever it goes
on to it. He's the first person to hold this
(00:33):
role and has been doing it since the tour started
with the Melbourne Cup back in two thousand and three.
He stopped into the studio. Good to see you, Joe.
How did you get the job?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, Ponty probably lucky in many ways and a few
fortunate things happened, and someone actually said, we're going to
take the trophy on the road, would you like to
have a chat about it on the road. So I
did that Back in two thousand and three, Makaybi divers
first Melbourne Cup and it was a resounding success and
(01:07):
since then I've managed the event and look, it's been
a labor of love if you want to call it that,
and you know, really privileged to hold the role.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I want to talk a bit about traveling with such
a a prestigious and valuable piece of cargo. But does
your association with racing go back?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
All we wait, Yes it does. My family book making
horse breeding media even got a nephew who's now training
at the moment. So yeah, look, I grew up with it,
and I was the youngest of seven, and I had
a brother, have a brother, Jim, who was a race
caller in Europe, and pretty much grew up with you know,
(01:51):
form guides and hearing the breakfast shows on a Saturday
morning in the kitchen. And I sort of thought everyone
lived this lifestyle, I thought until I went over to
a few friends at school and realized that none of
them turned onto the same things. So yeah, I suppose
it's from, you know, just being brought up with it.
(02:12):
And yet we had a bit of success with horse breeding.
And I suppose my family had a runner in the
nineteen sixty seven Melbourne Cup, which led about one hundred
and fifty meters from the post pony and came from
dun Eden, was bred in dun Eden down that way,
and the Diddams bred the horse, and yeah, you know,
(02:33):
it was amazing. She was a mayor that went on
to stud and was a great producer. And I think
that's where it bit me at about the age of
twelve or thirteen, and I haven't been able to shake
it since.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, you sound like the perfect demand to be the
keeper of the cup. Interested in how the Melbourne Cup travels,
what special requirements are there, what special measures are in
place to assure that, as I said before, precious piece
of cargo is okay.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, I suppose this the you know, the obvious one
would be to have security where we're doing public events
and making sure that it's safe and looked after. But
I suppose you know the flip side of all that
traveling it around, it's trying to be as nondescript as
you can be, don't draw any attention to yourself. It
(03:21):
does need its own paperwork as it goes out of
the country, so call it a passport which needs to
go through all the authorities and get stamped and stamped
on the way out, stamped on the way back in.
So I think you know they're they're the sort of protocols.
But certainly, you know, wearing the gloves is a key moment,
you know, key protocol as well in terms of protecting
(03:44):
the gold, because I mean, it is eighteen carrot gold,
and you know you're sort of going to remind yourself
it's the most precious metal on the planet and it's
gone through the roof and now the trophies worth eight
hundred and forty thousand New Zealand dollars, so you know
you've got to make sure remind yourself just to keep
it in good order.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So you don't carry it onto the place, though, do
you It goes in the in the hold, does it?
You know what are you not allowed to say? Are
you not allowed to say?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No? No, no, no. I would never do that. I'd
never put it down the hole. I don't think. I
don't know if you've traveled lately, but your luggage could
end up over the other side of the world. So
I don't know how i'd be about a Melbourne cup
going down the back of the plane. So we do.
We're fortunate that it is the size that it is.
It's thirty eight centimeters tall, pretty compact, and it can
(04:36):
travel as over head luggage and right a weighs three
point eighty five kilos, so all those you know, specifications
sort of fit in the with the airlines in taking
over head luggage. So let's just say we know where
it is at all times, and it's not far from
us as we travel.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I feel like it should have its own seat, But
then again, that would probably draw attention to it, wouldn't it.
As you say, you kind of almost want it to be,
you know, a little bit nondescript. Sorry about all the
travel questions, But do you put it through that? You know,
we have to put our bags through the scanner as
we go through. Surely it gets an exemption from that.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, you just put it through the You just I
always love to see the security people that because they
see a lot of different items come through and then
when they see it, they stop and then they look
at it. And then it's got a three D sort
of scanner that can go all different angles, and then
they look at you and go, yep, it is. And
you know, most are just intrigued as to what the
(05:36):
trophy represents. And you know, because some parts of the
world they've never heard of it or never heard of
you know, they may not be into horse racing necessarily,
and but other places they just sail on through and
next you know, it's sort of how it goes, but
no look at it. You know, we always you know,
look after it and make sure that it's it's safe
(05:58):
as we travel and the easiest way to do that
is make sure it's with you absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Well, we all know it's the race that stops not
just your nation but ours as well well, the race
that stops two nations. Why do you think, Joe, the
Melbourne Cup is still so special, still so iconic and
a very crowded sporting landscape.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Now, well, I think it's you know, horse racing goes
back a long way in both Australia and New Zealand,
and you know the first New Zealand bred horse goes
back to eighteen eighty three with Martini Henry and there's
forty four New Zealand bred horses that have won the race.
And you know you put in a few icons in
there as like Farlap in nineteen thirty and Carbine and
(06:39):
eighteen ninety. You know, there's there's strong history and I think,
you know, I personally think from an Australian perspective, there's
certain things that you know part of your cultural identity
and I would certainly think the Ansacs are very much
part of that. The baggy green cap is also in that,
and you know the surf Life Saver also and I
(07:03):
would throw I put the Melbourne Cup as part of
what we've all grown up with and becomes part of
your cultural identity. And I think once you start, you know,
playing around with any of those, I call them virtually untouchables.
You know, you just don't want to mess around with them.
Once you start doing that, everyone gets a little bit
(07:25):
antsy about it, you know, don't you touch that? You know,
this is I grew up with that, you know, and
it means a far lap and so you you know,
these are the things and we're around it, you know,
all the time. But once you do get on the
road you start to see, you know, people's reactions and
(07:46):
what it means to them. You gain an appreciation. I
said on that first tour back in two thousand and three,
I said, and the committee quiz me as to you
know what the response was, and I said, look, it's
not a sporting icon. It it's a cultural phenomenon. I
mean like it it's you know, you go out to
(08:07):
different parts of Australia in particular, they know more about
it than you do. And it's and you're not selling
it into them. They know it. It's And I can't
work out how seven eight year olds know who Farlap
is and they do. Just fascinated.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Do you have a favorite Melbourne Cup race?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Look, I think I've been to a number of Melbourne
Cups since the mid seventies onwards. But look, I think
the historical part of it is what fascinates me. And
I would have loved to have been there for Farlaps
nineteen thirty Melbourne Cup. Look, and you know, I've come
to enjoy the many stories connected over that one hundred
(08:50):
and sixty three year period. And I often say to
people they often go to Makaybe Diva and Farlap, and
I say the first third, the first thirty forty years
history of the Melbourne Cup is quite fascinating. And they
were boom times in Melbourne and some pretty you know,
unique horses like Archer winning back to back, you know,
(09:13):
the barb And I mean there was a horse called
bryce Is in eighteen seventy six of Philly that won
the Derby on the Saturday, the Cup on the Tuesday,
and the Oaks on the Thursday and The Cup winner
was ridden by an eleven year old Peterson Auburns. Tom
Hales rode Bryce's in the Derby and the Oaks, but
(09:35):
couldn't get down to the lightweight in the Cup. And
I mean there's some really, I mean you it's hard
to believe, but a lot of younger riders were engaged
in that. You know, they didn't now you, they won't
let you ride in a race until you're over sixteen
or thereabouts, certainly in Australia, but way back you know,
(09:57):
they utilized a lot younger jockey. So there's you know
that early history carbine carrying, you know, huge weight of
sixty five and a half kilos in eighteen ninety and
you know all everything that went around that period of time,
you know, is what I find what intrigues me about
the race. And you start to unearth the different characters
(10:20):
that were involved, you learn a lot about Australian history,
let alone New Zealand history as well.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I'll be just another protocol question. Does the just the
owner or the winning owner or the syndicate that owns
the winning horse get to have the cup overnight? Do
they actually get to assume ownership of it? Temporarily or not.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I can remember when I had my first child and
at the hospital and once you have the baby, everyone
leaves the room and it's like, hang on, is anyone
going to help us here? It's like it's a bit
like that. It's like you're on your own and they
go and I actually, you know, we talked to our
(11:03):
security on course. I say, look, just follow them for
the next few hours because they don't know what they've
actually won until they've got it. And then and some
of them just walk out of a bar and just
leave it. It's like, hang on, this is yours. You've
got to look after it. So once they're off the
course and they go off to somewhere in the city,
(11:25):
at no doubt and party till the early hours, it
is theirs. I make sure I don't look at my
phone for the next two days because sometimes there's ah,
well this sort of happened or that happened. I go,
I don't want to know about that, really, but we
make sure we give them every assistance up until a point.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yep, brilliant Joe. It's a pilgrimage. I know many Keywis
have made. It's on the bucket list of many keywis
as well to get across on the first Tuesday of
November and taken a day at the Melbourne Cup at
Flemington just as lutely iconic. It's such a pleasure to
have you in New Zealand with your precious cargo. Travel
(12:10):
well and look forward to catching up again sometime.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Thanks Poney, and I think I should shout out to
Mark Twain who is a leading light, and Maharajan that
are both looking like they'll head over to Flemington, so
if anyone's interested, certainly follow them over. I'm sure they're
going to give a good sight on that first Tuesday November.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Top Manjo, great to see you, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Thanks Piney, Thanks Joe.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Joe McGrath, keeper of the Cup. The Melbourne Cup no less.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
The Melbourne Cup, one of world sports most iconic trophies,
is on tour in New Zealand under the watchful eye
of Joe mcgrah who was keeper of the Cup. Joe
has responsibility for the eighteen carrot gold seven hundred and
fifty thousand Australian dollar Melbourne Cup trophy whenever it goes
on to it. He's the first person to hold this
(00:33):
role and has been doing it since the tour started
with the Melbourne Cup back in two thousand and three.
He stopped into the studio. Good to see you, Joe.
How did you get the job?
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Well, Ponty probably lucky in many ways and a few
fortunate things happened, and someone actually said, we're going to
take the trophy on the road, would you like to
have a chat about it on the road. So I
did that Back in two thousand and three, Makaybi divers
first Melbourne Cup and it was a resounding success and
(01:07):
since then I've managed the event and look, it's been
a labor of love if you want to call it that,
and you know, really privileged to hold the role.
Speaker 2 (01:17):
I want to talk a bit about traveling with such
a a prestigious and valuable piece of cargo. But does
your association with racing go back?
Speaker 3 (01:27):
All we wait, Yes it does. My family book making
horse breeding media even got a nephew who's now training
at the moment. So yeah, look, I grew up with it,
and I was the youngest of seven, and I had
a brother, have a brother, Jim, who was a race
caller in Europe, and pretty much grew up with you know,
(01:51):
form guides and hearing the breakfast shows on a Saturday
morning in the kitchen. And I sort of thought everyone
lived this lifestyle, I thought until I went over to
a few friends at school and realized that none of
them turned onto the same things. So yeah, I suppose
it's from, you know, just being brought up with it.
(02:12):
And yet we had a bit of success with horse breeding.
And I suppose my family had a runner in the
nineteen sixty seven Melbourne Cup, which led about one hundred
and fifty meters from the post pony and came from
dun Eden, was bred in dun Eden down that way,
and the Diddams bred the horse, and yeah, you know,
(02:33):
it was amazing. She was a mayor that went on
to stud and was a great producer. And I think
that's where it bit me at about the age of
twelve or thirteen, and I haven't been able to shake
it since.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
Well, you sound like the perfect demand to be the
keeper of the cup. Interested in how the Melbourne Cup travels,
what special requirements are there, what special measures are in
place to assure that, as I said before, precious piece
of cargo is okay.
Speaker 3 (03:00):
Well, I suppose this the you know, the obvious one
would be to have security where we're doing public events
and making sure that it's safe and looked after. But
I suppose you know the flip side of all that
traveling it around, it's trying to be as nondescript as
you can be, don't draw any attention to yourself. It
(03:21):
does need its own paperwork as it goes out of
the country, so call it a passport which needs to
go through all the authorities and get stamped and stamped
on the way out, stamped on the way back in.
So I think you know they're they're the sort of protocols.
But certainly, you know, wearing the gloves is a key moment,
you know, key protocol as well in terms of protecting
(03:44):
the gold, because I mean, it is eighteen carrot gold,
and you know you're sort of going to remind yourself
it's the most precious metal on the planet and it's
gone through the roof and now the trophies worth eight
hundred and forty thousand New Zealand dollars, so you know
you've got to make sure remind yourself just to keep
it in good order.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
So you don't carry it onto the place, though, do
you It goes in the in the hold, does it?
You know what are you not allowed to say? Are
you not allowed to say?
Speaker 3 (04:13):
No? No, no, no. I would never do that. I'd
never put it down the hole. I don't think. I
don't know if you've traveled lately, but your luggage could
end up over the other side of the world. So
I don't know how i'd be about a Melbourne cup
going down the back of the plane. So we do.
We're fortunate that it is the size that it is.
It's thirty eight centimeters tall, pretty compact, and it can
(04:36):
travel as over head luggage and right a weighs three
point eighty five kilos, so all those you know, specifications
sort of fit in the with the airlines in taking
over head luggage. So let's just say we know where
it is at all times, and it's not far from
us as we travel.
Speaker 2 (04:55):
I feel like it should have its own seat, But
then again, that would probably draw attention to it, wouldn't it.
As you say, you kind of almost want it to be,
you know, a little bit nondescript. Sorry about all the
travel questions, But do you put it through that? You know,
we have to put our bags through the scanner as
we go through. Surely it gets an exemption from that.
Speaker 3 (05:15):
No, you just put it through the You just I
always love to see the security people that because they
see a lot of different items come through and then
when they see it, they stop and then they look
at it. And then it's got a three D sort
of scanner that can go all different angles, and then
they look at you and go, yep, it is. And
you know, most are just intrigued as to what the
(05:36):
trophy represents. And you know, because some parts of the
world they've never heard of it or never heard of
you know, they may not be into horse racing necessarily,
and but other places they just sail on through and
next you know, it's sort of how it goes, but
no look at it. You know, we always you know,
look after it and make sure that it's it's safe
(05:58):
as we travel and the easiest way to do that
is make sure it's with you absolutely.
Speaker 2 (06:02):
Well, we all know it's the race that stops not
just your nation but ours as well well, the race
that stops two nations. Why do you think, Joe, the
Melbourne Cup is still so special, still so iconic and
a very crowded sporting landscape.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
Now, well, I think it's you know, horse racing goes
back a long way in both Australia and New Zealand,
and you know the first New Zealand bred horse goes
back to eighteen eighty three with Martini Henry and there's
forty four New Zealand bred horses that have won the race.
And you know you put in a few icons in
there as like Farlap in nineteen thirty and Carbine and
(06:39):
eighteen ninety. You know, there's there's strong history and I think,
you know, I personally think from an Australian perspective, there's
certain things that you know part of your cultural identity
and I would certainly think the Ansacs are very much
part of that. The baggy green cap is also in that,
and you know the surf Life Saver also and I
(07:03):
would throw I put the Melbourne Cup as part of
what we've all grown up with and becomes part of
your cultural identity. And I think once you start, you know,
playing around with any of those, I call them virtually untouchables.
You know, you just don't want to mess around with them.
Once you start doing that, everyone gets a little bit
(07:25):
antsy about it, you know, don't you touch that? You know,
this is I grew up with that, you know, and
it means a far lap and so you you know,
these are the things and we're around it, you know,
all the time. But once you do get on the
road you start to see, you know, people's reactions and
(07:46):
what it means to them. You gain an appreciation. I
said on that first tour back in two thousand and three,
I said, and the committee quiz me as to you
know what the response was, and I said, look, it's
not a sporting icon. It it's a cultural phenomenon. I
mean like it it's you know, you go out to
(08:07):
different parts of Australia in particular, they know more about
it than you do. And it's and you're not selling
it into them. They know it. It's And I can't
work out how seven eight year olds know who Farlap
is and they do. Just fascinated.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
Do you have a favorite Melbourne Cup race?
Speaker 3 (08:30):
Look, I think I've been to a number of Melbourne
Cups since the mid seventies onwards. But look, I think
the historical part of it is what fascinates me. And
I would have loved to have been there for Farlaps
nineteen thirty Melbourne Cup. Look, and you know, I've come
to enjoy the many stories connected over that one hundred
(08:50):
and sixty three year period. And I often say to
people they often go to Makaybe Diva and Farlap, and
I say the first third, the first thirty forty years
history of the Melbourne Cup is quite fascinating. And they
were boom times in Melbourne and some pretty you know,
unique horses like Archer winning back to back, you know,
(09:13):
the barb And I mean there was a horse called
bryce Is in eighteen seventy six of Philly that won
the Derby on the Saturday, the Cup on the Tuesday,
and the Oaks on the Thursday and The Cup winner
was ridden by an eleven year old Peterson Auburns. Tom
Hales rode Bryce's in the Derby and the Oaks, but
(09:35):
couldn't get down to the lightweight in the Cup. And
I mean there's some really, I mean you it's hard
to believe, but a lot of younger riders were engaged
in that. You know, they didn't now you, they won't
let you ride in a race until you're over sixteen
or thereabouts, certainly in Australia, but way back you know,
(09:57):
they utilized a lot younger jockey. So there's you know
that early history carbine carrying, you know, huge weight of
sixty five and a half kilos in eighteen ninety and
you know all everything that went around that period of time,
you know, is what I find what intrigues me about
the race. And you start to unearth the different characters
(10:20):
that were involved, you learn a lot about Australian history,
let alone New Zealand history as well.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
I'll be just another protocol question. Does the just the
owner or the winning owner or the syndicate that owns
the winning horse get to have the cup overnight? Do
they actually get to assume ownership of it? Temporarily or not.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Well.
Speaker 3 (10:41):
I can remember when I had my first child and
at the hospital and once you have the baby, everyone
leaves the room and it's like, hang on, is anyone
going to help us here? It's like it's a bit
like that. It's like you're on your own and they
go and I actually, you know, we talked to our
(11:03):
security on course. I say, look, just follow them for
the next few hours because they don't know what they've
actually won until they've got it. And then and some
of them just walk out of a bar and just
leave it. It's like, hang on, this is yours. You've
got to look after it. So once they're off the
course and they go off to somewhere in the city,
(11:25):
at no doubt and party till the early hours, it
is theirs. I make sure I don't look at my
phone for the next two days because sometimes there's ah,
well this sort of happened or that happened. I go,
I don't want to know about that, really, but we
make sure we give them every assistance up until a point.
Speaker 2 (11:49):
Yep, brilliant Joe. It's a pilgrimage. I know many Keywis
have made. It's on the bucket list of many keywis
as well to get across on the first Tuesday of
November and taken a day at the Melbourne Cup at
Flemington just as lutely iconic. It's such a pleasure to
have you in New Zealand with your precious cargo. Travel
(12:10):
well and look forward to catching up again sometime.
Speaker 3 (12:13):
Thanks Poney, and I think I should shout out to
Mark Twain who is a leading light, and Maharajan that
are both looking like they'll head over to Flemington, so
if anyone's interested, certainly follow them over. I'm sure they're
going to give a good sight on that first Tuesday November.
Speaker 2 (12:32):
Top Manjo, great to see you, thanks for coming in.
Speaker 3 (12:34):
Thanks Piney, Thanks Joe.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Joe McGrath, keeper of the Cup. The Melbourne Cup no less.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk zed B weekends from midday or follow
the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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