When I was but a gilded youth and took to the punt in the late 1960s and early 70s there was that special class of horse that captured my imagination which was referred to as a 'country champion'. Does anyone recall the names and deeds of such horses as Precious Robe, Puramaka, Tetrabine, Yootha, Swiftly Gene, Red Hope and Tudor Peak?
These horses won just about everything they contested in the bush and did well at good prices when they came to town.
I haven't really followed country racing much for the last 20 years but my casual observation is that the old 'bush champion' doesn't seem to exist nowadays. Probably the last horse I recall that well fitted this description was Tiny's Finito.

Known as the "Bernborough of the Bush", Precious Robe was owned and trained by Bill Lotton in the late 1960s to early 1970s. I recall that Mr Lotton would train him in the hills around Briagalong mustering cattle.

My late brother, John Davis, then Gippsland's top jockey riding for the strong stable of Lou Battista at Traralgon, became Precious Robe's rider in late 1969 when his regular jockey, Geoff Purbrick, was killed in a car accident near Drouin in Gippsland on the way back from the races.

My brother John rode Precious Robe in most of his later wins and several cups including, I think, a Sale Cup.

I was at Flemington in January 1970 when John rode Precious Robe to a big win as hot favourite in the Provincial Plate. When the field entered the long Flemington straight, the crowd was booing as , Precious Robe, hot favourite at 5 to 1 on, was running last.

My brother described Precious Robe as having a "big motor" and when he gave it a whack with the whip, it took off zigzagging his way through the field as if they were standing still and won by about 5 lengths. Halfway up the straight, the booing changed to hysterical cheers. The crowd gave horse and rider a huge reception as he returned to scale.

After this fast finishing win at Flemington, the media called Precious Robe "Bernborough of the Bush" and talked about a run in the Melbourne Cup. However Precious robe was nearing the end of his career and never ran in a Melbourne Cup.

Precious Robe retired back to the farm at Briagolong in the mid 1970s and is probably buried there. Jockey, John Davis died, aged 44 years, at Gladstone Qld in January1992 after a short illness.

Roy Davis
21 April 2006

Hi
I'm not sure if I have the right connection, but my late brother Peter Knight owned a horse in partnership in the 1970's in Melbourne. It won a race in town and he said that the jockey was John Davis. I am trying to find the name of the horse and the other owners names.
Can you point me in the right direction?
many thanks
David Knight

I'm not as old as you geezers but when i think of Bush champions i think of Adavale Hornet. No world beater but a fantastic story . If you look at old Phil Pursers site you'll find an interesting story on the Toowoomba champ.
Bought for $1 and won over half a million. Trained by a little Aussie battler who used to float the horse from track to track who sometimes slept in an adjacent stable in his swag. Won a stack of Country cups and won in town on a few occasions.
These stories and the Joe Janiak tales is what keeps us dreaming

[QUOTE=Percentum]When I was but a gilded youth
Did you mean: "gelded?"
Sorry, I was confused by your "eccent."
All in good fun......!
Havagoodun.....!

Loved Tinys Finito. Use to win carrying the grandstand 60+ kg despite being a small horse.

Xanadu, I meant gilded but, as for gelded...might as well be.

Banana Man is the type of horse that fits the bill as a bush champion. I was thinking this the other day having forgotten about this posting.

Tudor Peak is one that seems to have flown under the radar probably because he only had a few runs (less than 20 I'm sure). He strung together 6 or 7 wins in a row and was one of those horses with that lovely place strike rate of about 90%. Most of this was done in big fields against good quality bush company. His best win was in the Ballarat Cup, always a difficult race.

Ooops, make that Bendigo Cup for Tudor Peak.
Just in addition, he also won the Broken Hill Cup and ran second in the 1975 Australian Cup to Leilani.

Yootha dead heated with Cyron in the Australian Cup in 1970. The previous year he'd run a placing in the race. He had at least one start over the jumps which he won easily before he was retired. I think he was trained by Arthur Smerdon.