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Post
Office Box 67 Fulham Gardens SA
Phone: 0412 208 011 |
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Oakbank
Easter Carnival |
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| The
first of the jumping events at Oakbank this year is the Dicksons Limited Sharebrokers
Hurdle. This race was formerly known as the Mount Barker Trial Hurdle and was first run in
1878 when it was won by Star ridden by C Webb.
Other winners of this event have been Harcourt who after winning the Onkaparinga Cup in 1962 returned to the Oakbank course to win this race in 1964. The 1984 winner Zamenhof went on to win the 1984 Grand National Hurdle at Flemington and run second in the 1985 Moonee Valley Hurdle. Historically won a division this race in 1990 then backed up two days later to record success in the Yalumba Classic Hurdle (then know as the Harry D Young Hurdle). The dual winner Our Running Star was lucky to survive a horrific incident during his hurdling career. In a jumping race in Melbourne he became unbalanced over a jump and crashed through the inside wing and rail. He impaled himself on the broken rail in the area of his hip and vets recommended he be put down. Stable foreman for the Hayes stable Gary Fennessy instructed the vets to do what they could to patch him up and that the stable would take him home for treatment. Many months later he returned to racing in provincal South Australia with a noticeably scar on his offside hip. Down to Zero also completed the Dicksons Hurdle-Yalumba Hurdle double in 1998 and he will be seen in action action during the 2001 carnival.
In 1999 the race was run in two division with successful jumper Our Poetic Star ridden by Craig Durden winning one division and Rigmarole ridden by Grant Young successful in the second division. Rigmarole was a promising jumper and great things were expected but sadly within weeks of his Oakbank success he broke a shoulder on takeoff over a jump and had to be put down. Last years edition was won by the talented jumper Olaf ridden by Grant Young for the John Hawkes stable. This year the race will again be won in two divisions as race 2 and race 3.
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The first
multiple winner of this event was Speculation ridden by A Ferry in 1887 and 1888 and was
soon followed by Cuttlefish and W McGregor who repeated the feat in 1892 and 1893. The
next multiple winner of the race was Roachfield ridden by DJ McCornish in 1915 and 1916
and it was a gap of 78 years before another horse could win the race more than once. While
many jockeys rode back to back winners in the event with AP Ware recording a treble in
1982 (Celotex), 1983 (Red Du Jour) and 1984 (Zamenhof) it wasn't until Our Running Star
won one of two divisions in both 1994 and 1995. 
