A very popular choice.  70-year-old Clarke trained “Rich Charm” to beat his rivals in the Group II TAB Multiplier Stakes (1200m) at Flemington.Other Award Winners

• VRC/Bert Wolfe Award for outstanding overall contribution: Jack Styring
• Best news story- Patrick Bartley (Age) on his coverage of the Azkadellia ownership case
• Best feature- A Racetrack Somewhere documentary by Jo McKinnon
• Inglis Best Breeding Award-  Michael Lynch (Age) on the first $1m yearlign sold in Victoria Michael Lynch (Age).

The VRMA is delighted to see Jessica progress her career in the racing media industry field and note co-winner Conor Walsh is now working for Racing Victoria publications.

The VRMA committee and members are delighted to welcome the Lewis family management of the Emerald and officially confirm a long standing partnership.

The Emerald Hotel in South Melbourne was the venue of choice for the connections of 2015 Melbourne Cup winner Prince Of Penzance and last year’s Caulfield Cup winner Jameka and you regularly see leading owners and trainers enjoying a convivial drink.

It is also the venue for the VRMA’s traditional Personality Of The Year luncheon held on the third Monday in November each year.

Daniel impressed the sub committee judges with his passion for racing and an excellent article after interviewing former leading apprentice and now senior jockey Patrick Moloney.

The scholarship recipient will undertake work experience across the racing media industry with VRMA members during 2017 including the Melbourne Spring racing carnival.

Daniel will also receive funding, courtesy of Sportsbet’s sponsorship, to be paid against is HECS-HELP fee.

Greg has been the ‘voice’ of racing for most racing fans of the present day and has upheld a great tradition with his own distinctive style.

The Melbourne Racing Club will honour Greg with a presentation in the mounting yard after race three at about 12.55 pm on Saturday April 15 and all media are invited to attend.

Greg’s final call will be at the Easter Cup meeting where the great Bill Collins also lowered the curtain on his career in 1988.

We look forward to our esteemed president continuing to be active in the VRMA and after a short holiday remaining working in the racing industry, albeit with a lower profile.

It’s little surprise that we both had fantastic experiences at the races as part of our scholarship commitments. We had the opportunity to spend a few days in both the Flemington and Sandown press rooms, shadowing a handful of talented journalists.

Our time at Flemington was spent rotating between observing and writing in the press room, interviewing jockeys post-race, witnessing the Australian Guineas protest in the stewards’ room first-hand, picking the brain of Deane Lester in the mounting yard and watching Greg Miles do his best work in the broadcast box.

We had the chance to visit RSN on separate occasions for different shows, and we also followed Nick Quinn from the station to TAB/Sky to see and experience even more fascinating parts of the industry. Tagging along with Mick Sharkie and the team at G1X for a shoot with Katelyn Mallyon, Michael Walker and Kayla Nisbet was a great highlight that proved thoroughly entertaining for all involved.

When Peter Moody held a press conference on his final day of training we were lucky enough to be able to tag along with Danny Russell from the Herald Sun. I doubt we will ever forget being present at such an historic moment.

It’s clear that the scholarship experience was incredibly practical, particularly in the sense that we were able to apply the skills and theories learnt during our studies: we took a huge leap from interviewing friends for assessments to interviewing some of our idols for the biggest racing publications in Australia! Gai Waterhouse, Mick Price, Damien Oliver, Craig Williams, Greg Carpenter and Terry Bailey were just a few of our highly esteemed interviewees.

We are immensely grateful for the opportunities presented to us throughout our time as scholarship recipients. We weren’t just given a chance to get our foot in the door, we were given the chance to knock it off its hinges, which we definitely made the most of. We are both now working part-time in the racing media industry while continuing our studies, and we could not have wished for a better head start on our careers.

Our entire experience was such a rush that it seemed to be over so quickly, which is a testament to Tim Habel’s ability to organise such a brilliant and exciting schedule. We could not be more grateful for all of the advice, opportunities and experiences we have received in our short association with the VRMA, and we will never forget how privileged we are.

While it’s difficult to name just three highlights, our personal favourites include:

CONOR’S THREE HIGHLIGHTS:

·         Being present at the tense protest between the connections of Palentino and Tarzino

·         Watching Greg Miles call a race at headquarters

·         Publishing tips and overviews for the Winning Post, even though the meeting was subsequently abandoned due to the state of the track!

JESS’ THREE HIGHLIGHTS:

·         Having our first piece published together in The Age (with a by-line!)

·         Witnessing Greg Miles’ extraordinary talents in the caller’s box at Flemington

·         When my Herald Sun pick of the day won at Sandown – I’m usually a useless tipster because of my bias

A memorial service was  held on Monday September 23 at the Medallion Bar, Caulfield racecourse.

Here is an edited transcript of thge eulogy delivered by VRMA president Greg Miles.

“I first met Clem here at Caulfield on the top deck of a grandstand that now no longer exists.  It was the autumn of 1980.

I was sitting in the old ABC broadcast box when a big happy smiling face appeared and a fist was thrust through the window. “Hi there, I’m Clem” A lovely old man. It was Clem’s dad. He’d accompany Clem to the races most Saturdays. He always had time for a chat and listened with interest to my tales. We got on well. It turns out the apple didn’t fall far from the tree.

Clem started his radio career some years earlier at 3DB, as a turntable operator.

By all accounts, Clem was a fantastic turntable operator – for the first 15 minutes. After that, with things moving along nicely, he’d tell newsreader David Johnston that he needed to slip out for a few minutes.

He would then spend the remaining three and three quarter hours in the nearby sports office, talking about racing, footy, cricket, whatever the season. That was his real passion.

In addition to his 15 minutes as a panel operator, Clem was assistant caller to the great Bill Collins, a man he grew very close to.

He left 3DB and moved to Channel O in 1966 where he called his first Melbourne Cup in 1973. He also broadcast the first live televised Cup in 1978 and continued until 1984.

During his time at 0 and then 10 he made so many friends and helped launch the careers of some of the big names of the game now like Bruce McAvaney , Eddie Maguire, and Steven Quartermaine.

Every morning, with Coke in hand Clem’s good morning chats could last up to 15 minutes per person. By the time he’d finished saying G’day it was lunchtime.

Clem was famous for his larrikin nature and a story from Channel 10 weatherman Rob Gell captures Clem’s waggish character perfectly…

When Channel 10 news was at its peak, Rob was the weatherman and Clem was often the sport man.

Clem would frequently lean across to Rob on the news set and tell Rob that, if he wanted to be remembered, he needed to be more of a tipster – not a forecaster.

Clem suggested to Rob during the week before Christmas that he should predict a temperature of 40 degrees for Christmas Day.

“Why the hell would I do that,’’ Rob said.

‘’Because if you say it’s going to be 24 degrees, you’ll be just like every other weather forecaster.  No-one will remember you,” Clem answered.

“But if you tip 40 degrees and you just happen to fluke it, everyone will remember you.”

The basis for Clem’s theory was that he had tipped Piping Lane at odds of forty to one to win the 1972 Melbourne Cup.

Clem’s logic in tipping the ‘roughie’ was that – if Piping Lane didn’t win – no-one would remember anyway.

But Piping Lane did salute and – as it turned out – Clem was a genius.

He tipped a lot of winners, Clem, but we haven’t had too many 40 degree Christmas Days.

When Clem left Channel Ten, he had a short stint at Athletics Australia before returning to racing as the Melbourne Bureau correspondent for the Daily Telegraph.

Clem also did a lot of PR work for Sporting Management Concepts, AAMI Victoria Derby and the Oakbank Racing Club, where he formed a close relationship with Brendan Cormick.

A real coup that Clem was quite proud of was bringing together international jockeys Scobie Breasley and Pat Glennon  at the famous Oakbank Carnival  in 2006 . They hadn’t seen each other in 40 years when Glennon won the Arc at Longchamp on Sea Bird.

Clem had many great moments at the Oakbank Carnival, but it must be said that one year, he was lucky to even make the return flight to Melbourne .

He was checking in at the airport on his way home one year and was told by the ‘young lady’ that she was unable to ‘check his suitcase in’….he became quite indignant (as you can well imagine) and asked her why not ?

I got it here! Why cant I get it back?

To which she replied that it was a policy of the airline not to allow anything on board that had a COLLINGWOOD STICKER ON IT !!

I have so many memories of Clem. So many stories….and I will remain true to our pact Clem ….. some stories will never be told!

Clem’s well-known love of coke was almost matched by his love of smokes. He tried to give up more times than you could imagine. One on occasion Clem and I decided to drive to Warrnambool for the final day of the 3 day carnival. For some reason neither of us was working but wanted to go for the day.

We’d made our way through Geelong  heading for Colac when Clem started to make noises about what a  long drive it was and that I should have a break. “No I’m fine mate it’s only 2 hours 45 done it many times… But Clem was insistent…you must have a break!

So we pulled into Winchelsea for a stretch of the legs and Clem couldnt wait to get out a smoke….

On the return journey we called into the pub at Waurn Ponds for a meal. When we returned to the car I saw we had a flat tyre on the right hand front side.  Clem wandered around and said you have another one here.. and here…and here”!  …they’re all flat.

Dejected we sat down and wondered …perhaps  a disgruntled punter had taken revenge on our racing selections in a most vicious manner?

After about 10 minutes of mournful silence Clem noticed that one of the tyres wasn’t flat after all. It was just the way the shadow fell on the bottom of the wheel. In fact he said “you idiot they’re all ok” He roared with laughter and often reminded me of that night.

We had many good years working together at the ABC.  Clem was a great idea’s man. If you needed an angle for a story he could easily come up with something fresh and new.

In recent years Clem moved to the western suburbs to be closer to his son Andrew.

He’s come to trivia nights at Prince Albert Hotel with my good mate Shane Hunt… Clem would lean in grinning like he knew the answer to “What is the Capital of Turkmenistan”

What is it Clem?  “I don’t know but they don’t know that and they’re all doing this”

It was about this time he met good friends Heather and Kevin Bradshaw

Clem was in his late 60s when he made the trip west and joined a ‘walking group’ with Heather, and by association her husband, Kevin

habits. With Clem, eating was a simple equation.

Meat (no chicken), mashed potatoes, peas and the famous can of coke – and a smoke if he could get away with it.

Heather is pleased to boast some minor victories, and is no doubt the first to ever witness the great man finish a can of his famous drink – albeit one of the miniature variety!

Clem was the consummate gentleman, no matter the circumstance. When he wasn’t feeling well, he would still entertain… with some fabulous stories, and never ‘blew his own trumpet’…

WHEN WE REMEMBER CLEM.

WE REMEMBER A BIG SMILE,

A BIG LAUGH,

A CAN OF COKE..

AND A GOOD MAN….HE WILL ALWAYS HAVE A PLACE IN OUR HEARTS. ”

Miles, 56, the voice of Victorian racing, called a record breaking 35th Melbourne Cup last year when Michelle Payne created her own part of racing history by becoming the first woman jockey to win the Cup on Prince Of Penzance.

He called his first Cup as a 22 year-old in 1981 when Just A Dash won.

As Michael Lynch aptly penned in ‘The Age’, Miles is as synonomous with racing as Richie Benard was with cricket and Bruce McAvaney is with AFL and athletics.

Miles, a proud Williamstown resident, nominated unbeaten Black Caviar as the best racehorse he has called. “She stood out like a beacon,” he said.

Meek, in his late 80s, was an iconic figure at Caulfield track work for more than half a century.  Invariably accompanied by a cigarette, Meek would clock horses from the early hours each morning. Meek began a lifetime association with Caulfield as a 13 year-old strapper and trained for four years before turning his hand to a stopwatch. He became close friends and a confidant with generations of trainers when track work and the punt were ‘king.’He famously told now retired trainer Tony Vasil he was a ‘mug with a good horse’ who shouldn’t pass up $1m in prizemoney to win his home track Cup with Elvstroem in 2004 when Vasil toyed with skipping the Cup for the Cox Plate.
Vasil thanked Meek in his victory speech for persuading him to run. Meek penned his widely read track work observations in the Sun and Herald under the nom de plume Skipton, hence his abbreviated nickname of ‘Skippy.’ A long serving VRMA member, Meek enjoyed nothing more than a chat with friends over a cold beer.