Pat Hyland remembered as Craig Newitt makes Newmarket Handicap history at Flemington

The 15-year-old boy who left his father’s Port Fairy farm to join the Melbourne stables of Jim Moloney in 1956 would have to wait almost 30 years to win the Melbourne Cup in 1985 on What A Nuisance – a galloper owned by Lloyd Williams and trained by John Meagher.

“He had a fairly serious injury in about 1984 in Adelaide. He shattered his shoulder,” Hyland said of his father.

“His career was up in the air at that period of time, and then he made a comeback and won the Caulfield Cup in 1984 [on Affinity] and then won the Melbourne Cup in 1985.

“He was a household name throughout the 1970s, and 1980s, but it took until 1985 to win the Melbourne Cup.

“He had plenty of rides in it along the way. I don’t know how many in total, but you’d be talking 12 or 13 rides.

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“So once he did win, particularly given that he won it for Lloyd, who was a massive supporter of his, it was a career-defining moment.”

Hyland had a unique link to his father’s historic victory.

He was a 15-year-old apprentice at the time. He was riding at Bairnsdale on the day his father won the race that stops a nation. But the teenage son had already played a significant part in the victory.

“If you went through What A Nuisance’s record prior to the Melbourne Cup, you will see he had seven or eight starts in that preparation, and I probably rode him in the first four as an apprentice claiming three kilos.

“I am not talking it up any more than what it was, but it’s a unique thing.

“It was a great time of my life. I rode for five years and rode at the same time as my father in the twilight of his career. I started riding in 1985 and finished in about 1989-90. He finished in 1990.”

Hyland is one of six siblings to Pat and Maree – alongside Joanne, Paul, Chris, Samuel and Patrick.

He said his father was a hard worker, who loved racing and riding, and was “a bloke of high values and high principles”.

“He was never a self-promoter. He let his performances speak for themselves. That’s the way he sort of brought us up,” Hyland said.

As an apprentice jockey, he got to see his father’s qualities up close.

“There probably isn’t too many other occupations where fathers and sons are competing against each other,” Hyland said.

“You are sharing a jockeys’ room. You are getting a front seat into the professionalism that is required.

“There were occasions that we rode against each other and I beat him home, and there were occasions where he beat me home.

“There’s a great photo that I’ve got of him and me at Caulfield. That is the day I rode my first winner at Caulfield. He’s there. He rode on that day.”

While Hyland cherishes that picture, he is aware that new photos and new memories were taking shape at Flemington on Saturday.

One was particularly poignant. It involved Newitt, who had won his fourth New Market Handicap – the most of any jockey.

He was presented with the Dean Holland trophy by the late jockey’s children. They posed together in the Flemington mounting yard, alongside Newitt’s own children. It was a touching moment.

Holland died in a race fall a month after winning the 2023 Newmarket Handicap. The trophy was struck in his honour.

“The racing industry is full of custodians,” Hyland said. “Everyone is just passing through.

“But it’s nice when there is a recognition. That’s what this sport does. I think it’s a great thing.”

Pat Hyland was one of eight jockeys to win racing’s “grand slam” – the Melbourne Cup, Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Golden Slipper. Craig Williams is another. On Saturday, Williams won his 89th group 1 race.

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