Episode 229: Ron Hutchinson (Part 1)

In Part 1 the former legendary jockey talks about the frustrations of Covid 19. He loves to drive himself around Melbourne but just lately never gets his car out of the garage. Ron talks about his present day racing interests. He delights in telling us about his frequent visits to the track. “ Hutchy” talks about his four children, daughters Susan and Sally, sons Peter and Raymond. Peter was a Gr 1 winning jockey- Ray a former trainer and nowadays a busy vet. Ron looks back on early days when his parents opposed his ambition to become a jockey. He talks of his first master Claude Goodfellow. He talks about a nine month stint at a property owned by famous old time jockey Bobby Lewis whose last Melbourne Cup win was in 1927, but he still shares the Cup riding record. Ron recalls with amazing clarity his first winning ride at Mentone in 1945. He looks back on his first major winner Spectre in the 1945 Australian Cup. The former champion jockey reflects on his 60 wins in Cup races all over Australia. He was called the “Cups King” long before Bart Cummings earned the tag. Ron looks back on his Melbourne Cup CV. He wasn’t able to win the great race in 16 attempts, but probably should have won a couple. He looks back on the depth of the Melbourne riding ranks in his era, and his only premiership win in 1958/59. Ron pays tribute to a couple of high profile horses he got to ride before going overseas.