Van der Hum
Encyclopedia
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
Thoroughbred
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...
racehorse, who won the 1976 Melbourne Cup
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...
when ridden by Bob Skelton
Bob Skelton
Robert J. "Bob" Skelton was a top jockey in New Zealand and Australian Thoroughbred horse racing who competed from the 1950s through the 1980s. Among his many major race wins, Skelton rode Great Sensation to three victories in the Wellington Cup and won the Auckland Cup on Rose Mellay in 1974 and...
.
He was sired by the versatile stayer and sire of the winners of over $2m, Hermes (GB), his dam Tip O'Dawn was by the good sire Count Rendered (GB).
Van Der Hum was a wet track specialist, and on cup day there was a very heavy downpour on the course. The favourite was the Bart Cummings
Bart Cummings
James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....
trained local Gold and Black
Gold and Black
Gold and Black was a New Zealand racehorse, ridden by Johnny Duggan who won the 1977 Melbourne Cup for the "Cups King" Bart Cummings....
, who came in second. Len Robinson had spent two nights prior to the 1976 Melbourne Cup in his car, armed with a shotgun, outside Van Der Hum’s stall. The race was won next year by the Cups King, Bart Cummings, with Gold and Black.