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John Letts and his three regrets

John Letts has few regrets from his glittering career, which included two Melbourne Cup wins, eight Adelaide jockey premierships and a high-profile Channel 7 television role.

He is at peace with his record and embraces both the highs and inevitable lows of almost 30 years in the saddle. However, if he had his time over again, the 77-year-old would tackle three cases of unfinished business – now never to be completed – that have troubled him for years.

Letts never had the chance to “thank” the three most significant horses in his life: Piping Lane, Beldale Ball and Banjo.

The first two were his Melbourne Cup winners, while the third delivered a new and unexpected wave of post-race-riding recognition.

Already a household name in South Australia, Letts rocketed to national fame via Piping Lane’s shock 1972 Melbourne Cup win. Incredibly, Letts’ association with his life-changing mount lasted a mere 15 minutes.

“Before Melbourne Cup Day, I’d never met (trainer) George Hanlon and the owner didn’t talk to me, because he didn’t know me,” Letts recalled.

“In the mounting yard before the race I went over to this young girl, who was the strapper, and I said ‘Where do you ride this horse, front, back, wherever?’. She said ‘I don’t know, but you’d better ride him properly’.

“Anyway, I jumped on him, and all I saw of Piping Lane before the Melbourne Cup was the back of his ears, his mane and the little girl leading him.

“So, we won the Melbourne Cup, but one of the most disappointing things I’ve had in my life was that I didn’t get a chance to go and pat him afterwards. I would’ve loved to do that, and just say ‘Thanks mate, for what you’ve done for me’.

“After the race I jumped off him, he got taken out to the parade, and I didn’t get near him because they always take them away from the people.

“I never put my eyes on him again.”

Years later fate played a cruel trick on Letts, on the very day he was preparing to right a wrong.

“I went over to Tasmania and we had organised a reunion – Piping Lane was turning 28,” Letts said.

“I got there in the morning and we went out to (owner) Ray Trinder’s farm. He always had Piping Lane’s colours up on a flagpole but when we got there the colours were half-mast.

“Piping Lane had died that night, so I never even saw him there on the farm. That was my opportunity to thank him.”

History repeated itself in more ways than one eight years later, when Letts landed his second Melbourne Cup for Colin Hayes aboard Beldale Ball.

“I never saw Beldale Ball after that one either,” Letts said.

“It’s definitely a regret. Although the horses wouldn’t have understood what I was talking about, I still would’ve liked to thank them.”

Fortunately, Letts got that chance – in a roundabout way – decades later while carrying out his annual Melbourne Cup Tour ambassadorial duties in Hobart.

“We had the latest Melbourne Cup there, but also Piping Lane’s Melbourne Cup,” Letts said.

“While everyone was socialising and the cups were sitting there on their own, I went over and put my hand on Piping Lane’s Cup.

“I made sure no one saw me, but I just said ‘thanks’.”

After Letts retired from race riding he became associated with free-to-air TV broadcasts of racing carnivals, particularly the week-long Melbourne Cup Carnival at Flemington.

His post-race interviews with winning jockeys – still astride their mounts – added an extra dimension to the TV coverage and he became well-known to a new generation of racing fans for his association with Banjo, the passive clerk-of-the-course horse who helped create many memorable moments.

Letts famously renamed Banjo, after telling owner Johnny Patterson that ‘Trewarrick Impulse’ was too difficult to spit out to on-course fans. The duo’s first Melbourne Cup Carnival was 1993 and over the next decade they forged a close bond, before prostate cancer saw Letts step down from the role following the 2013 Melbourne Cup Carnival.

“When I got off him that last day of the 2013 carnival I gave him a pat and an apple and I left,” Letts recalled.

“Guys like Peter Donegan, Bruce McAvaney and Francesca Cumani used to come down and give him a pat too – they all loved him, because he was part of our team.

“Anyway, one day ‘Patto’ rang me and said the old fellow had died in his paddock in Geelong overnight. He was 28, but I thought there was at least another two years in him, because he was very spritely, so that was a very sad day.

“I wished I had the chance to say goodbye, because when I patted him that day after the 2013 carnival, I thought I’d see him in another year or so.

“Banjo brought in all those great champions on their biggest day, but he was just a beautiful horse.”

 

IMAGE: John Letts with his old mate, Banjo. PHOTO: Channel 7

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