Ol' Ming saved best for biggest test

One of the part-owners, Ron Websdale, somewhat miffed by a claim by Bart Cummings, has an affidavit to prove he paid $4500 for the gelding as a yearling. Certainly the claim has nothing to do with money. From 76 starts, Ming Dynasty gutsed his way to 17 wins, including two Caulfield Cups, two Australian Cups and The Metrop at Randwick.

But Websdale is irate over those disputing the role he played with Ming Dynasty. Max Crockett, the renowned Mudgee horse breaker, came up with a version that also has him riled.

Cummings wrote in his book, Bart - My Life, that Ming Dynasty's ''success was all the more satisfying for my having bought him for $3000. Valmae was racing him as owner, in partnership with some others. Lloyd Foyster, the breeder, had come up to me after the sale and said he wanted a share in the horse. This other man, standing next to Foyster, said: 'I want a share, too.' I got it organised, thinking the other man was Foyster's friend. In fact, he wasn't at all. They'd never met … ''

Websdale took offence. ''He was referring to me but knew me very well because he trained La Stupenda for me. And La Stupenda won three races at Randwick. He invited me out to those sales to buy a Wilkes colt but he went to $26,000, which was beyond my budget.

''The next one in was the grey. All Bart said was, 'buy this, it will go like the wind.' At that point I walked away from him. I think it started at $3000 and went to $3500 to $4000, and I just had one bid, $4500, and it was knocked down to me.''

Does it matter? After all Ming Dynasty amassed $547,425 in prizemoney. First prize for Saturday's Caulfield Cup is $1.5 million but the value of the dollar had far more substance in Ming Dynasty's era.

''Over the last 30 years, I've told everyone at the races and anyone who wanted to ask the facts of the matter 'I bought Ming Dynasty' … I spoke to [the auctioneers] Inglis to get the records to confirm the purchase. I tried to get evidence. I couldn't find the cheque butt; the banks destroy records after seven years. I spoke to Jonathan Darcy [Inglis], and he carried out a search and couldn't find anything.

''I tried to contact Lloyd Foyster. He's very ill. So I contacted Jacqueline Foyster [his wife], and she has given me an affidavit confirming the fact that I did buy Ming Dynasty.

''Just after Jacqueline Foyster approached my wife, Hildegard, and complained how cheap the yearling went for and said she wanted to buy him. Bart's wife, Valmae, went over, and Hildegard, who is very generous, said, 'Well, let's all three of us race it.' But under one condition - it will carry our colours [grey with a red Maltese cross and a red cap].

''When Ming retired they gave him a lap of honour at Randwick. Neville Voigt, who was to ride him, came out in Bart's colours. My wife went to the stewards and said, 'This horse isn't going out in any other colours than ours.' So I had to go back to Watsons Bay where I lived at the time to pick up them up. The parade was held up for an hour … ''

Websdale doesn't take credit for the name. Being by Planet Kingdom, out of Chow Mein, an 18-year-old mare, he put it to the family and ''someone'' came up with the Ming Dynasty. ''But I was the boss,'' he added.

As a young horse, the gelding had the benefit of Ron Dufficy riding him gallops, Websdale said. Renowned for his courage, Ming Dynasty came again under 59.5 kilograms to beat Melbourne Cup winner Arwon (49kg) in The Metrop at Randwick.

''I had $7000 to a $1000 in The Metrop,'' Websdale recalled in a happier tone. However, Ming Dynasty was at his best in the Caulfield Cup. As a seven-year-old in 1980, starting at 50-1, the gelding carried 58kg and beat another Melbourne Cup winner, Hyperno, and champion Kingston Town to join an elite group to take two Caulfield Cups, the others being Rising Fast (1954-55), Whittier (1922-25), Uncle Sam (1912-1914), Poseidon (1906-07), Hymettus (1898-1901) and Paris (1892-1894).

But he also gave prominence to greys, which came into their own in the Caulfield staying test in 1950, with Grey Boots being the first, followed by Bunratty Castle, Taksan, Cole Diesel and Silver Bounty.

''There is a lot of prejudice against grey horses, based more on superstition than fact,'' Warwick Hobson, a fastidious researcher, wrote in Turf Monthly. ''Greys have been labelled inconsistent, lacking ability, crocks and bleeders.

''When the Herod sire line … the 'cursed train of bleeders' … was dominant in Britain it became fashionable to link the bleeding disability in grey horses only … The hapless Le Sancy sire line, notable for transmitting the grey colour from Herod, suffered greatly as a result.''

Colour note: The grey strain will be continued in the Caulfield Cup tomorrow with Manighar, trained by Luca Cumani.