Tour Of Duty For Trophy

Illawarra Mercury

Saturday October 4, 2008

By ALEX ARNOLD

THE long association between Nowra and the Melbourne Cup continued yesterday when the 2008 Emirates Melbourne Cup Trophy toured the region.

The 18-carat gold trophy, weighing 1.5kg and valued at $125,000, is known for its "loving cup" design.

The three-handled design was first used in 1919 and has a handle for the jockey, trainer and owner.

Accompanying the cup as official tour ambassador was John Letts, who is as equally well-known today for his post race interviews with winning jockeys as he is for being a two-time Melbourne Cup winning jockey.

Mr Letts said "the LC" may mean "loving cup" for horse owners, but to jockeys LC stands for the "lucky cup".

"For me it opened doors here, there and everywhere," he said.

However, his good fortune has meant that he hasn't seen a Melbourne Cup live in 20 years.

Each Melbourne Cup he can be found sitting "out the back" near the 2000m mark, listening to the race with one ear and his producer with the other.

A special guest also at yesterday's function was Tessa de Mestre, the great grand-daughter of Etienne de Mestre, the trainer of the inaugural Melbourne Cup winning horse Archer.

During the day, the cup visited a daycare centre, nursing home and several Nowra businesses before last night taking centre stage at a National Breast Cancer Foundation fund-raiser at the Archer Racecourse.

© 2008 Illawarra Mercury

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