Levin’s Verry own Cup connection

• Published date: 05 November 2021

Cheering home winner Verry Elleegant from his television set at home was Dick Limbert, who could possibly lay claim to being the oldest person to have ridden a Melbourne Cup winner.

The spritely 76-year-old was a gifted horseman and educated Verry Elleegant as a young filly, teaching her how to steer and get used to the feeling of having a jockey on her back.

Limbert had educated hundreds of horses during a lifetime of involvement with the majestic animals - but he never forgot Verry Elleegant - and had followed her every race.

“She had an enormous walk. She would walk so freely and I almost had to run to keep up with her,” he said.

“She was such a big, elastic filly. She wasn’t skinny, just big and rangy and very fluent in the way she walked. There can be the odd one you can battle with, but she was very teachable and quite prepared to learn.”

To say Limbert was happy for Verry Elleegant’s part-owner and breeder Don Goodwin and his family was an understatement.

“He’s a helluva guy. He deserves it, and he appreciates it,” he said.

Their meeting was by chance. Limbert was neighbours with Goodwin’s daughter, Ange Jacobs. While sharing a Christmas drink over the fence one year, Goodwin asked Limbert if he could break in a horse or two for him.

“Of course I can,” he said.

So impressed with her progress, Limbert invited his neighbour to come and watch Verry Elleegant in her work, but she decided to play up as soon as the visitors arrived, leaving him scratching his head.

“ I was a little bit embarrassed to be honest,” he said.

After graduating from prep school with Limbert, the unnamed dark bay filly was sent to the stable of Nick Bishara in Ardmore.

With a win and a second from her first two starts, the phone rang hot. She was sold, syndicated, and sent to Australia, eventually transferring to the Sydney stable of Chris Waller.

Goodwin and Bishara retained a percentage share in Verry Elleegant as a condition of sale. She continued to race in his red-and-blue colours, too...