Robin Letts, The Buloke Times
It was 1948, the year after I had left the Royal Australian Naval College at HMAS “Cerberus”, to take up a position with the family newspaper, “The Donald Times”.
Cricket was my favourite sport, and one of my team-mates in the ANA Club was the late Howard Jasper, the Donald High School teacher who had played AFL football with South Melbourne. While in Donald, Howard also joined forces with the late – and great – former AFL player, Wally Shearer, in leading Donald to the 1949 North-Central League football premiership.
During an informal chat prior to the running of the 1948 Melbourne Cup, Howard had told me of a small wager he had made on a horse called Rimfire, to be ridden by Birchip jockey, Ray Neville.
Being only 18 years of age, but also trusting Howard’s judgement, I decided to follow his lead, and make my first-ever racing wager, with Donald’s one-and-only SP bookmaker, the late Mr Alf Bryant.
My investment was half that of Howard’s, as was the return, but imagine my shock when Mr Bryant visited the “Times” office to hand me my winnings –which, at odds of eighty-to-one, were more than twice my humble weekly wage.
What’s more, he informed me that my Rimfire wager was one of only two he had received on this horse from within the local community. The other was Howard Jasper’s.
That having been said, I guess it’s appropriate now for one more investment in the Rimfire and Ray Neville combination, as they feature as Birchip silo art.
No eighty-to-one, though. This time they’ll be odds-on winners. (See Birchip’s silo art progress report below for more information.)
Progress on Birchip Silo Art Project
The Birchip Silo Art Project was founded in 2019 by the late Mrs Joan Glen, OAM.
A petition was signed by over 700 locals, supporting a mural of Ray Neville riding Rimfire to Victory in the 1948 Melbourne Cup at the age of 15, a truly remarkable feat for a young boy from the Bush.
Permission from Grain Corp to use their silos in Birchip was granted in 2022. Buloke Shire is very supportive of this project, and continues to look for grants from government agencies.
The committee has set up a Go-Fund-Me page and would love to see any donations to help bring this initiative to fruition.
The Neville family members were racing stalwarts of the Mallee. Ray’s dad, George, was a jockey, as was Ray’s brother Max, who rode over 1000 winners.
Max’s two sons, Gary and Wayne, continued the family tradition, as well as nephew Michael Neville. Malcolm Retallick (another of the nephews) is a leading trotting trainer in the Sunraysia area.
The Silo Art Trail brings hundreds of tourists from all over Australia and provides great benefits to the small towns that have painted silos. Birchip would also benefit, from the tourism aspects, of having the only painted silo that tells a story about a family of battlers and a young jockey who won the Melbourne Cup against all odds.
Donations can be made on the Facebook Birchip Silo Art – Ray Neville Go-Fund-Me page. All donations gratefully accepted, no matter how small.
This article appeared in The Buloke Times, 23 February 2024.
