Rogan Josh: From a breeding barn in Capel to victory in the 1999 Melbourne Cup

From a humble breeding barn in Capel to victory in the 1999 Melbourne Cup, the galloping journey of Rogan Josh is indeed the stuff of bush legend. And while another Cup champion will be crowned at Flemington on Tuesday, Rogan Josh will be crunching carrots in his Victorian paddock exactly 22 years to the day since he delivered Bart Cummings his 11th win in the great race. Cummings died at the age of 87 in 2015. But at 29, nothing yet has been able to stop the WA gelding who won the race that stops the nation. Modern Melbourne Cups have invariably been the domain of the richest owners from Australia and around the world, those who can pay the most to buy a dream. But Rogan Josh is the enduring icon of racing’s perennial hope against the odds ... truly, one for the battlers. Through family tragedies and feuds, savvy horsemanship and more than a slice of luck, the son of a sire named after a bottom-shelf men’s cologne (Old Spice) in some ways still united a WA family more than he had divided it as they celebrated the turf’s ultimate victory in their varying ways. At the heart of the story was Tom Forrest, a man who had long plotted for the moment of triumph, which came near the end of a life that started with incredible hardship. He and his son Marcus had bred Rogan Josh, and his daughter Wendy Green ultimately owned him after a fall-out with her sibling. Tom died in 2002 and his two children have not spoken since the Cup win. But despite their personal differences, both this week openly acknowledged the other’s role in the Rogan Josh story. Breaking a public silence he has held since the Cup, Marcus said his sister’s background as a Darwin schoolteacher winning the Cup added a compelling depth to the fairytale, while Wendy was glad her brother was finally sharing his memories as part of what she said was his deserved credit in the horse’s success. Tom’s great-grandparents Gavin and Mary Forrest were two of the South West’s earliest settlers, arriving at Wonnerup on the passenger ship Trusty in 1842 along with others from their Scottish village, such as William and Margaret Forrest — the parents of WA’s first premier, John. The region is renowned for its racing, pacing and greyhound chasing population that currently features some 700 animals across the three codes. Marcus was adamant the two families were not related, but the uncanny likeness between him and the bust of “Lord John” that stands proudly in Bunbury’s main street may suggest otherwise. His grandfather Jim later took up land in Capel and set a behavioural standard for the family to come. “He was a farmer and a wanderer,” he laughed this week during his first interview since the 1999 cup win. “He loved a yarn and a cup of tea and in those days, the horses were part of their lives.” Tom was the youngest of nine children and just four when his father Jim was killed on the family farm by a short-horn bull. Four years later, his mother Jemima also died. “He was left pretty much to fend for himself,” Marcus said. “He never talked about it because it was a traumatic time in his life.” Marcus recalled often hearing his father — who had secured soldier settlement scheme land in Rosa Glen near Margaret River after his time in the navy and army — and uncle Henry scheme about trying to find the next racing champion. Henry helped Tom and Marcus, who had left home at age 20 to become a diamond driller in New Guinea, buy a horse called Double Drummer and a handful of wins stoked the passion to pursue. But it was a $3000 purchase in 1974 of broodmare Gay Cadia, who had Rogan Josh’s grand-dam Elmhurst at foot, that would kickstart the Forrests’ road to the jackpot. Marcus claimed that further inspection of the equine family bloodline revealed five Melbourne Cup winners through the famous Irish sire Tamerlane including Rogan Josh, Protectionist, Almandin, Fiorente and Piping Lane. Like his grandmother and mother had been, Rogan Josh was a lesson in racing patience, not having his first start until he was five as the gangly youngster matured in his Capel paddock with fellow future WA track stars Corporate James and Machine Gun Tom. The latter, the 1998 Railway Stakes winner, was named by trainer and close family friend Michael Campbell in honour of Tom and his army service and Marcus believed the limestone country made them all strong-boned animals. He and his father had decided to take their broodmare Eastern Mystique, the daughter of Elmhurst, to Old Spice after watching his Natasha win the 1990 WA Oaks for leading WA breeder Bob Peters. Rogan Josh was the result, Tom was there at the birth on his Capel property and Marcus arrived soon after to admire their new star. “He was just a nice, strong, leggy foal with good conformation and he always seemed to set himself apart from the other foals,” Marcus, whose 91-year-old mother Moya still lives in Bunbury, said. “He was more aloof and independent than the others and we just liked him, he had something about him. He’d have a pig-root and a squeal as you were cantering along as he was just that happy in his work. “Seeing the old man lead the horse back in was the biggest thing I got out of it. It was some achievement from where he’d come from and he was always the glue that held it all together.” Trained by Marcus, Rogan Josh first raced as a hot favourite for jockey Max Roney at Bunbury on January 16, 1997. His path to racing had been bolstered by up to 5km sessions under Marcus along the bush fire breaks in Wellesley. Roney was this week still irked by the fact he ran fourth first-up to a horse called Burabadgi, who had two wins from a five-start career and earned just $8525 in prizemoney. Rogan Josh won nearly $2.7 million, including victories in the 1998 Bunbury and Pinjarra Cups for master trainer Colin Webster. “I rode him world-perfect and never got out,” Roney lamented. “I told Marcus I wasn’t going to ride him pretty any more and didn’t.” Roney rode the horse to four consecutive wins in his next four races, with his winning margins adding up to more than 10 lengths. He loved the gelding so much, he called his now 23-year-old son, Josh. Rogan Josh, ridden by now late WA jockey John Marshall in the Cup, has overcome some recent health issues and now spends his days at Melbourne’s Living Legends complex in a paddock with former star sprinter Apache Cat. “We call them our odd couple,” Living Legends chief executive Andrew Clarke said. “Apache Cat is your confident, in-your-face sprinter and 10 years younger, while Joshy is your typical, laid-back stayer. Josh loves his carrots and he’s very special to all of us. His story is immortalised.” Wendy wrote Rogan Josh’s victory further into folklore by travelling back to her then home in Darwin up through the Red Centre, giving the Cup its most extraordinary victory lap. She has travelled to 14 countries to talk about the win. “I describe it as the Cup that keeps on giving because it’s still giving,” Wendy said, who will watch Tuesday’s Cup renewal from the coastal Queensland town of Agnes Water. “The Cup is an icon that tells us who we are as Australians and centres on horses being part of our identity as well. It was life-changing and it doesn’t matter where you go, someone knows Rogan Josh.”

Rogan Josh: From a breeding barn in Capel to victory in the 1999 Melbourne Cup

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