00:00If I was standing here on the 12th of February back in 19...
00:05...26, there's a good chance I would have been hit by galloping horses.
00:10Coming down this final straight as part of the inaugural Canberra Cup.
00:15The Acton Racecourse, later flooded by man-made Lake Burley Griffin in the early 19...
00:20...1960s, basically filled this area between what is now Springbank Island...
00:25...Acton Peninsula and Parks Way.
00:30In its early days, the racecourse was best described as primitive...
00:35...and had few facilities for spectators who were forced to break the...
00:40...weather.
00:41One of the features of the track was a dick near the Sullivan...
00:45...Creek end of the track, where, out of the view of spectators...
00:50...and stewards, jockeys would jostle for the best positions.
00:55Often, a different horse would unexpectedly emerge from the dip.
01:00As leader.
01:01I can't imagine why.
01:05The winner of the inaugural cup was a horse called Speck...
01:08...from the McCormick Stable.
01:10...of Crookwall and later of Tuggeron Homestead.
01:13Today, a hundred years on...
01:15...the McCormick family still cherish a photo of Speck's owner Tim...
01:20...McCormick being presented with the cup.
01:23And yes, that's the lowest...
01:25...slopes of Black Mountain near the current National McCormick Gardens at...
01:30...the R-Lift.
01:31Gee!
01:32It's a heavy track!
01:35Awww!
01:36Awww!
01:37Awww!
01:38Awww!
01:39Awww!
01:40You
01:45You
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