By Tony McMahon
With the no offence intended, down through time the racing game has given rise to some strange bed partners.
It wasn’t all that long ago when apprentice jockeys and stablehands slept in stable lofts above the racehorses boxed below.
However, that pales into insignificance compared to what Hercules has been getting up to on the Bundaberg farm of trainer Bill Melvin and his wife Janet.
The couple have a few feisty racehorses among the 40 varied breeds on their property including Field Helmet.
Being naturally curious, when Bill was telling me recently that Field Helmet can get quite stirry around the stables and on race days, I inquired as to how he managed to quieten the Helmet gelding down.
“I’ve put Hercules in to sleep with him and he rides in the float and licks Field Helmet as he stands with him on racedays in the tie up stalls,” Melvin so innocently replied.
Talk about “romancing the turf”.
Nothing much shocks me these days but I found this business with a fellow named Hercules and a horse very concerning.
That is just for a few seconds before Bill put me straight: “Hercules is our companion pony for the racehorses, come and I’ll show you.”
This I had to see and lo and behold there was Hercules, a diminutive mini Shetland cross pony standing in front of the towering Field Helmet, gently licking him.
Looking ever so snug, like a little toff adorned in the Melvin's racing colours of green and black spots on his rug, Hercules wasn’t the least concerned about our presence and Field Helmet was as quiet as a lamb with his mate nearby.
“Hercules travels in the float to the races with all our horses and he has such a soothing affect on them,” Melvin said.
“Sometimes, with the really highly strung ones, he sleeps and shares a stable with them.
"I put in two feed bins full of feed and if they come near his feed, Herc goes to double barrel them and they soon get the message.”
Janet Melvin, who shares her husband’s passion with horses, firmly believe Hercules thinks he is a racehorse.
“We bought him when he was a weanling for $150 some 13 years ago and it was the best money we have ever spent on a horse,” she said.
“Hercules really believes he is a racehorse as he grew up amongst them and is with them all the time.”
Janet said Hercules has proved invaluable over the years.
“We took him down to the Darling Downs one day to pick up a racehorse that used to throw himself down in the float,” she said.
“When we arrived at the property and Hercules strolled off the float, the horse in question just started to whinny to him straight away.
“Hercules stood beside the horse all the way home through the Brisbane traffic to Bundaberg and it never moved - they became inseparable.”
On another occasion, the Melvins inherited a barrier rogue.
Introduce Hercules, who would go into the practice stalls and face back to front, encouraging the rogue who would follow and load and cause little if any drama.
“We train our horses along the beach and when they first go down to go into the water, Hercules leads the way in and they follow,” Bill said.
“On occasions he evens gallops alongside the horses working on the beach.”
Down through time, ponies such as Hercules have been the constant travelling companions to some temperamental racehorses which are lost without them.
In 2003 for instance, Henry the companion pony flew out from England with the champion racehorse and Melbourne Cup contender Jardine’s Lookout.
Henry was beside him all the way and at Flemington that famous first Tuesday in November when Jardine’s Lookout ran third in the Cup to Makybe Diva.
It’s unlikely that Hercules will make Flemington with his country racehorse mates but for certain he’ll be there at Callaghan Park races with his mate Field Helmet.
By the way, Hercules is not just a soft touch because if his racy mates do play up, he has been known to discipline them with a sneaky bite.
So, if you bump into suave little Hercules at the track, be prepared as he just may “put the bite on you” which is a far removed from the term applied to desperate punters in years gone by.