MEDAL HONORS ARGUABLY THE GREATEST LIVING AUSTRALIAN JOCKEY

THE Roy Higgins Medal, introduced by the Melbourne Racing Club last year, again will be presented to the most successful jockey over the three days of the Caulfield Spring Racing Carnival.

The medal will honor champion Roy Higgins, MBE, the greatest living Australian jockey.

Higgins was born in Koondrook on 5^th June 1938 and, after starting his career at Deniliquin in 1953, he went on to ride more than 2300 winners, including almost every major race in Australia.

He retired in October 1983 after 106 Group One wins among 247 at Stakes level and still shares the record (with the late Billy Duncan) of 11 Victorian jockeys’ premierships.

Higgins also left his mark on the Caulfield Cup, with his 1969 win on Big Philou still being the only successful protest in the history of the race that was first run in 1879. He also shares (with Dwayne Dunn) the record of four wins in Victoria’s richest race for two-year-olds, the Blue Diamond Stakes at Caulfield’s autumn carnival.

The 2009 Roy Higgins’ Medal will be awarded to the jockey who rides the most winners during the three days of the Caulfield Spring Racing Carnival – The Age Caulfield Guineas Day on Saturday 10TH October, Schweppes Thousand Guineas Day on Wednesday, 14TH October and the BMW Caulfield Cup Day on Saturday, 17TH October.

Higgins, who will be a guest of the Melbourne Racing Club, will present the medal after the last race of the three-day carnival, on BMW Caulfield Cup day. Last year’s inaugural winner was Damien Oliver.

Higgins said he was honored the Melbourne Racing Club again had chosen to recognize the top jockey of the Caulfield Spring Racing Carnival with a medal bearing his name.

Victorian Jockeys’ Association chief executive Des O’Keefe congratulated the Melbourne Racing Club and said the medal would be cherished by any jockey riding at the Carnival.

“Every jockey would consider it an honor to win the medal named after one of Australia’s greatest riders,” he said. “It is a massive bonus that Roy Higgins will be at Caulfield to make the presentation.”

Winners take priority in points scoring. If two or more riders have an equal win tally after the last race on final day then the number of second-placegetters ridden will be used as a count-back. If a further split is necessary, third–placegetters will be taken into account and then, as a last factor, fourth-placegetters will come into the equation.

A dead-heat will be treated as a half-win (or half second or third placing should a count-back be required).

More than one Roy Higgins’ Medal would be awarded only in the unlikely situation of two or more riders finishing the Carnival equal on wins, seconds, third and fourths.

Melbourne Racing Club chairman, Mr Peter Young, said there could be no more prestigious acknowledgement for a medal than to carry the name of Roy Higgins who was an inaugural inductee in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.

Chief Executive Officer of the MRC, Mr Warren Brown, said the medal would not only acknowledge the outstanding career of Roy Higgins, but would help recognize the major role and contribution jockeys played in the success of the Caulfield Cup Carnival.