You know you are getting on when ....

Here's Herman Brown (sr)'s account of the 1975 Durban July, from my book Legends Of The Turf:

"Gatecrasher's near foreleg was particularly bothersome throughout his career. This was one of the contributing factors to him being disqualified from the 1975 Durban July after he'd actually won the race.

"Gatecrasher moved through the field like a dose of salts and had the race in the bag. In the surge to the line Garth Puller gave him a right-handed smack with his whip, which in hindsight he probably shouldn't have done. The race was already as good as won.

"Gatecrasher ducked sharply to his left with his weight on his near fore and caused interference to the third horse, Distinctly, whose jockey put up a bit of an act as they would never have beaten us anyway. In the end Principal Boy,who finished second on the other side of the track, was awarded the race. Gatecrasher was demoted into third place."

freeracer Wrote:

---

> Here's Herman Brown (sr)'s account of the 1975
> Durban July, from my book Legends Of The Turf:
>
> "Gatecrasher's near foreleg was particularly
> bothersome throughout his career. This was one of
> the contributing factors to him being disqualified
> from the 1975 Durban July after he'd actually won
> the race.
>
> "Gatecrasher moved through the field like a dose
> of salts and had the race in the bag. In the surge
> to the line Garth Puller gave him a right-handed
> smack with his whip, which in hindsight he
> probably shouldn't have done. The race was already
> as good as won.
>
> "Gatecrasher ducked sharply to his left with his
> weight on his near fore and caused interference to
> the third horse, Distinctly, whose jockey put up a
> bit of an act as they would never have beaten us
> anyway. In the end Principal Boy,who finished
> second on the other side of the track, was awarded
> the race. Gatecrasher was demoted into third
> place."

Great to hear both sides of the story, thank you FREERACER