Hell of a cup

TRADITION: Alf Maskell, who rode to victory in the 1943 race, with the Prisoner of War Melbourne Cup.

Cup carries rare tale of joy from time of horror

POW survivor rode to victory with 'Weary'FROM the hell of war is a tale of Aussie mateship unlike any other.As Australia pauses today for the race that stops the nation, the Bendigo Advertiser shares with you a race that featured a field of competitors with more grit and bigger hearts than Phar Lap. It was a race that stopped the Japanese just months after they took many Australian soldiers into captive hell during World War II. A race that brought smiles at a time when execution was the norm.It was the only race run on the first Tuesday of November in 1942 – the Tavoy Prisoner of War Turf Club Melbourne Cup.With the consent of their captors, the healthiest and biggest men held at the Burma prisoner of war camp became horses for a day; their jockeys the slightest men who carried little weight.Seven races were staged, with the feature event covering a distance of one furlong – or 200 metres.The winning “horse’’ was Sweet Potato, Bendigo man Wilfred “Wiff’’ Muir, and his jockey Bluey Campbell.Their prize was a cup made by a Dutch prisoner of war, fixed to a coconut shell.It was swiftly buried to ensure the owner did not face certain death for keeping possessions – but some years after the war ended, someone dug up the prize and returned it to its rightful owner.Today, it is on public display for the first time – here in Bendigo.The cup became tradition for prisoners of war, and was won the following year in Thailand by Bendigo’s Alf “Pike” Maskell, aboard the great surgeon Weary “Phar Lap” Dunlop.There was no prize that year, but Alf’s win was a small moment of joy during a time when death surrounded him.

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Hell of a cup

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