Family, friends, and former racing officials gathered at Springvale yesterday to pay their final respects to the late, Eric Jeffery.

He joined the staff of the Victoria Racing Club in 1941 as a 16 year old youth, at the height of World War 11, retiring in 1990 after 50 years of loyal service.

The offices of the V R C were then located in Bourke Street, the present site of the R A C V building.

Bourke Street was the hub of racing, all the city race clubs, and the Werribee race club, were located in the city

Eric Jeffery was an amazing character, he was an act that could never be repeated, he had an answer to most problems. 

Trainers had to come into the city to enter their horses; Eric was the confidant, he had to listen to all the hard luck stories.

Those that came into the V R C office with a gripe, usually left with a grin on their face after they met up with Eric.

Rodney Johnson, former secretary of the V R C, has a great repertoire of stories concerning his best mate Eric, a hard act to follow.

Heat, dust and normally a hot dry northerly wind, will greet those that attend the annual Carrathool Jockey Club’s Cup tomorrow.

With an expected 42 to 45 degrees heat, permission has been allowed for horses to arrive on the course one hour prior to the advertised time of each race.

Carrathool, known as one of the last of the bougher shed tracks, has a unique way of beating the rising temperatures.   

The bougher sheds comprise of open steel mesh stretched between poles, the day before the race meeting the station hands go out and cut the gum suckers from the giant gums that line the banks of the Murrunbidgee River.

Once the boughers are placed on the mesh, a fire truck comes along spraying water over the mesh; if it gets too hot sometimes the crowd has to be cleared while a second spraying is carried out.

Carrathool is about 250 kms over the river from Echuca, going towards Hay.

Lord Of The Sky is primed and ready to take the next step when he faces up to open company in the Listed R Taranto, W J Adams Stakes, at Caulfield tomorrow.

He is unbeaten at his last three starts, whilst those wins were in restricted company he has the superior speed, from a perfect draw, to be in front from the outset, and have no trouble over the 1000 metre

His mission is the Oakleigh Plate, if a market was framed on current form he would be on top of the list.

In his previous three wins he has been ridden by an apprentice rider, tomorrow Glen Boss takes the sit.

Hanging Rock has not lost its magic, or its charm, that has attracted racegoers of all ages for generation

The popular racing venue played host to a crowd of just under 5,000 on Australia Day (Sunday), the time honoured Hanging Rock Cup being the feature of a seven race card 

Chief Steward, Terry Bailey, was acting chairman for the occasion; he gave a favourable report on the track and how the meeting was conducted, an orderly crowd with not one inciden

It was the first time a chief steward has attended a race meeting at Hanging Rock in an official capacity, although he is no stranger to country racing, having worked at the majority of courses in New South Wales before coming to Victoria.

The Cup was won by Loukoumi, completing a double for Rick Harrison and Roger Booth; they were associated with Dayton, the winner of the previous race.

After drawing the coveted position on the fence Booth never left the rails on Loukoumi, until it was time to make his winning run when heads were turned for home 

Harrison, who formerly trained at Pakenham, has set the gelding for the Cup on Sunday week when the course will close after 138 years.

Bel Sir looked as if he would win half way up the straight; however, it was obvious he was running short of petrol tickets when challenged by the winner.

The $4.20 favourite, Severn Road, was disappointing, he was well supported on the strength of his second at Morphettville recently, he failed to run on.

The attendance figure of nearly 5,000 is an interesting statistic compared against the crowd at Caulfield the previous day which was 4,231,while half a million live within a five kilometre area of Caulfield, you would be hard put to find 600 people living in the same area at Hanging Rock 

Surely that illustrates the popularity of country racing, its heritage must be protected for the generations that will follow.

Loukoumi defeating Bel Sir in the Hanging Rock Cup 

A creditors meeting, scheduled for Friday, is looming up as an interesting affair concerning the crash of BC3

However, there will be little joy for those that have invested in the scheme, and you will hear little, as it is off bounds for the media.