A photograph of local business partners Ray Richards and Jack Cuthbertson meeting Queen Elizabeth in 1977.
This is part two of our look back at the life of Jack Cuthbertson.
In the early 1970s, Ray established Desmond Park Horse Stud and purchased a mare "Colleen" with foal at foot. The foal's sire was "Lots of Man". The foal went on to later be known as "Family of Man".
Ray was very keen on horse racing and Jack had some insight based on his father Arthur's racing of ponies and horses. Arthur's best horse had shared the bloodline of one of the Queen's racehorses.
"Family of Man" won the Cox Plate in 1977, and missed by a nose the following year. It was the first horse to break the $500,000 money barrier in Australia. "Family of Man" was a champion with 19 wins, 10 seconds and eight thirds from 52 starts. Trainer George Hanlon said he was the "best horse he had trained".
Ray and Jack got to meet the late Queen Elizabeth when she presented the "House of Windsor" trophy at Flemington on March 16 during her 1977 royal visit. Jack's daughter Lorraine recalls that Jack was keen to tell the Queen of the shared bloodline of his father's horse with one of her racehorses.
Photograph and information courtesy of Stories of Drouin, a cooperative oral history project between The Committee for Drouin, 3BBR FM and Drouin History Group to preserve local stories.
Hear the story of Jack Cuthbertson as told by one of his daughters Lorraine and son Peter at storiesofdrouin.com.au