"I'd never seen rain like it. It was eerie, it was frightening and I was grinning like a Cheshire cat"

Van Der Hum was sired by the versatile stayer and sire of the winners of over $2m, Hermes (GB), his dam Tip O'Dawn was by the good sire Count Rendered (GB). In 1976, Van der Hum won 10 races in New Zealand from the 26th March until September 18th over distances ranging from 1600m to 2200m. 10 in only 6 months!!! Heading to Australia he won the 2400m Herbert Power Handicap on 9th October 1976 from Demerara on a slow track. He then ran a creditable 3rd behind How Now in the Caulfield Cup on a heavy track, ridden by Brent Thomson. He arrived on a plane which also carried sheep and cattle and touched down at Tullamarine well after midnight on the Friday night. Van Der Hum had only a few hours in his temporary stable accommodation before being taken to Caulfield for the Herbert Power Hcp (2400 metres). Making light of a hurried and arduous trip, he destroyed the opposition in the Herbert Power winning by seven lengths. With Bob Skelton aboard he was then 8th, out of 14, behind the three-year-old New Zealand-bred filly Surround in the WS Cox Plate on a fast track.

The favourite for the 1976 Melbourne Cup was the Bart Cummings trained local Gold and Black. On cup day there was a very heavy downpour on the course and Van Der Hum, a wet track specialist, was set to shine. Trainer and part owner Leo Robinson had spent two nights prior to the 1976 Melbourne Cup in his car, armed with a shotgun outside Van Der Hum’s stall. He'd heard the stories of Apollo Eleven's poisoning in 1975 and about the criminal element that can knobble horses' to manipulate the outcome of big races. Leo wasn't taking any chances. In fact, Van Der Hum may never have won a Melbourne Cup at all had Roy Robinson, Leo's brother and co-owner not been at the Waikato Racing Club office for a sub-committee meeting and learned from an office girl that the entries for the big race were closing that day - he threw in a very late application.

Van Der Hum was a Kiwi-trained farm horse who needed a wet track. The wetter the better, but Roy claimed he wasn't a real 'mudder,' he just knew how to handle the conditions better and he was fit - super fit. Skelton went to the traditional Racing Mass in Melbourne two days before the Cup and prayed for rain. His wife Maureen and family and anyone he asked prayed for rain too. It came just in the nick of time - and in bucketloads.

"I'd never seen rain like it. It was eerie, it was frightening and I was grinning like a Cheshire cat," Skelton recalled in one of his numerous retelling of the big event. There were 78,500 people at Flemington on Melbourne Cup day in 1976. Those still living hold indelible memories of their visit to the historic course on the day mother nature threw a tantrum. Within minutes the light was failing rapidly, the thunder was starting to roll in, and the lightning was jumping all over the sky. The noise on the roof was deafening and there were sheets of galvanised iron sagging under the sheer weight of water.

Early in the race, Skelton pulled his goggles off and immediately got hit in one eye by a clod of mud. "It was like driving a car with no windscreen wipers on a very muddy road." Van Der Hum proved too strong in those conditions and horse and jockey returned to the mounting enclosure to acclaim. Some say he swum to victory. Skelton was covered in mud, silt and water and bitterly exhausted afterwards, but exhilarated. If ever anyone deserved the praise that comes from winning a Melbourne Cup it was Bob Skelton, known in the racebooks and newspapers and by dollar each-way punters as RJ Skelton. With his loose-reined riding style and preference to encourage a horse with his hands rather than the whip, he had been vilified for years in the Australian press, so it was vindication to win its biggest race. The criticism arose due to the perception that he exhibited excessive leniency towards horses, refraining from riding them with sufficient vigor. Van der Hum was unplaced in his next two Australian starts on better tracks before returning to New Zealand.

In 1977 he returned to Australia with a 6th behind Family of Man in the 2000m Caulfield Stakes and 10th behind Ming Dynasty in the Caulfield Cup. Van der Hum was ridden again by Bob Skelton when placed 10th in the 1977 Melbourne Cup which was won by the "Cups King", Bart Cummings, with Gold and Black from Reckless and Hyperno. However, Van Der Hum followed up 4 days later with a nice 2nd place at Flemington in the 2500m CB Fisher Plate behind Tom's Mate.

Upon returning to New Zealand he continued to race over distance on the flat but without winning. Van der Hum did not race as a seven and eight year old, but incredibly he then embarked on a jumping career and won the 1981 Rodmore Hurdles at Riccarton (2550m), and in 1982 the Waikato Hurdles (3200m) and Hawkes Bay Hurdles (3100m) as a 10yo. He was placed 6th in the 1982 Great Northern Hurdles over 4190m. Also adept over the larger fences he won the 1983 Rangitikei Steeplechase as an 11yo and 1984 Egmont Steeplechase at Waverley as a 12yo, both over 4400m.

They didn't come much more rugged then Van Der Hum.

RACE RECORD - 40: 18-7-4

EARNINGS - $235,020

Melbourne Cup (1976)