Five floors above on the balcony of the members' stand, Johnny Potter looked out over the magnificent scene facing him and said: "You know, this was a great track to me."
It was.
The 79-year-old former New Zealander won two Great Northern Hurdles and two Great Northern Steeplechases on the blades of grass he was surveying.
For the record, Fend (1959) and Elrey in 1963 in the Hurdles and Knight's Star (1957) and Sabre five years later in the country's most famous steeplechase.
A few years later, Potter retired and worked for 25 years in Queensland coal mines.
Left behind were memories of one of New Zealand's best jumps jockeys.
However, like Wheeler and so many others, Potter is the moth that is dragged to the flame that is the mystique of Great Northern Steeplechase, flying the Tasman on Friday night to see the race he's twice felt the thrill of winning.
Potter says two changes in jumping in New Zealand stand out from back in his day. "The jumps are so much easier and they don't kill them with weight today like they used to."
Potter points out that his second biggest shock in racing was when eventual winner Irish Ace ran Potter's mount Coral Flight to the outside of the last fence and checked him so badly the horse fell.
"The biggest shock came when the handicapper gave Coral Flight 7lb for the McGregor Grant Steeples [then run a week after the Northern] even though he'd fallen.
"When I asked him why he said 'Well, he'd have won if he hadn't fallen. He'll still win next week'. He was right, he did.
"I know Brookby Song won with over 12 stone [77kg], but he was a freak. Not many horses could carry the big weights they used to lump them with.
"Knight's Star had 12 stone 2lb when I rode him in the Grand National after winning the Northern. Riccarton's fences were brutal in those days and he clipped one. He knuckled slightly and he just kept going down because he couldn't lift himself under the big weight."
It's not difficult to agree with Potter's belief that the public go to the races on days like the Great Northern to see the courage of horses winning, not to see them anchored by impossible weights.
Wheeler's enthusiasm remained unabated and independently Amanood Lad's winning rider Craig Thornton was voicing sentiments in the weighing room despite clear exhaustion through his kidney stone issues of the previous 24 hours.
"There is no race in the world like this one. Riding the winner is so humbling."
If there is a kinder, more self-effacing and talented jumps jockey than Tobouggie Night's rider Steve Pateman they're hiding themselves well.
"What a magnificent race this would be to win," he said in his quiet voice as he weighed in.
Old jumps jockeys don't just fade away - it wasn't long before Potter had fellow retirees and former rivals John Humphries, Jim Hely and Neil Treweek shouting him beers on the balcony.
Meanwhile, connections of South Auckland stayer Deane Martin have given the Keeper gelding a pass mark for his first Australian outing as he builds towards a group one assignment there.
Ridden by Brenton Avdulla, the Bruce Wallace-trained Deane Martin finished sixth over 1500m at Randwick late last month.
Assistant trainer Allan Peard said Deane Martin hadn't been at home in the heavy track conditions but he had come through the race well.
"The slack pace and sprint home didn't suit him either," Peard said.
Deane Martin, who ran fourth in last season's Avondale Cup (2400m), will have his next run in the Kingston Town Stakes (2000m) at Rosehill on Saturday, with one more run likely before he tackles the A$400,000 Metropolitan Hcp (2400m) at Randwick on October 4.
GN Steeplechase
*The lure of the magnificent race is legendary.
*No amount of success elsewhere in the world can blunt the desire to win the Northern.
*John Wheeler, Saturday's winning rider Craig Thornton, Australian former great Craig Durden, a regular visitor, and current Aussie champ Steve Pateman revere the race.
- Additional reporting NZ Racing Desk
