Sideline Sid Sports correspondant & historian www.sunlive.co.nz

The opportunity to dress up in the Western Bay are few and far between – but this Saturday is the chance to dust of the glad rags and dress up to the nines, with the premier day of horse racing at the Gate Pa track.

The occasion is the Group Two Japan/New Zealand trophy, which is the big prize on a day of top line racing and fashions in the field. The reciprocal race, which dates back to 1971, is believed to be the longest-running reciprocal (horse) race in the world. Just weeks after the Tauranga feature, the 2014 New Zealand Trophy race is to be run at the Nakayama racecourse on April 12 for the not-inconsiderable stake of $52 million Japanese yen.

In recent years, with the advent of Trackside TV and internet betting, racing has had to face the challenges of punters deserting the race tracks in favour of the comfort of their lounges. Racing Tauranga has responded by making a day at the races an experience for novice race-goers and long-time punters alike, where they have such a good time they come back in the future.

Somewhere in the past I found the following statement, which to me epitomises the attraction of horse racing: 'Jockeys in their colourful silks lined up along the birdcage, flapping riding crops against skimpy boots as they wait in expectancy of their mounts. The thoroughbreds are led in spaced intervals, their coats shining and rippling on that glorious day”.

'In these moments, with all the beauty that is in the well-conditioned thoroughbred, racing seemed to reach higher realms than fashion, wagering and stakes.”

Sideline Sid has been racing since his teens and it is with a little sadness he read of the passing of Australian champion jockey Roy Higgins. The bare facts state Roy Henry Higgins rode a massive total of 2312 winners during his illustrious career and won the Melbourne Jockeys premiership on 11 occasions.

Higgins will always be linked with Australian master trainer Bart Cumming, who has trained a record 12 winners of the race that stops two nations – the Melbourne Cup. Known for much of his career as ‘The Professor', Higgins rode Bart Cummings' first Melbourne Cup winner in 1965 and his second with Red Handed two years later.

Sideline Sid was lucky enough to see Roy Higgins ride on two occasions. The first in 1967's Melbourne Cup, in front of a crowd of more than 1000 punters, when Red Handed knuckled down to beat Kiwi challenger Red Crest. Bart Cummings' charge was headed by the Kiwi horse half-way down the straight, but fought back in a dramatic finish to beat Red Crest by a neck.

The second occasion I saw Roy Higgins ride was in 1972, in front of a full house at Te Rapa race course, when legendary English jockey Lester Piggott went head-to-head with Higgins in the Waikato International Stakes. The Australian maestro drew Game, who was a noted front-runner with Sailing Home and Piggott some way of the pace in the early running.

On the home-turn Piggott raced up to have Sailing Home on the hind quarters of Game, ready to challenge. Almost in slow motion Sailing Home got her nose in front of Game, with Piggott at his very best extracting everything from the horse, to beat Game and Higgins by a neck. The crowd rose as one as Sailing Home and Game thundered over the line with the applause stretching on several minutes. While it was more than four decades ago, the memory of this race will stay with me forever.

Seeya at the races on Saturday.