UNTIL his big win on Saturday, few people outside McNeil’s inner circle would have been aware just how much effort had been required to get him to headquarters.
Like all of racing, he was still coming to grips with Thursday’s death of Lester, after the 54-year-old’s brief battle with cancer.
But there was a special bond between McNeil and Lester, the high-profile racing personality had been a mentor, a friend and a champion for McNeil and post-race he was clearly overcome with the emotion of the day.
Returning to scale he blew a kiss and also raised his arm to the sky, salutes to his good friend.
Looking shaken, he tried to keep his race interview on the track, describing his horse as “really impressive”.
He told racing.com for a horse which previously had shown a great turn of speed, her Saturday win “had seen her quicken it up and sustain that all the way to the finish”.
“Even though she got herself pretty worked up before the race, it didn’t affect her performance,” McNeil added.
But when the interviewer mentioned the connection he shared with Lester, it was too much for the 29-year-old Melbourne Cup winner.
He acknowledged the friendship and the debt, pointing to his riding boots, which had been embroidered with Lester’s initials.
“He’s going to be riding with me in every race today,” McNeil explained before his obvious personal distress ended the interview.
But as Lester would have expected of his protege, and almost certainly would have advised him, McNeil was 100 per cent focused by Sunday, even though his colours were lowered by his best mate.
