TERRY Ryan may have solved the puzzle of what happened to a prized early Melbourne Cup trophy after it came to the Hunter Valley.
The unique trophy was awarded to Hunter racehorse Lord Nolan after it won the 1908 Cup in Victoria.
And when I say unique, I really do mean unique.
Up until 1919, when the Cup became a three-handled trophy, race winners were given individual prizes.
According to racing scribe David Ellis, this wasn't really appreciated by some of the nag owners. The owner of the 1865 Cup winner "was so horrified" with his prize that he sold it. Other owners in the early 1890s also complained that their awards weren't so grand either, not silver or gold but more suitable for taking tea.
But when the Hunter-raised steed, Lord Nolan, won Australia's greatest horse race, his owner, the famous John Mayo of Rutherford, wasn't even given a cup.
When the Hunter-raised steed, Lord Nolan, won Australia's greatest horse race, his owner, the famous John Mayo of Rutherford, wasn't even given a cup.
Instead, what he got was a most unusual memento to put on the mantlepiece.
It was an object about a metre long with a reported garish red wooden base. On it was mounted a silver silhouette of a galloping horse.
Critics of the prize said it looked more like a galloping greyhound.
Earlier, the 1888 winner did receive an unusual 8 kilogram silver trophy costing about $5000. But when sold at auction 99 years later it fetched the staggering sum of $177,000.
Terry Ryan, of Kahibah, has nothing near as grand, but he does have an original oil painting of Lord Nolan from 1908 by artist C.W.Readett and now, aged 83 years, Ryan wants to find it a new home; to give to someone who'll truly appreciate it, as he does.
It did live at the NJC's Broadmeadow race museum for a while, but then disappointed, he retrieved it, believing rightly or wrongly it wasn't displayed prominently enough.
The historic painting once belonged to his grandfather and for decades it hung over the bar in pride of place of his wine saloon in Beaumont Street Hamilton.
"Much later on, when I was involved, our customers used to just call the painting Terry's horse," Ryan says.
"I grew up there. Living above the bar. It was a wonderful life.
"I even worked there briefly. I must have been 13 or 14 years old. You did in those days.
"I can remember during World War II (1939-45) when there were 40 push bikes put up against the wall outside. The owners, BHP workers, would come in and have six or seven wines each.
"The place was called 'O'Beirne's Wine Bar'. My mother was an O'Beirne. She ran the bar for years.
"Dad was a tally clerk, an SP bookie and also owned two billiard parlours. He toured once with champion player Walter Lindrum," Ryan says.
"Anyway, I believe Lord Nolan is the only Newcastle horse to ever win the Melbourne Cup.
"I've been told that's bullshit by experts, but I was told that by the very highest official at the NJC (Newcastle Jockey Club).
"Sure, the horse Lord Nolan was born at Heatherbrae, north of Maitland, but he was trained and raced at Newcastle," Ryan insisted.
"I think this mystery artist Readett even painted Lord Nolan in his stable at Newcastle.
"My horse was also related, a half-brother or something, to Lord Cardigan, the winner of the 1903 Melbourne Cup."
Records show the Hunter Valley has 30 historic connections with Melbourne Cup winners, including Peter Pan. And Lord Nolan's win in 1908 is usually regarded as one of at least five Melbourne Cup winners "with Maitland connections", including Poseidon (1906), Prince Foote (1909) and in 1913 Posinatus which, in retirement, was given to a local priest to ride around his Morpeth parish.
Lord Nolan foaled out of Lady Lybia and was sired by Positano, another Hunter horse that also sired two other Cup winners, Poseidon and Piastre.
So, did O'Beirne's Hamilton wine bar get built possibly from race winnings from backing Lord Nolan back in 1908?
"No, I don't believe so," Terry Ryan says.
"The horse simply won the same year - 1908 - as when the family shifted north to the corner of Beaumont and Donald streets from a grocery store where IGA is now.
"The original wine bar building was sold, then demolished after the 1989 earthquake and a record store built on the site.
"As a youngster though, I remember standing on the wrap-round top veranda and looking west down Donald Street and seeing Tiger Moth aircraft taking off from the old District Park Aerodrome at Broadmeadow.
"Now, let me tell you the (forgotten) story of that lost 1908 Lord Nolan trophy as told to me by the son of a strapper," Ryan says.
"The trophy was a piece of polished cedar and on top was a metal, or silver, horse with stiff legs sticking out.
"The Cup owner later gave it to his daughter living at Weston and after seeing it she reportedly said, 'What a shocking thing to give anyone' and promptly threw it into the fireplace."
Raconteur Terry Ryan in retirement is full of similar stories and they are all fascinating as befitting an avid sportsman, former Woolworths manager for 18 years and former courier service operator.
In jest, Terry cheekily initially gave his business the catchy title of 'Von Ryan's Express' after a popular 1965 POW escape film starring Frank Sinatra.
"I picked up the phone one day and (late media tycoon) Kerry Packer asked me to deliver a whole lot of white rope up to his property at Ellerston, on Gundy Road, near Scone.
"I asked him why and he said he wanted to clearly define a big area up there to allow a Sikorsky helicopter carrying the Russian polo team to be able to land safely there."
Another time, also decades ago, he got a sudden unusual request to urgently deliver a ship governor to Port Hedland in distant Western Australia.
"A governor is something that affects the pitch of a propeller. It couldn't go by air back then so it had to be delivered all the way instead by truck. Unbelievable."
All in a day's work. And under another name, the business Terry built up still continues to this day.
At the specific request of his family for accuracy's sake, the indefatigable Terry Ryan has also recently written his own colourful obituary, advising family members that even after he's long gone, he'll be watching.
"I also know the bloke at the funeral parlour. He's offered me a 30 per cent discount if I die in the next month," Terry Ryan joked.
