It can be difficult to pinpoint the moment when the sight or sound of a horse moving past you makes the hair stand up on the back of your neck. Some people will recall the first startling blur of tears as a favoured horse flashes across the line; others the thrill of holding the flimsy ticket stub that a knowing bookmaker hands them; still others the roar of the crowd, or the gleaming wave of horse flesh and jockey silks in the parade to the post.

Mick Rush couldn’t tell you when his love affair with horses started either. But you suspect that if he was to have told you he would have smiled and said that he was sold on this business from the moment he was old enough to tag after brothers David and Jack to the local track (or even the trots), or those early mornings he spent leaning on the family’s front gate to watch horses, including Rising Fast, stride past on their way to a swim at Mentone beach.

As an adult, Mick (like many in his family) pursued a career in law. His love for racing and the many personalities that populate it continued unabated and ensured that the well-known barrister was retained by many people associated with the Industry. One such client was John Cappellin, a name familiar to many as the owner of the colt who would win six times at Group 1 level, and be crowned Australia’s Most Popular Racehorse in 2001 and Champion 3yo Australasian sprinter. On 7 November 1998 Mick was on course with Cappellin to watch the bay son of Perugino win his second start in the Maribyrnong Plate. The soon to be famous Testa Rossa would swiftly become the favourite of Mick - and son Martin - alike.

Four years later, on June 22, 2003, a bay weanling filly would tentatively step into the sales ring at Oaklands in Melbourne. The weanling's sire was the same as Testa Rossa's; her dam - John's Legacy (by Dolphin Street), a handy mare in her day, winning 4 times (3 at city level) and placing 6 times from just 13 starts to amass the tidy sum of $153,175. Unusually, she also carried the name of Mick Rush's long term friend and football coach - John Sanders (his wife naming the mare in his honour after his death some years earlier). To Mick, brothers David and Jack, partner Mandy, son Martin, and close friends Terry Forrest, John Noonan, Peter McDonnell and Chris O'Neil - the ‘signs’ could simply not be ignored. And fortunately for their budget, the market acquiesced. In its typical anomalous way, a currently out of vogue sire combined with a pedigree page that held insufficient interest for the black type enthusiasts ensured that the filly garnered a final bid of just $16,500.

The new owners seemingly left their good fortune at Inglis that day. Mick was diagnosed with terminal brain tumours within the week.

Ross McDonald was entrusted with training the filly. Listen to the other owners talk of the relationship he and his wife Marg shared with Mick in the final 18 months of his life, and you could be excused for confusing them all for family.

"Mick just loved being close to the action," David reflects. "Most trainers don't seem to tell you what's going on with your horses but the McDonald's seem to get upset if you DON'T come down to the stables on a Friday afternoon ! Mick was always down there watching what was happening and they involved him in everything - even offered to let him ride in the truck to the races if he wanted to and to Mick that was the most amazing invitation.

"Mick always followed Ross' horses - the last day he was able to get to the track he backed a winner - that was Turnbull Stakes Day. And his final decent bet was on Tahni Girl when she won on Oaks Day at 10/1."

Fittingly perhaps, on the day Mick finally succumbed to his illness, McDonald’s mare Tully Bellotto saluted in the listed TBV Summoned Stakes. The trainer who had held Mick in his arms when he collapsed at the stables some weeks earlier, quietly recognised his departed friend in his speech when he said "this horse had an extra 2 legs guiding it home today."

A single word would appear on the back of Mick's funeral program. From the Latin word for 'faith' ('to believe'), “Fidemus” is also the name of the filly Mick and his son Martin had purchased so many months before, the filly whose debut, despite Ross' best efforts, Mick missed seeing by just six weeks.

This Saturday Fidemus takes her place in the Group 3 Vanity Stakes at Flemington.
No-one doubts that Mick still watches over the adventure. There have been a number of 'auspicious' signs within Fidemus' career: on Friday 13th January she started from barrier 13 at Moonee Valley in a race named in honour of the late Frank Dempsey (the Dempsey family were long time family friends); Mick’s brothers David and Jack were celebrating their birthdays on the same day. The filly's first city win was seemingly pre-destined at the odds of 25-1.

Win or lose this Saturday, Fidemus has certainly brought faith to all those involved with her. From just 11 starts, the 3yo has recorded 2 wins, 3 seconds and a third and has already put more than 3.5 times her purchase price in the bank.

David says that "whatever the outcome this Saturday I'm sure [Mick] is getting some satisfaction watching her come on. I just want to see her run a good race for all the reasons to do with our involvement in her and all the people associated with her as well - particularly Mick's mates and children, and also for Ross and Marg."

Stakes winner of the future - perhaps - Fidemus' story just goes to show that it pays for us all to believe, and to remember that it is the small details in life that can so easily change coincidence into history.

In Mick's parting words (much like his idol Ned Kelly) 'such is life'.





© Katrina Partridge 2006. Edited by John Baxter.

With special thanks to Martin and David Rush.

Photo descriptions (from top):

1. Fidemus' Moonee Valley win on 13 January 2006 (image (c) TVN)
2. Fidemus as a yearling
3. Ross McDonald and Mick Rush a few weeks before Mick passed away
4. Mick and family/friends at Flemington -(front row - Mick and his mother; beind them stand (left to right) Mick's sons Joseph, Martin (sunglasses -blue tie) and Daniel (white tie).
5. The 5 Rush siblings: Annie, David, Mick, Jack, Mary
6. Mick's partner Mandy (left) and Sue Rush with Fidemus