Joe Agresta: From Griffith to the Cup

“It was sensational,” he says. “There was a great turnout, and the town really appreciated the Cup coming. I was chuffed to take it back there. It’s not something I ever thought I’d do.”

Though he’s long based in Melbourne, Agresta has strong roots in Griffith. He was born there, moved to Melbourne with his family when he was five or six, and returned briefly at 17 before deciding city life – and racing – was where he belonged. “It wasn’t for me,” he said. “But I’ve got lots of family there – siblings, cousins, nieces, nephews – so it was great to see everyone again.” 

One of his favourite moments on the tour – apart from a homecooked Italian feast with his family – was the school visit. “The kids asked some great questions,” he said. “They really got into it.” Crowds also flocked to the town’s library, the museum and the Griffith Jockey Club (which hosts just one race meeting a year, but is still looked after by a passionate committee of volunteers), just to see the famous trophy.

Agresta’s love of racing started young, not through family, but through the streets of Ascot Vale, where he grew up. “Every second house had a stable in the backyard,” he said. “Men would come home from shift work at two or three in the morning and take their horses down to Flemington. Horses were always walking the streets.”

One memory in particular stands out. “I was about seven or eight, and there was a bloke standing on our nature strip with a racehorse, letting it pick the grass. My dad couldn’t afford a lawnmower, so the horse was doing the job. I asked him about the horse, started going to the stables after school, and that was it.”

He went on to become one of the most trusted trackwork riders in Australian racing. He joined Bart Cummings’ stable in 1980 and never looked back. From Saintly Place, he rode in work five Melbourne Cup winners: Kingston Rule, Let’s Elope, Saintly, Rogan Josh and Viewed. He also travelled the world with Cummings’ horses – including a memorable trip to the Japan Cup with his favourite horse, Shaftesbury Avenue.

“He was almost human,” Agresta said. “He seemed to really need me around him on this trip. Bart knew it too and so he let me spend time with him. The horse and I had a real connection.”

Despite being part of so many great moments, Agresta does have one small regret. “Bart wasn’t one to get too excited. You’d win a big race and it was business as usual the next day. Now I tell people in the industry to enjoy the moment. You might not always get another one.”

At 73, Agresta still gets up at 4am six mornings a week, just as he has done for the past 60 years. He helps the team at Malua Racing saddle up before trackwork, the same way someone once helped him.

“You never really leave racing,” he says. “Once you’ve worked with horses, you fall in love. You can’t get away from them.”

He also works full-time with the local council in aged and disability maintenance – a job he loves just as much. “My kids tell me to stop working but I don’t want to. I just like helping people,” he said.

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