Like father, like son: the McEvoys’ place in Cup history

Leading trainers often come from strong family traditions; for example, three generations of the Cummings family have been prominent trainers, the Hayes family has a similar background, and, as is well known, Gai Waterhouse is the daughter of the celebrated Sydney trainer Tommy Smith.

Now, the McEvoys, Tony and Calvin, can be added to that list after their star galloper Half Yours achieved success in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. From this point on, both men will be remembered in racing history not only as Cups-winning handlers but also as the first father-and-son duo to reach this milestone.

This is fitting, given Tony’s close links with the Hayes team. As a young man, he was a jockey at CS Hayes’ South Australian base, riding 100 winners before weight restrictions forced him to stop.

Following the tragic death of Hayes’s son Peter in 2001, it was McEvoy who stepped in to fill the gap while David Hayes was training in Hong Kong for the first time, sending out Fields Of Omagh to win his first Cox Plate in 2003.

For Tony, working with his son is the culmination of a long family tradition in racing. “We are from a farming background, but my grandfather Charles Joseph and father Charles owned horses. Horses have always been part of our lives. My brother Phillip, who is Kerrin’s dad, rode, and I followed him in.”

So, who calls the shots in his partnership with Calvin – the elder or the younger?

“I was number one when we started, but he has really found his voice in recent years. He backs himself and supports his decisions when I question what he is doing.

“I respect his views. When we were both at Ballarat, it was good, and we worked well together, but now that he’s at Flemington and I’m at Ballarat, it works better,” says McEvoy senior with a smile.

Calvin agrees.

“I think it’s worked so well because I was put on the license very young. It was a surprise to me, as I was an assistant.

“We had a stable at Flemington at the time, where dad was spending more time, so I was based in South Australia, making most of the decisions on the training of the Adelaide team.

“Now, I mainly work in the city, so Dad comes to Flemington once a week, I try to get to Ballarat once or twice a week, and we work well together.”

Like all training stables, their main approach is to get the best out of every horse that enters their yard and win as many races as possible. But, as Calvin explains, there are subtleties within that framework.

“We feel we can really educate horses and identify their talent levels early, and if they are looking as though they are not going to reach the right standard for the ownership group, we are very happy to recommend that they go to a different jurisdiction, outside the Melbourne metro area,” he says.

“And I think that earns respect among your ownership group because they all cost the same to train. Half Yours costs the same to train as a horse running at Stawell on a Saturday or at a country midweek meeting. We are not in it for huge numbers but for quality.”

McEvoy senior says that adaptability is another key. “What’s changed in training is that back in the day, Bart (Cummings), TJ (Smith), CS (Colin) Hayes, they had their system, and if the horse didn’t fit the system, it had to go. Whereas today, we tinker, change, and adapt much more than we ever used to.

“We have to vary our training to suit the horses. I don’t think the horses are as tough as they used to be. I think in general they are a bit softer, so we are adaptable. CS Hayes always told me, ‘Look at your animal, he will tell you everything you want to know.’”

Tony hopes the quality will continue to improve after their standout spring successes, particularly with stayers.“I feel our string had been a bit unbalanced because we had predominantly been buying speed,” he says. 

“I loved training stayers. I trained a Grand National Steeple winner and a Cox Plate winner when I was younger, which nobody remembers. But we didn’t get into that overseas market very well by buying those Europeans, which are bloody expensive.

“It’s hard to get anyone interested in buying yearlings that want to stay. So we missed our window a bit there. “But that’s why I think the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup wins and this great horse have opened up people’s minds a bit to show that maybe we can train a stayer.”

Half Yours’ success was the obvious highlight of the spring, but both McEvoy's say the same thing when asked if there were any other race wins that gave them particular pleasure.“

Motorsports winning the Blue Sapphire at Group 3 level for Godolphin was a real feather in our cap, I thought. She’s a well-bred filly, and to get black type for her at her third start was very, very good,” says Tony. “Godolphin sent us 17 horses. We never got any big-name horses, but we received young, beautifully educated horses that are about to develop, so hopefully we can build on that.”

Certainly, Half Yours’ success seemed to resonate with the public more than many recent Cup winners. Both trainers have their own thoughts on why.

“We were the only Aussie horse, I think, which had something to do with it. The amount of warmth and love we have felt from the community was unbelievable. It’s been overwhelming,” says Tony.

Adds Calvin: “We were lucky to be in the driver’s seat, but we really did feel that everyone got behind the story, and it really humbled us.

“My old man’s been a very popular and well-respected guy in the industry for a long time, and that was reflected too.”