General News
3 November, 2022
Talbot’s claim to Melbourne Cup fame
The Melbourne Cup was run and won on Tuesday this week — claimed by Gold Trip — but the Central Goldfields community may very well have its own Melbourne Cup claim to fame, with the remains of 1870 Cup winner Nimblefoot believed to be buried in...

The Melbourne Cup was run and won on Tuesday this week — claimed by Gold Trip — but the Central Goldfields community may very well have its own Melbourne Cup claim to fame, with the remains of 1870 Cup winner Nimblefoot believed to be buried in Talbot.
A gelding, Nimblefoot won the Melbourne Cup on November 10, 1870, outpacing the other 27 starters by the slimmest of margins and setting a new race record of three minutes and 37 seconds.
Ballarat’s claim to Melbourne Cup fame for many years, the horse was owned by Walter Craig, the owner of what is now Craig’s Royal Hotel in Ballarat, and ridden by 16-year-old prodigy Johnny Day, however for many years there have been whispers the horse’s body lies in Talbot.
The Talbot Arts and Historical Museum have even set up a display of Nimblefoot’s known history, with the hopes of learning more about the legend of the gelding’s final resting place.
“We believe Nimblefoot, the 1870 Melbourne Cup winner, is buried in Talbot,” museum volunteer Denise O’Regan said.
“We’re not certain how the horse supposedly came to have a resting place here or where the actual legend that the remains are here came from, that’s the big question.
“You’ll ask people in their 80s and older and they say they believe it or know it’s true which is interesting.
“It’s our aim to find out the truth behind this and if it is true, where Nimblefoot’s grave is.”
Two months following the Melbourne Cup win, Nimblefoot raced and won at the Talbot Races on December 15 and 16, with the Talbot Racecourse located where the golf course now stands.
In terms of the horse’s other links to Talbot, the Talbot Arts and Historical Museum are in possession of a book, Memoirs of Talbot and Talbot People, containing a photograph of some trees and a caption stating it’s Nimblefoot’s final resting place.
It’s believed that Nimblefoot is buried on the southern outskirts of the Talbot township, near the Ballarat-Maryborough Road, however the exact location is unknown, however the mystery surrounding the horse doesn’t end there.
“There’s a legend that says Walter Craig, the owner of Nimblefoot, dreamt that the jockey had an armband on during the Melbourne Cup,” Ms O’Regan said.
“It turned out to be true and the arm band was in Walter Craig’s honour because he passed away a few weeks before the Cup.”
The Talbot Arts and Historical Museum will have their display on Nimblefoot on show for several months and are asking any residents with information about Nimblefoot’s resting place to get in touch.
The museum can be contacted on 5463-2167 and is open from 1 pm until 4 on Sundays and 10 am until 4 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, or by appointment.