Just before Longford trainer Mick Burles passed away, eight years ago, he had a dying wish and that was to have his ashes interned with his champion horse The Cleaner when that magnificent galloper crossed to the other side.
Mick suffered from chronic emphysema that took his life in 2018.
Late last year, The Cleaner, who had been living the high life at Living Legends in Melbourne, died suddenly from an aneurysm.
Mick’s ashes had been kept safe in the hands of his daughter Carissa, who had been carting her father’s remains around Australia before resting for the last four years in The Pilbara in Western Australia.
Through the cooperation of Living Legends CEO Andrew Clarke, who went out of his way to facilitate the internment, Mick’s final wish was realised at Living Legends on Tuesday.
Channel Nine sports editor Tony Jones, was keen to cover the event, so on Tuesday Carissa and Mick’s former stable foreperson Mikayla Fitch, fronted the camera and set about telling stories of their time with the horse and the trainer. Mick Burles and The Cleaner was one of those rags-to-riches stories that racing often throws up, but this was one full of glory and pain, as depicted in the book, Mick and The Cleaner, written by Tasracing’s former Media Manager Peter Staples.
When The Cleaner started winning Group races in Melbourne in 2015, people began to take notice of this average-looking gelding by Savoire Vivre that was bred by Armidale Stud at Carrick and sold to Mick for only $10,000 at a Tasmanian Magic Millions Yearling Sale.
Mick bought the horse, but with nobody showing any interest in taking shares in the gelding, he eventually sold him to three of his golfing buddies, with one taking a 50 per cent share and the other two taking 25 per cent each.
The sale was on the proviso that Mick would remain the trainer and under Mick’s care The Cleaner had 54 starts for 19 wins, 12 seconds and four thirds for almost $1.35 million in stakes.
The Cleaner was twice taken from Mick’s stable to be trained in Victoria.
The first time, the gelding was transferred into the care of Robert Smerdon, who was unable to get the horse to win from four starts in 2013.
The next season back in Mick’s stable, The Cleaner won the Group 2 Feehan Stakes and backed up to win the Group 3 JRA Cup to earn a berth in the 2014 W. S. Cox Plate to become the first Tasmanian-owned and trained horse to run in the race.
All of Longford turned out to wish their local hero good luck, with Tasmanian and interstate television networks clamouring to get vision of this remarkable animal as he prepared for the most prestigious weight-for-age race in the southern hemisphere.
It put the sleepy little town of Longford on the national map and it flung Mick and Tasmania into the national spotlight
The Cleaner finished a gallant ninth after leading to the final 200 metres.
It was The Cleaner’s gritty catch-me-if-you-can racing style that captured the imagination of Australia’s racing public.
The next season The Cleaner won another Feehan Handicap and he ran second in the Group 1 Underwood Stakes at Caulfield as a lead-up into his second Cox Plate.
This time he again led but the great mare Winx stormed to the lead turning for home with The Cleaner languishing well back in Hugh Bowman’s (Winx’s jockey) rear-view mirror.
With Mick’s health deteriorating, The Cleaner was transferred to Victorian trainer Peter Galigotis for whom the gelding had four starts for no result, after which the horse was retired from racing in 2016.
The CEO of Living Legends approached the owners about taking the courageous gelding and a deal was struck to have The Cleaner spend his retirement at Living Legends and according to Clarke the bold front-runner was a great performer and a cherished inhabitant of the complex.
Mick and The Cleaner is a great racing story and for them to finally rest together is a testament to an industry that truly knows how to take care of its own.