Patrobas

Every town has heroes, and one of Rosedale’s is Gippsland’s only Melbourne Cup Winner. We're talking about Patrobas, the mighty horse who crossed the line to victory in the race of 1915, a year when he also won the Caulfield Guineas, and The Derby.

The Steel Memorial to Patrobas speeding to victory you’ve just been alerted to features jockey Bobby Lewis in his nose pink silks, the first rider to win four Melbourne Cups.

Patrobas was a birthday gift to Edith Widdis, from her husband. A first race loss prompted the engagement of trainer Charlie Wheeler, this strategy proving to be the beginning of a campaign that led Mrs Widdis to become the first female owner of a Melbourne Cup winner. This was something so unusual at the time that she had to push her way through the crowd on winning, as no one believed she was the owner. Interestingly, Michelle Payne’s 2015 Cup victory was exactly 100 years later.