It’s Melbourne Cup time again and I love that it falls on Trove Tuesday.  There are many ways to pick a winner and around Melbourne Cup time, you hear them all.  Some go for numbers, the name, the colours or maybe an omen.  Often after the event, punters will claim they dreamt up the winner, and as the “Sound” from the Hamilton Spectator suggested in 1894, they are often not game to declare their selection prior to the race.  But not so John Cameron.  Back in 1894, farrier John Cameron of Lonsdale Street, Hamilton, claimed his Melbourne Cup selection came from a dream and he was happy to share his vision.

The 1893 Melbourne Cup winner was Tarcoola and it was that horse’s name that came to Cameron in his slumber.  He recalled seeing a newspaper listing previous Melbourne Cup winners including Archer for 1861/62 and Tarcoola 1893/94.  So convinced that he had dreamt the winner, he took a Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup Double, Paris into Tarcoola.

The “Sound” recounts the most famous prediction emanating from a dream, the winner of the 1870 Melbourne Cup.  The winner Nimblefoot,  the dreamer his owner Walter Craig, owner of Craig’s Hotel, Ballarat.

Melbourne Cup Dreamers. (1894, October 31). Portland Guardian (Vic. : 1876 – 1953), p. 3 Edition: EVENING. Retrieved November 5, 2013, from http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article65397112

Are you wondering if John Cameron was a winner?  The first leg of his double come in, Paris in the Caulfield Cup.  The Melbourne Cup winner was Patron, with Tarcoola  unplaced.

PATRON, 1894 MELBOURNE CUP WINNER, Image Courtesy of the State Library of Victoria. Image no. IAN08/11/94/20-21e
http://handle.slv.vic.gov.au/10381/254730