That race was the Bathurst Gold Crown Final, the prize money was $105,000 and the inaugural winner was the John Beeby owned and trained Rocket Jason.

The 1987 Bathurst Gold Crown Carnival featured both the Gold Crown and Gold Tiara – races for two-year-olds which were built around stallion nominations.

Since that first year the Bathurst Gold Crown Carnival has grown to be a 10-day event and now includes more feature races such as the Gold Chalice and Gold Bracelet for three-year-olds.

While the prize money offered for the Gold Crown Final never reached the amounts that were talked of in the early days – peaking at $202,450 in 1990 – the carnival as a whole now offers more.

Beeby said had others not copied Bathurst’s idea, the Gold Crown Carnival may have been even richer.

“That first Gold Crown was worth $105,000. At the time there was talk that 10 years in the future it could be offering quarter of a million dollars, but that never happened. It didn’t happen I guess because everyone got on the bandwagon, Bathurst was the first paid series and then everyone copied it,” he said.

“It’s a bit of shame that happened ... it can get pretty expensive to pay up for all the series, especially if your horse isn’t winning.

“It was a big thing at the time though; it was a lot of money. The finals night had a massive crowd, a really good atmosphere.

“There was a lot of hype about that first carnival, it was a good concept ... I guess that’s why the others copied it.”

When Beeby made the trip to Bathurst’s inaugural Gold Crown Carnival he knew Rocket Jason was a good chance at finding success.

Rocket Jason had won the Nowra Debutante Stakes, the NSW Sapling Stakes, the Tatlow Stakes and a two-year-old Sires Stakes final.

Beeby also knew one of his great rivals – Keven Rivett’s Rowleyalla – was not eligible for the series.

“He had won his first nine starts before he came to Bathurst, he won a lot of classics, the Sapling, the Tatlow ... a whole lot,” Beeby, now 62, said.

“He was just a stitch above average, I’m actually lucky that Rowleyalla wasn’t paid up for that Gold Crown series

“By the time the series started he was very short priced favourite, even before the heats started he was the favourite.”

Beeby drove Rocket Jason (1/10 favourite) in his 1700 metre heat, the JR Skipper x Rock ‘N’ Rumble gelding winning by an impressive 12 metres.

For the final Rocket Jason was backed into 1/2 favouritism despite drawing barrier nine and Beeby being forced out of the gig due to injury.

“I broke my arm at Harold Park the night before and I needed to get a new driver at pretty short notice. I ended up getting Cyril Caffyn to drive,” Beeby said.

“Cyril was the best of the best, there was no-one better than him.

“He got a good run, Cyril worked his way out early, he pushed another one out of the way from there, he did a very good job.”

Rocket Jason won by 8m over Gold Mint that night to become the inaugural Gold Crown victor, but he also rates as one of the most temperamental winners in the 24-year history of the two-year-old feature.

“He was a great horse but he was also very cranky, he kicked everybody,” Beeby said.

“Somebody told me the story that he used to run up to his mother, give her both barrels and then drink from her, maybe he was just warning her what was to come.

“He was a gelding but he acted like a mad colt the whole time, I don’t think anyone in our stables didn’t get kicked by him.”