Greg Hall congratulates his son Nick after the Caulfield Cup win. Picture: Jay Town Source: Jay Town / HeraldSun
IT was the Caulfield Cup where the door to racing's most closed shop was flung open.
It was a family affair of sons and godsons.
Those usually muted by Lloyd's rules spoke.
Who knew Robert Hickmott could string a sentence.
Who knew the official trainer of Lloyd's private army had a son. His name is Joshua and yesterday he celebrated his 11th birthday, the day Fawkner, the horse the racebook says is trained by his dad, won the Caulfield Cup.
Hickmott thanked staff whose names we'd never, from memory, heard before.
Jason Chandler, Dean Crongold, all cogs in the Williams machine, were mentioned and thanked.
Nick Williams, son of Lloyd, spoke of his father's endless efforts to win the Caulfield Cup.
Nayrizi, ridden by Greg Hall, failed by a whisker many years ago, when Lloyd appeared on racetracks and Nick was in short pants.
The Melbourne Cup is Nick's father's obsession but the Caulfield Cup has always been en route and important.
Nayrizi, one of Lloyd's early imports, was as close as Loyd had ever got.
The moment Nick Hall knew the cup was his as Fawkner hits the line. Picture: Jay Town Source: HeraldSun
Lloyd would have watched yesterday's cup from what he has dubbed the "Lloyd Williams grandstand", which doubles as his couch.
The billionaire would have been proud of his horse, an anomaly to Lloyd's other obsession, for international horses. Locally-bred, Fawkner bucks Australian racing's great trend towards imported stayers.
Lloyd would also have been proud of another Nick.
Nick Hall is Lloyd's godson, a tribute to Nick Hall's father Greg, who was one of dozens of one-time Williams stable riders and the one who delivered Lloyd results when Lloyd was racing's most feared punter.
Greg Hall emerged from the mounting yard throng as Nick pushed his way towards the weighing in stage.
A few moments earlier, 26-year-old Nick clenched his fist and squealed, probably for the first time in his life.
Nick signs off on a job well done. Picture: Jay Town Source: HeraldSun
A noted racing identity remarked a few years ago, after young Nick sailed home aboard All Silent twice up the straight during the Flemington Spring Carnival, that "it's like he's been here before. He's got a certain serenity".
Greg and Nick Hall were never the perfect father and son match; never described as peas in a pod, never seen arm in arm downing pots of VB in pubs.
Greg was always loud and lairy, Nick reserved and softly-spoken. The loudest thing about Nick is his vast array of tattoos.
Greg's greatest contribution to his son's early career was driving him up to Heathcote one day to ride a kind old horse called Subzero, whom Greg had ridden years earlier to victory in a Melbourne Cup.
Nick was a natural. He got that, at least, from his father.
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Greg then drove Nick to Mansfield, to learn more from a wily bush trainer called Gerald Egan. From there, Nick forged his own way.
As Nick spoke with typical reservation at the first post-cup interview, Greg stood a few metres away, edging closer to his "first born", describing his paternal pride and how Nick had put together the final piece in the family puzzle.
Greg said he had won all the big city cups and had joked at a sportsman's night that the Caulfield Cup never interested him "because I'm not interested in suburbs".
"It's unbelievable, just unbelievable," Greg said as cameras homed in on him for the first time in 20 years.
He forced himself towards his son, and said "I can touch him now'' and smothered young Nick in a bear hug.
Trainer Robert Hickmott with his son Josh. Picture: Jay Town Source: HeraldSun
Nick spent much of his childhood overseas, in places such as Dubai, with his mother Kim, Greg's first wife.
Before the split, Greg won the Victoria Derby aboard Mahogany, for, yes, Lloyd Williams.
Nick, the quiet kid, about five or six, stowed away in his famous dad's car on race morning.
"His mother thought he was lost,'' Greg said. "He hid in the back seat, never said a word."
Greg said Nick was "a beautiful kid", revealing he sent him a text message on cup eve.
It said: "I love you buddy, we can do this and get the full set (of major cups). You can have mine."
Not long after Robert Hickmott revealed his voice for the first time, thanking his own son, and a few minutes after Lloyd's son Nick told the racecourse that Nick Hall "had come of age", young Hall took to the microphone.
Typically, he was brief, but he also was memorable.
Nick Hall has never been particularly close to his dad, but his dad was there, proud as punch, and Nick had won the Caulfield Cup.
"It's a good day,'' Nick said. "It's a very good day."
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