Lots Of Time to jump to conclusions Jump star: Lots Of Time with then apprentice jockey Stan Aitken in 1969. Photo: Percy Spiden Earlier this year when Sydney's racing heavyweights Gai Waterhouse and John Singleton publicly clashed over the wellbeing or otherwise of outstanding race mare More Joyous, most in Melbourne viewed the affair as a very public spat that would never be aired in the corridors of Victorian racing. Accusations and finger-pointing from former footballers, jockeys and a young, ambitious bookmaker wasn't the way things were done in Melbourne. However, in early 1969 Melbourne racing was consumed by a steamy affair of its own, both on the racecourse and off. Yes, 44 years ago, the scandal involving a high-class callgirl, a gifted but unlicensed horseman, a television and radio personality, and an aspiring VFL footballer made headlines. It all revolved around one horse, a fearless and brilliant jumper who arguably could have been one of this country's most decorated jumpers. On Sunday at Sandown, the Grand National Hurdle will be staged with one of the best fields in recent years. In 1969, Lots Of Time went to Flemington in a bid not only to win the Grand National Hurdle but to put his record of successive wins into double figures. Lots Of Time had gathered nine remarkable successes in a row and winning the Grand National would have been unheard of for a first-year jumper. In an astonishing sequence, Lots Of Time won a maiden hurdle at the end of the summer and three months later was on the cusp of his 10th victory. Earlier this year, his record was eclipsed by tough jumper Black And Bent, who claimed his 10th straight win before being beaten in his attempt to make it 11. But Black And Bent's trainer, Robert Smerdon, is in no doubt that Lots Of Time should be remembered as one of the most special jumpers ever to compete in Australia. Of course I was pleased that Black And Bent got the record, but that took 36 months to do. Lots Of Time came into racing as a green young hurdler and went through and won nine races in 23 weeks," he said. But it was the colour and innuendo surrounding Lots Of Time's owners that caught the glare of public interest. Well-known television and radio identity Jimmy Hannan, glamorous callgirl Sally Wood, plus her partner George Eccles, made up the ownership of this great jumper. For the record, Lots Of Time was prepared by Norm Creighton, but it was widely known that his part-owner and former apprentice jockey Eccles trained the gelding. Midway through 1969, Wood began a relationship with North Melbourne footballer Sam Kekovich, which also heightened the publicity around the group. But it was the Grand National Hurdle of 1969 that most remember. Just three days before the race, stewards, who were uneasy about the ownership of Lots Of Time and the talk of underworld connections, held one of a number of inquiries into the ownership of the race favourite. Cleared to run, Lots of Time was ridden by George Costello, who had won the first nine races on the jumper. However, some in the group, including Eccles, had misgivings about Costello's competence to win a Grand National. Eccles himself was an interesting character. His applications to ride or train were all rejected by the VRC from 1964 to 1987. However, Grand National Hurdle day saw Lots Of Time unable to complete a 10th straight victory. Controversy didn't end there. The following Tuesday, the Lots Of Time saga was back on the front pages of newspapers in Victoria, claiming that Costello had been sacked by connections for disobeying riding instructions. Eccles was more forthright, claiming Costello had "pulled up" Lots Of Time, which the late Costello vigorously denied over the decades. With the record gone, the ownership of Lots Of Time faded away. Kekovich, who played his first season of football with North Melbourne in 1969, said last week: "I came along after Lots Of Time, but the campfire discussion with racing folk was very much centred on the possible issue of that, well, let's say oils wasn't oils that day at Flemington. But yet again I was about to become a legendary footballer and didn't have a lot of time for finding out if Lots Of Time was trying or not. It is understood that Lots Of Time is buried at an animal cemetery at Rowville. Most veteran racing experts believe that Lots Of Time could have been as good as the champion Crisp who went to England and became one of the world's finest steeplechasers. While the Grand National Hurdle at Sandown on Sunday will see the clash of a number of the best hurdlers we have seen in years, none will invoke the controversy that a great little hurdler who cost just $900 went on to achieve, a feat managed by just one other horse in nearly 50 years.