Damien Oliver and Gary Willetts will be among those paying tribute to Roy Higgins during the champion jockey’s funeral at Flemington racecourse on Thursday.
Higgins, winner of 11 Melbourne jockeys’ premierships and 108 Group One races during his career, died on Saturday, aged 75.
The service for Higgins at Flemington, where he won two Melbourne Cups and numerous other feature races, will incorporate tributes from well-known sports commentator Bruce McAvaney, champion jockeys Oliver and Willetts and journalist Les Carlyon.
Melbourne Cup-winning horses Subzero, Rogan Josh and Brew will lead the hearse as Higgins is taken on a final lap of the famed racecourse.
Past and present trainers and jockeys will form a guard of honour at the winning post.
The handlers of Rogan Josh and Brew will wear the colours of Light Fingers and Red Handed, the two horses who gave Higgins Melbourne Cup success.
The funeral for Higgins, an inaugural inductee to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, is at 1pm.
