Turf Monthly October 2021

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TURF

October 2021

THIS MONTH

THE VRC DERBY COMIC COURT - A PLACE IN HISTORY OTHER REMARKABLE DERBY WINNERS ANOTHER GREAT RACE IN HISTORY

Editor’s Letter Spring is well and truly in full swing and thoughts always go back to some of the great horses in history.

Here at Turf Monthly, this is our focus and this month we are looking at some horses that have dominated in years gone by. It is simply stunning that the deeds of some of these horses have long been forgotten. It was a different time but just to imagine a horse that can win the AJC Derby, VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup in the space of a couple of weeks is simply astonishing. How about Briseis that won the VRC Derby, Melbourne Cup, and then fronted up on the Thursday to win the VRC Oaks. We have been fortunate to see horses of the quality of Winx, Black Caviar and Makybe Diva in recent times and it is impossible to compare them to horses of the past. It is impossible also to be Spring and not reflect on the greatest of all time, the incomparable Phar Lap. Looking at history, it is possible that Phar Lap was not the greatest, but if we put his performances into the prism of the time, his impact on racing and society carried a nation through a period of significant social upheaval and showcased his ability to a world that still knew little about the small continent to the south. I have no intention of starting any debates about the greatest racehorses and the aim is simply to highlight some of the remarkable horses of the past. Some of these like Efficient aren’t all that long ago but how many actually remember the importance of what he was able to achieve. By winning the Melbourne Cup two years after the VRC Derby, he equalled a record that was half a century in the making. These are the parts of history that we need to remember although all the time acknowledging that these are just the most wonderful animals that we have the privilege of seeing.

So, when you sit down to watch this year’s Spring Carnival, take a moment to reflect on what has gone before and what is still to come. The magic never ends until we forget that it is magic.

CONTENTS 4

The VRC Derby

8

The 1887 Derby

12

The Australian Peer

18

Abercorn

22

Efficient

26

Comic Court

36

Prince Foote

44

Patrobas

50

Great Races - Octagonal

Cover Image DIRTY WORK standing at Spendthrift Farm 2021

Until next month

Ross Prowd Turf Monthly ABN 64 892 144 940 Phone 0412 712 181

Email editor@turfmonthly.com.au Unit 4/125 West St Menzies Qld 4825

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THE VRC DERBY THE GLORY DAYS

View Video in Text Mode Efficient winning the 2006 VRC Derby

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hings change, and it is hard not to notice how much racing has changed when we look at the VRC Derby. For over a century it was the pinnacle of Australian racing. If you ever doubted just how important the race was within society, there is a remarkable piece that we have reprinted from the Age published on the Monday following the 1887 VRC Derby. Not only does it give a wonderful insight into Derby Day, but it is also exquisitely written and unlike anything you will see in today’s media. This month we want to look at some of the glory days and how the VRC Derby has impacted every horse that races today. In times gone by, the list of Derby winners was literally a list of our greatest horses. Some went on to win the Melbourne Cup only a few days later, surprisingly a lot more than won that great race a season or two later.

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irstly, the 1887 VRC Derby was a key moment in racing history. We often talk about a good crop of 3yo’s and it is hard to argue that this race did not feature two of the best of their generation. In the end, The Australian Peer beat the odds-on favourite in Abercorn with Niagara in third. Third placed Niagara was a champion NZ colt and had won the Great Northern Foal Stakes in his native country before coming to Australia to win the AJC Mares’ Produce prior to the VRC Derby. He was to become a useful stallion in later times producing the AJC Metropolitan winner, Queen Of Sheba, and Caulfield Cup winner, Waterfall. It was the first two home though that were to have an intense rivalry on the track, and both were held in the highest regards. We will look at both of these a little later.

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he VRC Derby has been won by plenty of champions. The Honour Role includes greats like Tulloch, Manfred, Whittier and more recently Elvstroem, Mahogany,

Red Anchor and Dulcify. Our greatest ever, Phar Lap won the race in 1929 so we are rapidly approaching the 100th anniversary of that win. This year is the centenary of the win by Furious, oddly a filly and the fillies had a good record in the race especially in the early days of the race. Furious was actually the second last filly to win the VRC Derby, with the only more recent success being that of Francis Tressady whose defeat of the unlucky Drongo helped cement the legend of that galloper in history. Furious had been a top 2yo winning four of her six starts at that age including both the AJC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes. Her incredible Spring in 1921 had a slow start but her fourth run saw her win the Rosehill Guineas.

A second in the AJC Derby was followed by third in the Open Craven Plate over 2400m before winning the Clibborn Stakes back over a mile against her own age.

It was then to Melbourne where she won the VRC Derby by three lengths from Bassi. She failed in the Melbourne Cup finishing eighteenth behind Sister Olive before fronting up again two days later to win the VRC Oaks. In that race she beat Bassi again, this time by two lengths. A well deserved spell saw her Autumn promise so much but did not quite deliver. She won the VRC St Leger over 2800m but then ran four straight placings in the CM Lloyd, Rawson Stakes, AJC St Leger and Cumberland Stakes. As a 4yo Furious raced sixteen times for four wins. She won her first start at that age in the Liverpool Handicap over a mile, and her last in the AJC Final Handicap over 2000m. In between she won the Rydalmere Mile and Rawson Stakes and was also placed third in the very first Cox Plate behind Violoncello. She started only three times as a 5yo before suffering a small cut on her neck which became infected. She died shortly after of blood poisoning as it was called at the time. Her dam was a sister to the grand dam of the wonderful Eurythmic, the Western Australian Champion who did not venture to Melbourne until after his 3yo season. Arguably he is among the best horses never to have won a VRC Derby as he managed to win the WA Derby and Perth Cup as a 3yo.

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illies had a great record in the VRC Derby in its early days, and they won the first three times the race was held. Rose Of May won the first Derby in 1855 followed

by Flying Doe and Tricolor. After the colts Brownlock and Buzzard, another filly in Flying Colours continued the fairer sex’s domination in 1860. It was 1866 before another filly won in Sea Gull, the wonderful Hurtle Fisher filly. In 1869, it was the turn of My Dream, and after the win of the colt Charon, two more fillies in Florence and Miss Jessie were successful in consecutive years. Briseis won in 1876 and not only did she win the VRC Derby, but she also won the Melbourne Cup and VRC Oaks at her next two starts. We then had to wait until Lady Wallace in 1905 before

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View Video in Text Mode

Taj Rossi winning the 1973 VRC Derby

another filly won, and it has been hard work for them ever since. The only two have been were Furious and Francis Tressady.

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n interesting winner of the VRC Derby was Fireworks who won the race twice.

He won during the Spring of 1867, and again on New Year’s Day in 1868. In 1869, the filly My Dream won on New Years’ Day, but it was Charon who won the Spring version that year. The New Year’s Day meeting at Flemington was a short lived plan by the club to create a new festival. There was much discussion as to whether this would work at the holiday time when families were occupied with picnics and functions of their own. Despite some success, it was soon discontinued and in 1870 the race returned to its regular position at the start of the VRC Spring Carnival.

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here are seventeen horses who have won both a VRC Derby and a Melbourne Cup. Of these, twelve achieved the feat in the same year. This list is one of the finest horses in history. The first to achieve this feat was Briseis in 1873, and she was followed by Chester, Grand Flaneur, Martini Henry, Newhaven, Merriwee, Poseidon, Prince Foote and Patrobas. Spearfelt who won the Derby in 1924 became the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup in a different year to his Derby success, having to wait until 1926 before his victory in the two mile event. Trivalve won the double in 1924 before Phar Lap was rather controversially scratched from the Cup in 1929 before winning that race the following year. Hall Mark in 1933 and Skipton in 1941 were next to complete the double with Skipton being the last horse to win in the same year. He will forever have this claim now that the conditions of the race exclude 3yo’s from running in the Melbourne Cup. Comic Court won the Derby in 1948 while Delta won the Derby in 1949. This pair then went on to win the Melbourne Cup as 4yo’s in 1950 in 1951 respectively. We had to wait over fifty years to see this feat achieved again when Efficient won the 2006 VRC Derby and then went on to win the Melbourne Cup the following year. We have highlighted some of these great champions in past editions, but we will take the opportunity to look at some of these remarkable horses a little later.

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1887 VRC DERBY A REMARKABLE REVIEW

Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954), Monday 31 October 1887, page 5 V.R.C. SPRING MEETING. DERBY DAY. The Derby day, quoth on Englishman half a century ago, is an illustrated epitome of the history of English sports, manners and society. He declared it to be a national scene, and one so peculiarly and completely national, so identified with the very nature of Englishmen that it showed more of the national character to a foreigner in a few hours than months of residence and inquiry could furnish even to an industrious and judicious investigator. Although we have altered, if not improved on, the day of the fete which marks the great event of the sporting year, the prestige of Derby day with us has by no means departed from it. It may not be the peacock au naturel of our feast, but it is the appetiser which is to lead up to the demolition of that crowning glory of the Victorian caterer. Apart altogether from old associations it engages attention as providing an important series of contests affecting it may be the rest of the year, and certainly those of the meeting, and it has a popularity only second to that of the great event itself. Shall we not then make much of the day? Shall we not with pleasure and with pride glance down that long avenue which ends with our first Derby, and across and far beyond the wide stream which separates us from that still longer avenue of equine giants whose names are indelibly associated with the runners of the day. In the rush and hurry of the moment may we not cast the mental eye backwards over those who have made Derby day what it has become, and some of whom, though their ranks are thinning, are still with us, and with appreciative reflection mark the progress of the sport and its surroundings. What changes one year actually makes? How then does the veteran feel as each succeeding year brings new men, new horses, new buildings and vast improvements under review and perchance takes him back to the days when the thoroughbred in Australia had yet to be built up, when a few wool drays strung together were good enough TURF MONTHLY 8

for a grandstand, and where the refinement of afternoon tea and the gruff howl of the bookmaker were unknown? The kaleidoscopic changes of half a century flash past and bring us to the Derby Day of 1887, with its concourse of some 40,000 or 50,000 people, intent upon enjoying themselves after their own fashion. Of that fashion we have recently been told a good deal, and not all of it very palatable. Train after train arrives, bringing to Flemington the irreclaimably wicked and the everlastingly damned.

Along the road a succession of costly equipages and elegant carriages bears forward a light hearted freight of "fair women and brave men," and intermingled with these are the vehicles of lesser pretension, each loaded to its fullest capacity. Down Kensington Hill and across the arena of the racing track, flows a long stream of those who trust to their natural means of progression to reach the rendezvous. So by the time their Excellencies the Governors Sir Henry Loch, Lord Carrington, Sir Wm. Robinson and their party of ladies arrive in their drags those who intend seeing the sport are in their places in the grandstand or are loitering on the green velvet of the lawn, or are glancing keenly over the scratchings, and consulting their familiar deities for the best investments of their cash. As we may go a little further, past the tumult of the betting crowd, past the clock tower and past the pines, under whose grateful shade an early arrival already snores peacefully, though it is but little more than noontide; past the sanctuary of the members of the V.R.C., and behold, we are face to face with another invention of the enemy to beguile the silver lining of the pocket.

Hail the "birdcage." This is a light wire fence, which divides the saddling paddock from the public, and its nominal object is to prevent too great a crowd assembling round the horses and interfering with their toilettes. See the horses, however, we must, and pay and look pleasant has long been the unwritten creed of the race goer. Alter all, it is but a stop in the direction of adding 5000 sovs. to the Cup, and by the time that consummation is reached the "bird cage" will have paid many thousand times over the cost of its strip of wire and the two or three attendants who take your money and watch you at its portals. Within this enclosure roam owners, trainers, jockeys and those

The Australian Peer

who know something of the inner circles, and those who think they know. But the warning bell admonishes the visitor it is time to go, and so back through the restless mass of spectators to the grandstand, at the foot of which are grouped in little knots, the devotees of pound sweeps, who take their pleasure in their "luck," and are content to let "information" and the ins and outs of the crooked path of turf morality go hang.

Shall we join the throng which climbs the stairs into the main stand, so really comfortably filled, or make the higher journey to the roof, from which, as it is so fine, ono can see with greater effect the panorama of Derby day. The cloud-flecked sky casts its hovering shadows upon the scene. The orange bordering of the lawn is but equalled by the brilliancy of Silvermine's jacket as he canters past. The many rows of carriages in the paddock tell of the Australian aristocracy being present in force, and across the course one can see that there is plenty of fun going on and plenty of people to

keep it up. By 1 o'clock the Hill is thickly covered with patrons, and they, too, look forward hopefully to what the afternoon shall bring forth. Alas that the side of the people should encounter the reverses of the battle so early. The popular idols, one after another are thrown down. The mighty Trident leads the way and shakes all faith in horseflesh and crack horseman. What a savage laugh comes from a little group of ringmen on the stone stairs at the end of the stand as they cry when half way up the straight, "He's beat, he's beat," and the cry finds a dull echo in the assemblage, for if faith in a Trident prove rotten, what shall be do with those to follow, and who carry our good wishes, and our gloves and our money? Yet before another half hour is passed the pencil has dealt another blow, and we go to lunch, and lament the decadence of horseflesh, and the spring chicken becomes tough as old guinea fowl, and the sweets cloy the palate, and beer is flat, and wine is sour, which, under other circumstances when the account TURF MONTHLY 9

was on the right side would have been a right worthy "feed," and nectar of the gods. There is, nevertheless, much genuine enjoyment of the Derby day. It is with hundreds but the means of a picnic. Truly, they will pay their way if they can, but if they do not, what does it matter? Half the afternoon is gone as the "babies" face the starter for the Maribyrnong Plate, and again fate declares against the people. But while they are making ready for the great event of the day we may join in the causerie of the hour and catch the talk-drift which tells of that most important item "My dress" for next Tuesday; or, idly reclining on the slope of the lawn, appreciate Signor Zelman's band and the gladdening sound of music's mystic strain, which comes from the instruments of those well drilled performers. Or, if inclination will, let it take the idler among the amusement-seeking mass upon the hill where, too, there is a grand stand and a lawn, and other arrangements which make it a reflex of the more highly toned assemblage below. They can indeed enjoy their Derby here as well as anywhere else, and have all the advantages of position. There may be plenty of pushing and scrambling: the hill is steep and slippery, and people retain their footing and places by good luck more than good management, but they are the essence of good humor, and by the time a brief tour has been completed and Mr. Richardson's band listened to it is needful again to descend to see how the principal race of the day is likely to fare. At last there is a real "certainty," in spite of previous lapses of Providence.

Men and women alike coincide that there can be no deception in Abercorn. The very ringmen show their agreement by "posting" a couple of clients who have "the two Abercorns," and who have not liquidated previous engagements. If the unfortunate delinquents had taken anything else the chances of many would have escaped the favorite's name which is lugged on to the posting board. The "birdcage” now is handsomely patronised, and its visitors are more intent on seeing the style and character of the horses than pushing round in search of scraps of deceptive information.

There is no question of handicapping now. It is the blue riband and the honor its wearer shall acquire, not the heavily endowed handicap, which is in our minds, as, wandering from shed to shed, a mere glance, no more,

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is obtainable of the competitors. Are they a little uneasy about the favorite, seeing that the powerful stable seems out of form? Perhaps so, and it goes round that Tranter is the really good thing, and there is a rush to see Tranter. And so opinion sways, first to one, and then to another, till the horses go out and the waverer finally decide that there is luck in a third trial, and Mr. White having lost two races must win now. We pass through the speculating crowd again and climb the stand or crush up against the lawn fence, heedless of Mr. Byron Moore's flower beds to watch the start. The cool and collected veteran who wields the flag does not keep us long in suspense, and glasses are levelled and eyes strained as Lava streams away in front, as if she would never be caught. Such vicissitudes as the race affords are recounted elsewhere. There is a sharp cry of disappointment as the favorite cannot stay with The Australian Peer, and as Gorry flogs away in front, determined not to miss his first Derby for want of riding, it is recognised that again have the public been met with a blow straight from the shoulder. Let us watch the winner come in, the jockey a little elated as he slightly raises his cap in acknowledgement of the "good boy, Gorry," which is the most common form of expression, and the horse with heaving flanks and widespread nostrils, for it has been a very fast run race, and the soundest lungs are troubled. There is a little but not much cheering, and that principally by consistent followers of the rider as he just draws the weight, and then The Australian Peer, winner of the Derby of 1887, is led off to the lawn to receive that decoration which he has so well fought for. After this the rest of the racing is leather and prunella. The trains soon begin to fill up, and many of the racegoers are on their way to town before the next surprise has eventuated. The vice-regal party leaves after the Selling Race, and with the decision of the Coburg Stakes, the Derby day is over. Then comes the rush and scramble for the conveyances which are to bear us back to town, some so much wiser and some so much sadder than when we started, but all prepared to come up in greater numbers, in greater brilliancy, and with a renewed desire for the due fulfillment of the great racing event of our year tomorrow.

THE AUSTRALIAN PEER VS ABERCORN

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bercorn was to run second to The Australian Peer in the 1887 VRC Derby but the two were to have one of the great rivalries of the Australian turf. The two first faced off in the AJC Derby with the champion 2yo Abercorn the short-priced favourite. The Australian Peer was having his first race start and showed his promise by running a good third beaten only a little over two lengths with Niagara splitting the pair. The Australian Peer caused an upset by winning the VRC Derby by a length with Abercorn and Niagara dead-heating for second. They met again in the Melbourne Cup with The Australian Peer finishing third, with Niagara fourth and Abercorn fifth confirming the quality of that season’s three year olds. Less than a head separated each of the youngsters. The following Saturday The Australian Peer proved himself the better Spring 3yo beating Abercorn by a length in the Canterbury Plate at Flemington over 4000m. Melbourne Cup winner, Dunlop, finished some 20 lengths away in third. It was reported though that Abercorn often appeared lame during some of his races in the Spring, so perhaps The Australian Peer was flattered a little by a likely injury to his great rival. The Autumn started with the two first meeting in the VRC St Leger. Abercorn turned the tables on The Australian Peer winning by just under a length. The pair met again a week later with The Australian Peer successful this time in the Randwick Cumberland Stakes. Two days later they raced for the final time as 3yo’s with Abercorn victorious over the three miles of the AJC Plate. The winning margin was two lengths with an incredible thirty lengths back to the third horse.

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heir 4yo season started much the same way that the 3yo season finished. In the Randwick Spring Stakes over 2400m, The Australian Peer beat Abercorn by a length with a further 15 lengths back to third. Five days later in the 2000m Craven Plate Abercorn reversed the result, this time winning by only a neck. The pair faced each other only two days later in the Randwick Plate over 4800m in the most controversial race of their careers. In all of their races it seemed that the horse that was behind the other in the run proved successful. With this in mind, both jockeys went out with instructions to settle behind the other. As a result, the two jockeys ignored the lightly weighted Wycombe who got out with a lead approaching 60 lengths as the two champions cantered side by side for the first 2000m. By then, the bird had flown, and the pair were still five lengths behind the winner when they reached the post. A length separated Abercorn who finished ahead of The Australian Peer in the farcical time of 6min 47.5sec.

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he following Spring shaped again as a test between the two stars. The Australian Peer won the Melbourne Stakes, now the Mackinnon, first up with Abercorn running below expectations to finish fifth. Connections then abandoned their campaign as the horse continued to show the effects of hard racing. The pair did not meet again until the Randwick Autumn Stakes the following April with Abercorn victorious. The Australian Peer finished a well beaten third but bled in the race.

They raced again only once more, as 5yo’s when Abercorn won the Randwick Spring Plate. Again, The Australian Peer bled and this time he was retired to stud. In all, Abercorn and The Australian Peer raced a total of fourteen times with the final score eight to six in favour of Abercorn. If we ignore the twice that The Australian Peer bled, it could easily be a tie but perhaps Abercorn should also have been given some dispensation for his recurrent leg issues. No matter what the score, the two outstanding horses gave the crowds the excitement of a rivalry that may never have been equalled in Australian racing.

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THE AUSTRALIAN PEER THE GLORY DAYS

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he Australian Peer started in only six races that did not include Abercorn in the field. Three days after running third to Abercorn in the AJC Derby, he ran second in the Randwick Spring Maiden Stakes beaten a length by Cranbrook. Four days later he was to win the AJC Randwick Plate over three miles beating Trident on 24 September 1887. It was the Australian Cup at Flemington in March 1888 before The Australian Peer again lined up in a field that did not include Abercorn.

This was only three days after the pair had met in the VRC St Leger and their careers diverged only briefly. While The Australian Peer was unplaced behind Carlyon in the Australian Cup, only a couple of days later Abercorn was winning the The VRC Champion Stakes, beating Nelson in a close finish. It was the following Autumn during the AJC Carnival that The Australian Peer next took on a field without Abercorn. Connections chose to run The Australian Peer in the Sydney Cup which he duly won by three lengths from Algerian. Perhaps this extra race helped the colt as he came out two days later to beat Abercorn in the Cumberland Stakes after the positions had been reversed in the AJC St Leger at the start of the carnival. The only two other times that The Australian Peer did not race against Abercorn were the

Darebin TURF MONTHLY 12

Old Rowley winning the VRC Handicap at Flemington

following Spring when Abercorn was in the paddock with leg issues. The Australian Peer continued his campaign after winning the Melbourne Stakes to finish ninth behind Mentor in the 1988 Melbourne Cup. He carried topweight of 61kg and started at 14/1, never really featuring in the race. On the following Saturday he met Mentor at even weights over the 4200m of the Canterbury Plate but ran poorly to finish last in a field of three. The Australian Peer was to only race twice after that, bleeding both times so it possible that he suffered a similar event in that race. It certainly was out of character with the performances of the remarkable horse.

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he Australian Peer was bred by Edward King Cox. He was the breeder of the legendary Chester and Grand Flaneur. The Australian Peer however was sold and reared at The Grange in Ipswich, Queensland which had been the site of the first major racetrack in the State. The Grange Stud was owned by Sir Joshua Peter Bell, an MLA for the region and an early president of the QTC which was formed in 1863. Among the horses bred at the stud were Le Grand and Wheatear. Wheatear, in 1881, became the first Queensland bred horse ever to win a major race in Sydney or Melbourne with his victory in the AJC Derby. The Northern Australian Jockey Club was founded around 1860 with its headquarters at The Grange. Ipswich at the time was earmarked as the location of the capital of the new colony. In 1861 the track hosted the Australian Champion Stakes won by John Tait’s Zoe and the Cup is on display at the Ipswich Art Gallery having been purchased by a group of Ipswich business people led by Brett Kitching, the former CEO of Ipswich Turf Club. The Queensland Turf Club was not established until August 1863. The Australian Peer was owned and raced by Mr William Gannon who was the proprietor of Petty's Hotel in Sydney and the honorary starter for the AJC and Tattersall’s Club for many years. He was the owner of many good horses including Arsenal who was the winner of the 1886 Melbourne Cup.

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Old Rowley at his final racetrack appearance Randwick January 1941

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he Australian Peer was a son of Darebin who was by The Peer from Lurline, a NZ bred daughter of Traducer. Darebin had won seven stakes races including the VRC Derby and Sydney Cup, both races later won by The Australian Peer.

He only produced one other stakes winner in Grand Chester who won the QTC Hopeful Stakes and Sires’ Produce. The Australian Peer was out of the imported British mare, Stock Dove by Macaroni. The Australian Peer sired six stakes winners that were rather oddly all male. His first was Nobleman who won the AJC Mares’ Produce and Metropolitan Stakes while another dual stakes winner was Australian Star who won the Caulfield Stakes and Eclipse Stakes, now the Herbert Power, who was sent to England and won the rich City and Suburban Handicap at Epsom in 1901. The Australian Peer also sired Australian in 1892 to win the 1898 Goodwood in Adelaide, although his best runner was also called Australian who was foaled in 1895 and went on to win five stakes races in Adelaide and Perth including the 1901 Perth Cup and Railway Stakes. The legacy of The Australian Peer lives on through his daughters although these lines are becoming increasingly difficult to find in the modern pedigree. One of his most notable descendants was Relko Lass who won the 1989 Tasmanian Oaks although sadly she never made it to the breeding barn.

Around the same time, a Queensland horse called Mirraben won four Listed races in Brisbane in the Courier Mail Classic, the Thornhill Park Stakes, LJ Williams

View Video in Text Mode Oliver Twist

Quality and Summer Stakes all at Doomben. The popular Oliver Twist who won six stakes races at the turn of the century is another who owes his heritage in part to The Australian Peer. Oliver Twist won the Underwood and Mackinnon Stakes at Group 1 level in 2000. Arguably the best known of all of The Australian Peer’s descendants though is Old Rowley who won the 1940 Melbourne Cup. He was another Queensland bred horse and a son of The Buzzard bred at Lyndhurst Stud near Warwick on the Darling Downs. He had been a good horse winning the AJC Plate and Cumberland Stakes as a 4yo before breaking down. Old Rowley was a son of the good racemare Syceonelle and had been purchased by Sydney trainer Bailey Payten as a yearling for 500 guineas for an owner, Mr P Osborne, a long term member of the AJC Committee. After one start where he finished 100 yards from the winner, Payten advised Osborne to geld and lease the horse. An arrangement was made with another trainer, Jack Scully, a son of the Randwick trainer Tom Scully.

Scully had an option of purchase on the horse with the deal. Old Rowley proceeded to win two of his races as a 3yo but in his next season started an incredible 27 times.

After breaking down, Scully purchased Old Rowley for a “song” with neither party ever disclosing the sum. Mr Osborne when patting the horse after his Melbourne

Old Rowley winning the AJC Plate

Cup win though was reported as saying that he had given him away. Following the injury, Old Rowley was sent to a property at Merriwa in NSW where he spent the next twelve months. Returning to racing Old Rowley started 13 times as a 6yo for only two minor placings. As a 7yo, Old Rowley turned in a host of consistent performances with five placings from seven starts in Sydney. One of these was a second in the Randwick Plate in which he carried nine kilograms more than his Melbourne Cup weight. He ran in the Hotham Handicap on the Saturday before the Cup but never looked likely to finish near the placegetters. Old Rowley was sent out at 100/1 in the Melbourne Cup with Beau Vite the hot favourite at 7/4. One of the reasons given for Old Rowley’s price was said to be that trainer Scully was not a big bettor, and sources quote him as saying that he did not invest one penny on the horse in the Cup, being more than content with the prizemoney. Other reports though tell a different story claiming that Scully backed him in a double with Beaulivre in the Caulfield Cup/Melbourne Cup double to win £5000. During the race Old Rowley settled toward the rear of the 20 runners. He continually started to make ground on an even pace in the race and went to the front at the furlong to defeat Maikai by three quarters of a length. He had one more start in the Williamstown Cup on the following Saturday and was retired to the property of Jack Scully’s brother in Merriwa NSW where he had recovered from his ligament injury. Old Rowley died on the property in 1954 aged nineteen.

View Video in Text Mode Old Rowley Melbourne Cup

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The Australian Peer at 10.94% represents a fairly highly inbred pedigree. We see that females play a remarkable role in his pedigree with multiple lines of both Pocahontas and Banter. Pocahontas is found through her two sons in King Tom and the remarkable Chester who also appeared in the pedigree of Abercorn. Banter is another significant influence who appears through her champion son, Touchstone and two daughters called Jocose who was the dam of Macaroni, the damsire of The Australian Peer and Pasquinade. We also see three lines of a stallion called Pantaloon who is not only the sire of Jocose, but also The Libel out of Pasquinade, making those two three-quarter siblings. Comus, Whalebone and Economist are also duplicated.

ABERCORN

AMONG OUR GREATEST

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hile Abercorn is well known for his rivalry with The Australian Peer, he raced over a longer period and is often rated the second best Australian racehorse of the nineteenth century, just behind the legendary Carbine. Abercorn raced against The Australian Peer through much of his three and four year old seasons but even if we ignore this part of his career, he was a remarkable galloper. He was bred by James White at his Kirkham Stud. Reportedly he was a good looking flashy chestnut albeit compact growing to only 15.2 hands.

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n all Abercorn won 20 of his 35 starts and was only unplaced twice in his career despite often appearing lame on race day. He raced during a true golden age of Australian racing and beat the best. Abercorn was originally trained by White’s trainer, Michael Fennelly, perhaps the country’s most successful and well respected trainer of his day. Ridden by Hall of Fame jockey Tom Hale who partnered him for his entire career, Abercorn made his debut on Boxing Day 1886 winning the December Stakes by almost a length from Huntingtower. On New Year’s Day he finished third behind Moorhouse in the Lady Carrington Stakes also at Randwick.

He did not appear again until March when he won the VRC Sires’ Produce at Flemington beating Maxim narrowly. Back to NSW he won the Claret Stakes at Hawkesbury before victory in the AJC Sires’ Produce, this time getting revenge on Moorhouse and stamping himself among the top 2yo’s. A surprise loss by a length in the Champagne Stakes followed although he was asked to carry the top weight of 60kg giving almost 5kg to eventual winner, Malador. Abercorn rounded off his 2yo season by winning the AJC First Foal Stakes.

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ennelly passed away in August 1887 and the training of the colt was taken over

by Tom Payten. We have talked about his battles with The Australian Peer, but we will take up the career of Abercorn again with the Autumn of his 4yo season.

His first start back saw him win the Essendon Stakes at Flemington over 2400m.

Abercorn then faced the younger Carbine at his next start in the Champion Stakes over 4800m. The emerging champion was in receipt of 12kg from his older rival and won by two lengths. Back over 2400m Abercorn won the VRC The Place Handicap with 62kg before getting revenge on Carbine beating that galloper by a neck in the Autumn Stakes at Randwick. Carbine then won the Sydney Cup, Cumberland Plate and AJC Plate with Abercorn twice finishing third and then second to the outstanding colt. As a 5yo, Abercorn was to have six starts without tasting defeat. He won the AJC Spring Stakes, Metropolitan, Craven Plate and Randwick Plate before heading to Melbourne to win the Melbourne Stakes and Canterbury Plate, both times beating Carbine who by then was suffering from a sore heel. The Canterbury Stakes in which Carbine finished fourth was that horse’s only unplaced run of his career.

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bercorn then retired to Kirkham Stud, but James White was to die during his first season at stud, most likely seriously impacting his chance of success.

Nevertheless, he made a good start to his career, but he was sold to Ireland in 1898 where he continued to have some success. In Australia he sired eight stakes winners with his best being Cobbity who won the Caulfield Guineas and AJC St Leger, Cocos who won the VATC Debutante Stakes and Eclipse Stakes, and the VRC Derby and Spring Stakes, and Coil who won the VRC Sires’ Produce, Essendon

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Abercorn at 6.64% had a moderately inbred pedigree that featured a duplication of the mare Paraguay who was the dam of both Sir Hercules and Whalebone. Sir Hercules appears as the grandsire of Chester. He was among Australia’s greatest ever stallions also being the sire the of The Barb who was undoubtedly the greatest horse of his era. We see Paraguay appearing also through another outstanding son in Whalebone. What is interesting is that the only other horses duplicated within six generations are Sir Hercules, the sire of Paraguay, and Partisan who is Paraguay’s damsire.

Stakes and Australian Cup, the VATC Caulfied Stakes and Oakleigh Plate, and the AJC Champagne Stakes. The stallion continues to play an important role in the thoroughbred, but oddly much of it has come through the USA. Abercorn can be found in the pedigree of Nellie Morse who was the Champion Filly in that country in 1924 having won the Preakness Stakes. He is also in the pedigree of Nellie Flag the 1934 US Champion 2YO Filly who was the dam of Mar-Kell who won the Evening, Beldame and Top Flight Handicaps, as well as the Cinderalla and Spinaway Stakes, and Nellie L who won the Kentucky Oaks and Acorn Stakes. Nellie L’s descendants included the dam of Saratoga Six who is found in the pedigree of Smart Missile, a successful son of Fastnet Rock who has produced sixteen stakes winners to date including the G1 winner, Maid Of Heaven. Abercorn can also be found in the pedigree of Bold Executive who won six of his nineteen starts in Canada including the G1 Coronation Futurity Stakes and went on to become a leading stallion especially renowned as a broodmare sire. In the UK he can be found in pedigrees like that of Papal Bull by Montjeu who won the King Edward VII Stakes and Princess of Wales Stakes.

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loser to home Abercorn still plays his role, although sometimes through the overseas influences returning. He appears in the pedigree of Irgun who stood at stud in Queensland for a time and sired Brief Embrace who won the Debutante Stakes and Blue Diamond Prelude. Abercorn can be found in the pedigree of Round and Bold who was a solid sire who gave us Binbinga who won the 1981 Caulfield Guineas and STC Tulloch Stakes among a host of winners. Abercorn can also be found in the pedigrees of VRC Bobbie Lewis Quality winner, Face Value and Sheer Kingston who won the 1999 Brisbane and Adelaide Cups. He is also present in the pedigrees of Pantani who won the SA Derby and St Basil who won a QTC Stradbroke Handicap. It is always comforting to know that these great champions still continue to exert some influence on our racing and breeding even after so many years have passed.

View Video in Text Mode Sheer Kingston winning the Brisbane Cup

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EFFICIENT

OUR MOST UNDERRATED STAR View Video in Text Mode

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rainer Rob Hickmott has been in charge of some wonderful racehorses as the head trainer for leviathan owner Lloyd Williams, but he maintains that the best horse he was ever involved in was Efficient. It is high praise for a horse that would barely rate a mention when it comes to the best horses of the last twenty years, but in many ways, it is a case of what might have been. Efficient is the only horse since the great champions Comic Court and Delta in the 1950’s to have won the VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup. When we consider the quality of some of the VRC Derby winners over this time, it is a remarkable record. We cannot forget that we have seen horses like Red Anchor, the ill-fated Dulcify, Mahogany, Elvstroem, Nothin’ Leica Dane and even immortals like Tulloch and Gunsynd.

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fficient was a son of Zabeel out of the NZ bred mare Refused The Dance, by the imported US stallion, Dance Floor. The mare was later to produce Guillotine

by Montjeu who won the Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes and was later to stand at stud in NZ where he produced seven stakes-winners. Efficient was equally remarkable in that he was the first son of that champion stallion to have won the VRC Derby.

Preferment, another son of Zabeel, was to win the Derby eight years later in 2014.

Refused The Dance won two of her five starts in NZ and was stakes-placed, but came to Australia where she was retired after finishing fourth in Sydney in the Listed James HB Carr Stakes. Her dam, Florida Jig was a US bred mare by the son of Native Dancer in Jig Time. Florida Jig had won twelve races of which three were at Listed level and produced another Listed winner, Dancing Flojo by US stallion in Amazing Dancer. The mare arrived in New Zealand during the 1980’s and produced seven winners from her nine named foals. The family had been in the US since a mare called Mrs Delaney by St Simon was sent there from Great Britain around 1900 and traces to the Bruce Lowe number 9 family.

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fficient did not race as a 2yo which makes his Derby victory even more impressive.

His first start for trainer Graeme Rogerson was a rather underwhelming seventh of eleven runners in a 3yo maiden over 1400m at Ballarat on 27 August 2006. He won his second race over the same track and distance two weeks later and then headed to Sandown to win a 3yo handicap again over the same journey. Efficient then won

Efficient has only limited inbreeding within 6 generations (3.91%). Interestingly we see only two stallions repeated within his pedigree, both coincidentally three times each. We see three lines of Princequillo through a son and two daughters in the fifth and sixth generations. There are also three lines of Native Dancer, this time through two sons and a daughter.

We see that he appears once in the fourth generation and twice in the sixth generation. Two of these lines appear in the pedigrees of the stallions Northern Dancer and Mr Prospector, two of the most important influences of the late twentieth century.

over a mile at Caufield before winning his first black type in the G2 AAMI Vase at Moonee Valley. Ridden by Michael Rodd, Efficient started at $3.10 and despite being eleventh at the 800m over the 2040m, stormed home to win by over a length.

He started favourite for the Victorian Derby at his next start, and again came with his trademark strong finish to win impressively from Gorky Park and Teranaba. In 2006, the winner of the Derby was given exemption into the Melbourne Cup, but the gelding did not recover well enough following his run to progress to the Cup. A well-earned break saw him return with a close up fourth in the 1400m of the G3 Schweppes Cup at Caulfield behind Catechuchu before a good fifth in a strong Cadbury Guineas at Caulfield behind Miss Finland and Casino Prince. It was after this run that the leg problems that was to plague the talented galloper for the rest of his career started to take their toll. He went back to the paddock and returned almost six months later in the Memsie over 1400m. Clearly not at his top, the gelding finished down the track behind Miss Finland before a promising fourth in the Feehan over 1600m gave connections hope for the rest of the Spring. Unplaced runs in the Turnbull and Cox Plate saw Efficient sent out at $17 in the Melbourne Cup of 2007. Efficient stunned the nation with Michael Rodd back on board with a barnstorming finish in the great race to swamp the internationals Purple Moon and Mahler. He became the first horse since Phar Lap in 1930 to win the Melbourne Cup the season after his Derby win.

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fter a spell he returned under the care of Lloyd Williams’ new trainer, John Sadler but had only one run in the Blamey Stakes over 1600m before his leg issues saw him back in the paddock. He did not appear again until the following Spring where he looked to be working towards good form with runs just behind the placegetters in the Makybe Stakes and Turnbull Stakes before again going amiss.

Efficient returned in May 2008 when he lumped 63.5kg in an unplaced run in the Straight Six at Flemington but he went out for another break to get ready for the Spring. He started his campaign with a good fifth in the Memsie Stakes beaten only 1.5 lengths behind Mic Mac and Whobegotyou. Another solid run in the Underwood where he ran on well from the rear to finish just over four lengths from the winner Heart Of Dreams. It was then to the Turnbull Stakes over 2000m where he swamped the leaders to win easing up beating Predatory Pricer and Master O’Reilly coming from thirteenth at the 400m. Sadly more issues saw that run end his Spring and he was off the scene for two years as a patient stable tried to get him back to the track.

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eturning for new trainer Rob Hickmott, Efficient put in some promising runs in the Spring of 2011 starting in the Underwood and Turnbull Stakes before finishing less that four lengths behind Pinker Pinker in the Cox Plate. Unfortunately, a poor run in the Mackinnon saw Efficient back to the paddock with his recurring problems. The following Autumn started badly with two ordinary runs in the CF Orr and Peter Young Stakes before a promising run in the Australian Cup saw him finish strongly to get within three lengths of the winner, Manighar. A let-up saw him travel to Sydney where he finished a close second to Niwot in the Sydney Cup again with Michael Rodd back on board. On 8 September 2012 was to return for his last run in the Makybe Diva Stakes won by Southern Speed. Less than two weeks later Lloyd Williams announced that the gelding was to be retired following a recurrence of leg injuries. He was retired to Living Legends in Victoria where he has enjoyed a well-deserved rest. Efficient was crowned Australian Champion 3yo in 2006/07 and Australian Champion Stayer the following season. Efficient started 27 times for seven wins and oddly only one placing which was the Sydney Cup. He earned a total of $4,788,525 in prizemoney and won from 1400m to 3200m. Even then, it was largely a matter of what might have been had he not suffered from leg issues following his Derby win.

TURF MONTHLY 24

COMIC COURT THE LEGEND

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omic Court repeated the remarkable effort of Delta who was a year younger than him, by winning the VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup over the space of three seasons. For Delta it was 1947 and 1949, and for Comic Court it was the following years, 1948 and 1950. Comic Court is often remembered as the horse that was instrumental to the career of a young Bart Cummings, but his story is so much more than that. In fact, it is much more a story of that great trainer’s father, Jim Cummings who was a guiding light for much of what the younger Cummings was to achieve. But let us start at the beginning.

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ames Martin Cummings was born on the second Tuesday in November 1885, exactly a week after Sheet Anchor won the Melbourne Cup. He was born in the town of Eurelia about 250km north of Adelaide on the Eastern side of the Flinders Range, around 100km from Port Augusta. He had a natural affinity with horses from a young age. His father, Patrick was a miner who worked across much of the country leaving young Jim with a lot of responsibilities to his family. When Jim was only 16, his father died of suspected food poisoning on a mine site at Black Range in Western Australia. Jim tried his hand as a buyer for a local failing wheat company without success and soon found himself travelling to the Northern Territory where an uncle, James, managed a property at Ellery Creek near the MacDonnell Ranges to the west of Alice Springs. Uncle James helped organise race meetings in Alice Springs and a young Jim would ride there to make some extra money on top of

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his regular work droving cattle and rounding up brumbies. Jim Cummings though grew restless and he found his way out when Uncle James promised him an aged mare named Myrtle after the 1909 Alice Springs Christmas Meeting. By 1911, Jim Cummings had returned to Euelia and taken out a trainer’s licence. He plied his trade around the country tracks north of Adelaide, and his good old mare Myrtle provided him with his first city cheque when she ran second at Cheltenham.

Cummings also tried his hand with jumpers and broke his collarbone when he fell from his horse Vanardo who only three months later he rode to third place in the 1916 Adelaide Racing Club’s Grand National Hurdle.

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he Cummings’ fortunes changed when he purchased a mare called Opera Bouffe, a daughter of Comedy King who had originally been owned by prominent Victorian sportsman, and committee member of the VATC, JN McArthur. She had been trained by the great James Scobie as a youngster but following McArthur’s death, Cummings purchased her at public auction for 250 guineas. Opera Bouffe was to prove a good horse in the South Australian country meetings and Jim Cummings eventually took her to Adelaide where she won successive races at Balaklava, Victoria Park and Cheltenham in March 1918. Cummings had recently married a young Irish lass by the name of Annie Whelton from Rosscarbery, and the

Jim Cummings Jack Thompson and the Lees TURF MONTHLY 27

Comic Court beats Flying Halo in the William Reid

earnings from these wins allowed the couple to purchase two properties. One which they called Rosscarbery was to be an agistment and breeding farm at St Leonards to the west of Adelaide, and a house and land on Sturt Creek near Glenelg not far from Morphettville racecourse. That property was to be their family home of the young James Bartholomew Cummings. With a keen eye for a horse and nicknamed “Clever Jim” by the local papers, Cummings bought a St Anton yearling at the 1921 sales for 200 guineas that was to race under the name of Anton King. Despite a “dicky knee,” the colt won the 1922 Port Adelaide Guineas and South Australian Stakes. He went to Melbourne and injured himself on the trip, missing vital work.

Anton King was still able to finish a strong third in Whittier’s VRC Derby. The colt was to earn £4,400 in stakes and when he broke down in 1923, Cummings retired him to stud. Anton King was to produce two stakes winners, both from Cummings good mare, Opera Bouffe. Opera Queen won the 1928 VRC Oaks and the SA Stakes, while her younger brother Opera King was to win the SA Derby and Port Adelaide Guineas three years later.

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ith the Cummings career well on track, Jim purchased a mare at the William C Yuille and Company sale at Newmarket in Melbourne just five days after Opera Queen had won the Oaks at the enticing odds of 20/1. The sale had featured the wonderful Spearfelt who had gone amiss during the carnival and was being offered for stud duties. The mare that Cummings had his eye on was Miss Comedy

by Comedy King. She had been raced and bred by Mr EM Pearce who operated a stud at Melrose near Mornington and used the pseudonym of Mr Melrose. As a filly, Miss Comedy had raced in the Dequetteville Stakes in Adelaide and had taken Jim’s eye at that young age. She had shown good speed in her races but was noted as being wayward at the barriers. Cummings was convinced that Comedy King mares were a good “nick” for his stallion, Anton King and picked up the mare cheaply for only 35 guineas. Cummings was to race the mare for another season with limited success, but the following Spring put her in foal to Anton King. The result was a filly which was to be called Witty Maid who Cummings was to describe as the finest foal

View Video in Text Mode he had ever seen. She proved a good racemare, winning four races in Adelaide from 1000m to 1400m and was third in the SA Sires’ Produce. She was to race a total of fifty-two times before Cummings retired her to his Rosscarbery Stud.

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itty Maid was mated with the Windbag horse, Barracker who had been an open class racehorse by the great sire but proved to be a failure at stud. On 1 August 1939, just a month before Australia entered WWII, a new stallion arrived at Rosscarbery. His name was Powerscourt who was a son of The Night Patrol out of a top mare in Traquette who had won six stakes races in the Maribyrnong Plate, and Caulfield, Memsie, CM Lloyd, Linlithgow and Melbourne Stakes. The Night Patrol had won 13 stakes race including the 1924 Cox Plate as well as two William Reid Stakes. Powerscourt in contrast had won only one stakes race in the 1932 Ascot Vale Stakes. Raced in partnership by Merson Cooper, Powerscourt had been an outstanding 2yo and had also run second in the Maribyrnong Plate. Injury saw him miss his 3yo season and while he never recaptured that form, he did finish second in the Farewell Handicap at Flemington and later beat Newmarket winner, Count Ito. His half-brother Salatis had won the Futurity Stakes and was proving to be a good sire at Wellington Lodge Stud. Powerscourt had previously been standing in the Corowa district at a service fee of just five guineas. He was purchased by a retired Victorian businessman in MB Wilson who had a holiday home at Glenelg and leased to Cummings for stud duties.

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owerscourt was mated with Witty Maid almost immediately upon his arrival at stud and that progeny was a colt registered as Witty Lad who failed to win from ten starts for Cummings. The mare was not served the following season but returned in 1941 to produce Witty Lass who won two races in Adelaide and two more in country SA. In March 1942, the South Australian Government under Premier Thomas Playford banned all horse racing on the grounds of manpower issues. This affected many livelihoods, but fewer more than Jim Cummings who was forced to close his stables and take work in a munitions factory. By the time TURF MONTHLY 29

Comic Court beats Carbon Copy in the Memsie

the ban was lifted in October 1943, Cummings had been forced to sell off most of his bloodstock including Witty Maid and his share in Powerscourt. He sold Witty Lass and Witty Maid to Mel Bowyer of Bowe Neire Stud at Normanville south of Adelaide for only 110 guineas. Such was the economy at the time, even that sum was the subject of an agreement between the parties that saw a deposit of 25 guineas paid up front with the balance being paid by instalment. By then, Witty Maid was again in foal to Powerscourt and the 1944 foal was delivered at their new home.

Powerscourt had been sold to new owners in Victoria, but the brown colt born of the pair in 1944 was to restore the Cummings fortunes. He was registered as Comedy Prince and had his first few runs in the colours of Mel Bowyer which included a win at Morphettville. Just fifteen minutes before the horse ran in the Balcrest Stakes at Cheltenham in September 1946, the colt dramatically changed owners for £2,100. He was purchased by Arthur J Lee, one of Australia’s leading hoteliers. Jim Cummings had gotten to know his sons, Bob, Bert and Jack who had convinced their father that a sojourn into racehorse ownership was exactly what he needed to rejuvenate their interests following the war in which two of the brothers served with distinction. Jim Cummings had spoken so highly of the bloodlines and appearance of Comedy Prince that Arthur Lee made the purchase on the spot and the horse raced in the all-white colours of the club in his Balcrest victory in race record time. In total Comedy Prince was to win twenty races including nine stakes races with victories in races like the Adelaide Guineas and SA Sires’ Produce, the Shorts and Railway Quality, now the George Ryder, in Sydney and the Cantala Stakes and William Reid in Melbourne.

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he next progeny of Powerscourt and Witty Maid was to be even better and of course was the champion, Comic Court, the first to be associated with the Cummings name. The same mating was later to produce St Comedy who won the Ascot Vale Stakes in Melbourne and the Goodwood in Adelaide, while the mating also produced Gay Comedy who won the inaugural SA Oaks. St Comedy was also raced by Arthur Lees while Mel Bowyer retained Gay Comedy who he also trained.

Comic Court started his racing career also in the Bowyer colours when he won the Fulham Plate on 16 August 1947. The race was watched closely by Jim Cummings who noted that Comic Court was a more solid type than Comedy Prince. In the days following the race the ownership of Comic Court changed hands this time

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Comic Court has no duplications until the fifth generation of his pedigree, but still has a relatively heavily inbred pedigree overall at 7.81%. St Simon appears four times in the fifth generation and the placement of the stallion within the pedigree is important. We see St Simon in the tail male lines of both sire and dam, as well as through the tail male line of the stallion’s second dam in Miss Comedy. In the fifth and sixth generations we see three lines of Hampton that are sex balanced.

In the sixth generation we see six lines of Galopin, the sire of St Simon who also appears through two daughters. The last stallion duplicated is the legendary Musket who appears twice through champion sons in Trenton and Carbine.

with the three Lees brothers securing the colt for £2,300. Unlike Comedy Prince, Comic Court was beaten in the Balcrest Stakes losing by a half-length when the 7/4 favourite. A let-up saw the colt return in December to win the Glengowrie Handicap and Oaklands Plate before heading to Victoria. He was second in both the Federal Stakes and VRC Sires’ Produce before winning the Ascot Vale Stakes and SA Sires’ Produce to round off his 2yo season.

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eturning as a 3yo, Jim Cummings had an ambitious program planned for Comic Court aimed at both Derbies. Powerscourt was a powerful sprinting type, but Cummings was convinced that Comic Court was going to stay. It did not quite go to plan as the colt was just behind the placegetters in all of his starts in Sydney culminating with a fourth behind Vagabond in the AJC Derby. Back to Melbourne, Comic Court dead heated for third in the Burwood Handicap before running fourth to Carbon Copy in the Cox Plate. Cummings’ confidence in the horse was fulfilled by his win in the VRC Derby beating home Foxzami. He went into the Melbourne Cup the following Tuesday unfancied at 20/1 but performed well to run fourth behind Rimfire. A spell saw the colt return in the Autumn to win the Devonshire and Gisborne Handicaps at Moonee Valley, beating Carbon Copy into second in the latter. That horse turned the tables on Comic Court in their next start in the St George Stakes over 1800m at Caulfield. Two weeks later the order was reversed in the St Leger at Flemington over 2800m. Comic Court then went to Sydney where he won a Quality Handicap before running second to Carbon Copy in the St Leger and then finishing fifth to that horse in the Sydney Cup. After a spell, Comic Court won the first four starts of his new campaign including the Memsie, Craiglee and Turnbull Stakes, twice beating Carbon Copy. A third to Lincoln in the Caulfield Cup was followed by a second to Delta in the Cox Plate before he won the Mackinnon. Comic Court failed in the Melbourne Cup in a farcical tempo that saw many of the fancies suffer significant interference with Comic Court faring badly while eventual winner Foxzami missed the trouble. Four days later the tired horse finished fourth of five runners in the CB Fisher Plate. He came back on New Year’s Day to finish second in the William Reid over 1200m and a month later he also finished second in the CF Orr over a mile. Comic Court was not beaten again that Autumn winning the St George, Ercildoune and Alister Clark Stakes.

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he following Spring saw Comic Court run third in the Chesterfield Handicap over 1200m at Flemington before winning the Memsie again at Caulfield. He ran second in the Craiglee and Underwood behind Beau Gem and Chicquita respectively, before winning the Turnbull Stakes again for the second time. There was controversy at his next start in the Caulfield Stakes when he, Playboy and Ellerslie passed the post almost locked together. The margins were a head by a head in favour of the Sydney horse trained by Tommy Smith and ridden by George Moore in front of Comic Court. It was the first time that George Moore had ever passed the post first in Melbourne but his joy was short-lived when Jack Purtell on Comic Court fired in a protest. To the surprise of the crowd and bookmakers, the protest was upheld. While it was evident that Playboy had moved in towards Comic Court, Moore argued that the pair had never touched and he was the one that had to stop riding and straighten his horse. Had it not been for that, Playboy would have won comfortably and this sentiment was widely echoed in the Press. Comic Court ran seventh in the Caulfield Cup carrying 61kg and then won the Mackinnon Stakes again beating the top mare Chicquita. He had top weight of 60.5kg in the Melbourne Cup and together with the fact that he had failed in the last two runnings of the race, and doubts about whether he could run the trip, meant that he was unwanted in the betting at 25/1. His strapper that day was a young Bart Cummings. Comic Court settled close to the lead and his new jockey, Pat Glennon who rode him for the only time in the Cup, took the champion to the front around the 1400m. He was allowed

to stride freely and opened up a lead on the field. While the other jockeys waited for the leader to stop, Comic Court ran home in a time that equalled the winning time for the 1200m Railway Highweight over the straight six earlier in the day. Despite his long odds, Comic Court was warmly welcomed by the crowd especially when the time was posted showing that he had beaten Rimfire’s previous record for the race by 1.5 seconds. After a spell, Comic Court returned for his final Autumn in perhaps the best form of his career. He won four races straight in the William Reid, CF Orr, St George and Ercildoune Stakes in Melbourne before venturing to Sydney to win the Chipping Norton. Comic Court then finished second in the Autumn Stakes and third in the Sydney Cup carrying 61.5kg before heading to the paddock for the last time.

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n all Comic Court won 28 of his 54 starts, and he was the highest stakes winner in Australian racing having earned £48,579 when retired. He went to Mr EA Underwood’s Warlaby Stud in Victoria under lease and stood alongside other top stallions in Dhoti, Helios and Masthead. Jim Cummings claimed to have been unaware of the intention to retire the horse, saying that he was ready for another preparation. The Lees brothers though had been fielding international offers for the stallion and refused an offer of £70,000 ensuring that he remained in Australia.

Comic Court became a good stallion although never producing anything that matched his own remarkable performances. He was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame in 2009.

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COMIC COURT HIS LEGACY

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n face value Comic Court was a disappointment at stud. He commanded a high fee for the time and stood at one of the leading studs alongside top stallions.

He was given every opportunity and yet produced only four stakes winners. None were what might be considered outstanding racehorses and Droll Prince who won the VRC Cantala Stakes and MRC Williamstown Cup was undoubtedly the best of them. Asian Court won a Werribee Cup while Gurney won the MRC International Stakes. The last stakes winner in Harcourt won the SA Tattersall’s Cup and the Tattersall’s Centenary Cup.

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omic Court never really excelled as a broodmare sire either, although his best daughter is likely to have proven to be Royal Lark who produced two stakes winners in Crewman and Star Affair. Not only were these wonderful gallopers but both have had a significant impact on Australian racing and breeding. Star Affair was foaled in 1962, a son of Star Kingdom. He gets very few mentions when we talk of great racehorses but he was certainly among the best of his time. Star Affair was a top 2yo winning the Merson Cooper and Ascot Vale Stakes at that age and beat all but the wonderful Reisling in the Golden Slipper of his year. Trained by the noted conditioner of 2yo’s in Angus Armanasco, Star Affair was owned by father and son, Alan and Keith Dibb who had previously owned Melbourne Cup winner, Sailor’s Guide. Star Affair was an indifferent trackworker and Armanasco struggled to gauge his fitness. There were also doubts as to whether his pedigree suggested that he should be aimed at the Derby or if he was too brilliant for the staying races.

Star Affair was second in the Whittier Handicap to kick off his 3yo season against the older horses. Back against his own age he won the Moonee Valley Cup over 1600m from the boom 3yo Tobin Bronze. In the Caulfield Guineas at his next start he again beat Tobin Bronze by a length. It was then on to the Cox Plate where he started second favourite at 3/1 behind the wonderful Winfreux who had won the Doomben 10,000 – Stradbroke double and had quickly established himself as one of the top WFA horses in the country. Yangtze who had won the Caulfield Guineas and Caulfield Cup the year before, led the field with Winfreux sitting on his tail.

Yangtze opened up a lead but came back to the chasers on the turn with Star Affair getting the upper hand and winning by a head on the post.

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e then went on to the VRC Derby a couple of weeks later but did not stay the trip finishing a tired sixth behind Tobin Bronze. He went back to the 1600m of the open WFA Linlithgow Stakes the following Saturday to prove his quality and toughness beating Nicopolis. The following Autumn Star Affair won the William Reid Stakes first up and later the Futurity Stakes. His form though was patchy and when he finished down the track in the Alister Clark the 3yo was retired to stud.

Star Affair was a moderate stallion but produced plenty of winners although few performed at the highest level. He left only two stakes winners in Canadian Star, QTC White Lightning Handicap and Star Fantasy, VATC Mona Nursery Stakes. His daughters though proved their ability and left many enduring influences. Among the horses that saw Star Affair as their damsire are Group 1 winners Let’s Get Physical who won the 1985 Blue Diamond Stakes and Lord Ballina who won the

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Doomben 10,000 in the same year. Let’s Get Physical left only one stakes winner in Green Sweeper who won the VATC Chirnside Stakes but Lord Ballina, who stood in NZ, became an excellent sire. He produced over 40 stakes winners including Bureaucracy, Acushla Marie, Cent Home, Count Chivas, Lord Tridan and Royal Magic. Arguably the most enduring influence of these has been Bureaucracy who not only sired the likes of Court’s In Session and Desktop Lover, but also appeared as the damsire of one of the world’s great sprinters in Silent Witness.

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oyal Lark was also the dam of another top galloper in Crewman by Todman.

Foaled in 1965 he was not the precocious 2yo that we saw in Star Affair. He did not win his first stakes race until the Toorak Handicap in 1969, and was even better the following year winning the William Reid, CF Orr, and Futurity Stakes as well as the Australian Cup over 2000m. At stud he produced only four stakes winners, all of which won in Queensland. These were Ipswich Cup winners Ballyman's Boy and Flinders, Crewshade who won a Townsville Cup and Grand Rocky who won the BATC XXXX Stakes and JT Delaney Quality Handicap.

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oyal Lark continues to play a role through her female descendants with the good miler of the 1990’s in Doncaster, Villiers and Chelmsford Stakes winner, Soho Square hailing from the family. Another daughter of Comic Court in Volta left a line that gave us most recently the talented Sunlight who won three Group 1 races in the Coolmore, William Reid and Newmarket as well as the 2018 Magic Millions. She also become a record breaker in the sales ring bringing an astonishing $4.2 million when offered as a broodmare prospect at Magic Millions sale in 2020. Jennie’s Court, another of the daughters of Comic Court also gave us a line that produced Lachlan River who won the 2005 Qld Derby, Sudurka who won six stakes races including the Group 1 Salinger Stakes and Oakleigh Plate and Shot Of Thunder who won the Group 1 Toorak Handicap.

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Crewman

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PRINCE FOOTE THE DERBY HERITAGE

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rince Foote won eleven stakes-races including the AJC and VRC Derbies, both St Legers and the Melbourne Cup while still a 3yo, yet barely rates a mention when great Australian racehorses are mentioned. He was to become only the third horse after Grand Flaneur and Poseidon to win the AJC Derby, VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup in the same season. The feat since then has only ever been repeated by champions Trivalve and Hall Mark. Rather oddly both Trivalve and Prince Foote have not yet earned a place in Australia’s Racing Hall of Fame. Phar Lap of course was to miss the Melbourne Cup in his 3yo season but came back the following year to win that great race having won the two Derbies. But on to Prince Foote.

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rince Foote was bred and raced by coal baron and industrialist, John Brown under the name of ‘J. Baron,” in the famous blue and yellow colours. Perhaps it was Brown’s involvement that lessened the importance of Prince Foote in a historical setting, as he was far from the most popular owner of his day. Some claim that his interest in ownership was part of his desire for power, and that racing allowed him easiest access to politicians and important business figures. Despite his great wealth, Brown lived relatively modestly, but it was reported that eventually Brown had a falling out with everyone he came in contact with. Despite his successes, he went through a string of Sydney’s top trainers and jockeys. Brown also caused a furore with punters when his good horse, Duke Foote, a son of Prince Foote, was scratched

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during the 1913 AJC Spring Carnival. It led to one of the largest and most hostile demonstrations ever seen on an Australian racetrack. Duke Foote was a heavily backed favourite for the Metropolitan and had been coupled in many feature doubles that finished with that race but was scratched a few days prior. There was nothing amiss as Duke Foote came out and won the Spring Stakes on the first day of the Randwick meeting. The crowd voiced their displeasure but just as the din was quietening, and the horse led from the enclosure, John Brown ordered the horse to return and proceeded to pat him on the neck infuriating the angry mob. When the crowd was at its noisiest, Brown stepped forward, bowed and raised his hat with a smile. A photo of Mr Brown during the protest was published in a newspaper and Brown was to have it framed and it adorned his home until his death.

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rince Foote had his first race start on 9 March 1909 in an 800m 2yo race at Moorefield. He followed that two weeks later with a third in the Nursery Stakes over 1000m. He then caused an upset winning the AJC Sires’ Produce over 1400m beating Malt King, although that champion turned the tables two days later in the Champagne Stakes. The colt was put away until the Spring and returned for one of the great 3yo campaigns in Australian racing history. He won the Chelmsford against the older horses in impressive fashion with his rival, Malt King suffering interference and finishing third, with another 3yo Patronatus splitting the pair. It was on to the Derby and Prince Foote was a dominant favourite at 5/4 on. The race was run at moderate pace and Prince Foote settled on the rail just behind the leaders.

He was to suffer interference at the 1200m point and was pushed back to the tail of the field. He was the victim of more interference as he tried to get clear, and, at the turn, it looked like Patronatus, Malt King and Danilo were going to fight out the finish. Darby McCarthy found clear galloping room and Prince Foote quickly rounded up the leaders to win by a length and a half from Patronatus and Danilo with Malt King in fourth. On to Melbourne for the Guineas and Malt King got revenge over the mile. Prince Foote missed the start and then raced ungenerously, hanging badly at his first try the reverse way of going. At one point he was almost a furlong behind the leaders but stormed home in the straight to beat all but Malt King. A split hoof hampered his preparation for the Derby but it counted for little as he won convincingly by six lengths with Danilo in second. Another of Brown’s horses, Lord Foote who had made the running hung on for third. Prince Foote then lined up for the Melbourne Cup this time being ridden by “Midget” McLachlan, another Hall Of Fame jockey whose family includes the Freeman brothers, and Hall Of Fame trainer, Lee Freedman. The colt started 4/1 equal favourite with Trafalgar who was having his first start in a major race and was to have an exceptional record when he retired winning 23 races. Like he did in the Derby, Prince Foote ran away from the good field in the straight winning by three lengths in a field of 26 runners.

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nother spell followed and Prince Foote returned to racing in the VRC St Leger in February where he won at the prohibitive odds of 20/1 on. He was then surprisingly beaten by Malt King over the mile of the All-aged Stakes again at Flemington a week later. It was to be only his second defeat as a 3yo, and both times it was by Malt King over the mile. After his defeat Prince Foote won the Champion Stakes two days later before going to Sydney to win the St Leger, Cumberland Stakes and AJC Plate. He returned in the Spring to win the Chelmsford impressively. Brown then again earned the ire of the punters, this time in Victoria when he withdrew Prince Foote from the Caulfield Cup, a race that he was seemingly weighted very generously in order to stay in Sydney. He was then surprisingly beaten in the Spring Stakes, albeit while giving weight to the wonderful Comedy King before he went amiss and was unplaced in the Craven Plate. Brown was then forced to withdraw the horse from all other Spring engagements including the Melbourne Cup and he did not race again for almost a year. Prince Foote was unplaced in the Chelmsford

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At 26.17% Prince Foote has a very heavily inbred pedigree. Fifteen individual ancestors appear more than once within six generations. The closest is Galopin who we see in both tail female lines of the pedigree. Galopin sees his sire as Vedette who is a son of Voltigeur and Mrs Ridgeway, a daughter of the famed Birdcatcher. It is interesting that a sister to Vedette in Qui Vive is in the direct female line of Prince Foote’s sire, Sir Foote. Another factor here is that Birdcatcher who we saw as the sire of Mrs Ridgeway also appears in the sire line of Isinglass, the damsire of Prince Foote. The Flying Dutchman also appears in the pedigree of Galopin and we see multiple lines of that stallion. Another point of interest is the presence of the full brothers Rataplan and Stockwell who were by The Baron out of Pocahontas. We can add stallions like Orlando, his sire Touchstone and another father and son combination in Lord Clifden and Newminster in quite a remarkable pedigree.

and Spring Stakes and Craven Plate before collapsing around 800m from the finish of the Randwick Plate won by Trafalgar. He was then retired to stand at John Brown’s stud at Wills Gully, near Singleton, NSW.

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rince Foote was by the stallion Sir Foote who John Brown had purchased in England. Sir Foote had raced with distinction but had a history of unsoundness allowing Brown to purchase him cheaply. Brown thought that even if he did not race in Australia, his pedigree meant that he would make a good stallion being the half-brother to Surefoot who had won the Two Thousand Guineas and Eclipse Stakes before starting favourite for the 1893 Derby. Sir Foote was almost lame as he disembarked the boat in Australia, but Brown’s trainer at the time, Ike Earnshaw eventually got the stallion to the track. Although he was always near lame, the horse managed to win the Newmarket at Flemington, the Futurity at Caulfield and the Doncaster at Randwick in the autumn of 1902. Sir Foote sired the very good 2yo Antonius who won the December Stakes in Sydney before going to Melbourne to win the Ascot Vale Stakes and Sires’ Produce. Tragically Sir Foote was to die early from peritonitis shortly after returning to Motto Farm from the Royal Agricultural Society Exhibition at Moore Park at Easter 1907. The season before, another of Brown’s imports, a mare called Petruschka had produced a small foal by him that was to change Brown’s racing fortunes. That colt of course was Prince Foote.

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rince Foote was to suffer from Brown’s personality in many ways. Brown seemed to quite jealously retain his bloodlines, refusing to take all but a few outside mares to his stallions. Nevertheless, Prince Foote was to have some success at stud despite his short stature. He was to hit the headlines again in 1914 when another

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Prince Foote winning the VRC Derby

of Brown’s stallions, Simile, entered his paddock. The younger stallion immediately attacked his rival and while Prince Foote was uninjured, Simile had to be put down due to his injuries. Prince Foote produced six stakes winners, most of which raced in Brown’s colours, and were curiously all colts. His first was Prince Viridine who won four stakes races from 1400m to 2800m in the AJC Easter Stakes, Tatt's NSW Chelmsford Stakes, and both the AJC and VRC St Legers. He was unlucky to run into the excellent galloper Biplane who beat him in both Derbies. Other stakes winners by Prince Foote included Prince Charles and Prince Cox, winners of the Sydney Cup and the Australian Cup respectively and Prince Minimbah, a fine stayer who won the Summer Cup at Randwick.

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he best son of Prince Foote was undoubtedly Richmond Main named after one of Brown’s coal mines. It is especially interesting to reflect on the career of Richmond Main as we go back to the year 1919. This was a time when Australia was attempting to recover from the impact of the first World War only to be met with the Spanish Flu pandemic. Few would know that the buildings at Randwick racecourse were placed at the disposal of the Government for use as temporary hospital facilities although no patients were actually received there. Race meetings in Victoria were suspended for five weeks, while those in NSW were suspended for two periods over the pandemic totalling nine weeks. The AJC Autumn meeting was in doubt and was not run until four weeks later. Jockeys were required to wear masks during trackwork and the quarantine restrictions on the NSW – Victoria border meant that horses for a time could not travel between the states. Richmond Main started his career as a 2yo the year before the pandemic but performed moderately not winning from six starts although he was placed in the Champagne Stakes. Richmond Main made an immediate impact in the Spring of his 3yo season, beating the older horses in the Chelmsford Stakes. He had by then changed trainers from James Barden to Frank Marsden following one of John Brown’s regular outbursts. Richmond Main was then unplaced in the Rosehill Guineas although he suffered interference, and then lined up against only seven others in the AJC Derby in a field which included two fillies. Favourite was Artilleryman, a champion son of Comedy King. Richmond Main took the early lead but Artilleryman started to make ground around the 1200m mark, and by the 800m had established a two

Prince Foote winning the Melbourne Cup TURF MONTHLY 40

length lead. It looked like he would take control of the race, and the others apart from the leading two looked beaten. Richmond Main battled hard and by the home turn had got up on the fence to join the other colt. The two staged a stirring battle down the straight to record the first dead-heat in the history of the AJC Derby.

Allunga and Homer were to repeat the feat in 1935. Richmond Main then went to Victoria before the border restrictions were in place and won the VRC Derby where he beat Artilleryman by a half-length. The head-strong Artilleryman had taken control of his rider and raced to the front from near the rear around the 1400m mark, making him a sitting shot for Richmond Main. The two met three days later in the Melbourne Cup with Artilleryman narrowly ahead of Richmond Main in the betting at 10/1 behind favourite Lucknow at 6/1. Artilleryman raced kindly in the Cup settling well in around sixth place for most of the race. He bounded away as the field entered the straight winning by an official six lengths from Richmond Main although many claim the margin looked much bigger. Richmond Main was to win the Williamstown Cup at the end of the carnival although by then Artilleryman was safely tucked away in a paddock. The final stakes win for Richmond Main was to not come until 1921 when rather strangely he dead-heated with Poitrel in the Rawson Stakes.

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espite the good results of the sons of Prince Foote on the track, as is most often the case much of his ongoing success stems from his daughters. Princess Berry struck immediate success by producing Balloon King by Air Balloon, an imported son of Stedfast, who won the 1930 Rosehill Guineas and VRC Derby. Another daughter in Princess Flower was also eventually to leave a legacy. Her daughter by Wallace Isinglass who was to start favourite in Patrobas’ VRC Derby, called Queen Flower in turn was mated to Air Balloon to produce another daughter in Sweet Air whose granddaughter produced a horse called The Toddler by Todman who became a solid stallion producing many winners but only one stakes winner in

Prince Viridis

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Richmond Main with A Wood inset

Solo Lad who won the Listed City Tatt’s Lightning in 1983. Another daughter in Tola was to produce a line that led to Let’s Hurry by Vite Cheval who won the G2 Surround Stakes, Expressway Stakes, QTC Sir Byrne Hart Stakes and the G3 VRC Great Western. She was also to produce Restless by Thunder Gulch who won the Doomben Carnival Cup, AJC JRA Plate, STC Sky High Stakes and Parramatta Cup. By far the most enduring legacy of Prince Foote remains through his daughter Princess Flower. Her daughter Lively March by the imported March Along by Swynford produced a daughter called Lady March by another imported stallion in Bonnemont by Tracery. She was to produce a son called Russia who became a marvellous stayer winning over 20 races.

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fter three disappointing runs as a 2yo, Russia was to race in Sydney 19 times as a 3yo for only three wins, but his wins included the Newcastle Cup. Returning as a 4yo, Russia proved that all he needed was time and while he won only two of his eleven starts at that age, he proved he was a tough and hardy campaigner by winning the AJC Anniversary Handicap and running second in the Sydney Cup behind Craigie. As a 5yo Russia won the Colin Stephen Stakes beating the great mare, Flight and later the AJC Winter Stakes. That year he was to run fifth behind Rainbird in the Melbourne Cup and place in the Chipping Norton behind Bernborough, the Sydney Cup behind Cordale and the AJC Plate behind Flight.

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Richmond Main winning the Derby

Richmond Main inside dead heats in the 1919 AJC Derby with Artilleryman

Russia had his best year as a 6yo starting by winning the National Plate, and Metropolitan and Exhibition Handicaps in Brisbane. After three runs in Sydney he went to Melbourne to run sixth behind Flight in the Cox Plate before his greatest triumph in a field of 35 runners in the 1946 Melbourne Cup. He followed that up in the Autumn by again beating Flight in the Autumn Stakes before winning the AJC Plate and PJ O’Shea in Brisbane and rounding off his year with a second to Blue Boots in the Brisbane Cup carrying 61kg. Age seemed to have little influence on the stallion as he started off his 7yo season in good form and early on won three races straight in the Colin Stephens in which he dead heated with Silver Link, the Craven Plate where he beat the champion Shannon, and the Randwick Plate over 3200m.

He did not win again until his last two starts at that age by winning the Cumberland Stakes over 2800m and the AJC Plate over 3600m where he beat another topliner in Columnist.

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he stallion spent a year at stud, but Russia came back to the track again as an 8yo to win three of his eight starts. He was unlucky to come up against another champion in Carbon Copy for much of the year. He won the Ercildoune Stakes and Carbine Stakes at Flemington and had his last win in the Autumn Stakes at Randwick on 16 April 1949. He finished his career by running second in the Cumberland Stakes and AJC Plate over the next week and was beaten by Carbon Copy at his last run. Because of his good form behind horses like Shannon and Bernborough who were sold to the US for stud duties, Russia was purchased by David J. Davis of Phar Lap fame and sent to the US where he was a moderate success producing the likes of Pomona Stakes winner Georgie and Del Mar Handicap winner Noredski. Although his influence is lessening, Russia can still occasionally be found in pedigrees especially through stallions like Rise Jim who won 27 races and stood at stud in Massachusetts and Timeless Native who stood in Kentucky retiring after a short career that saw him win over $600,000.

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PATROBAS

THE DERBY HERITAGE

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atrobas was a wonderful racehorse but is another who barely rates a mention among the greats. His record though shows that he deserves his place with some of our best and Patrobas certainly set some records along the way. He is one of the few racehorses who has a statue of him displayed. In his case it is on show in Rosedale in Victoria where the plaque proudly claims Patrobas as the only horse from Gippsland to have won the Melbourne Cup. It also lays claim to the fact that Patrobas is the only horse in history to have won the Caulfield Guineas, VRC Derby and Melbourne Cup, and to top that off he did it all in the one season. Without negating this remarkable feat, it should perhaps be noted that Patrobas, unlike many before and after, did not venture to Sydney for the AJC Derby. It was a big ask for a horse to race in the Derby and then come back to the mile of the Guineas before heading to the VRC Derby. Another remarkable first is that Patrobas was the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup to be owned by a woman in Mrs Edith

Alice Widdis. The 1915 Melbourne Cup won by Patrobas is on display at the Arts Centre in Sale. Patrobas had been selected from the Sydney Yearling Catalogue by Edith and purchased for 300 guineas by her husband, as a birthday present for his wife. The Widdis’ were graziers, and their stately home became known as Nambrok House and was purchased many years later by the National Party politician Peter McGauran.

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he horse was broken in by Mark Wheeler, the younger brother of trainer Charlie Wheeler. Mark started Patrobas in the St Albans Handicap at Moonee Valley, but he was unplaced. Some months later, he had his last start as a 2yo when second to Jester in a race at Rosedale that had only the two runners. Even then, an offer for the colt was made for Patrobas by Darcy Eccles but the colt was not for sale.

Mark Wheeler enlisted in the War, and the horse was put into Charlie’s care. In a later newspaper interview Charlie said “Before sailing for the war Mark told me that he felt sure Patrobas would win the Derby and Melbourne Cup. He wouldn't have that he was aiming too high. Mark had a great opinion of the colt, and Mr Widdis cabled a present to him in France after his dual success. Letters informed us that the Derby and Cup successes were celebrated in correct style and immediately afterwards came the news that Mark had been killed at Pozieres. Had he not heard his country's call he would have had the success that came to me.”

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harlie Walker always maintained that taking the colt along early as a 2yo is what allowed him success the following season. His first 3yo start was a second in a St Aubins Welter before winning the Doona Trial at Caulfield. He then ran second to Lavendo in the October Stakes and Wheeler was confident that the colt was improving every day and had a realistic chance in the Guineas. Wheeler was not the only one with confidence in Patrobas as he was backed into the 5/4 on favourite, and he beat the two fillies Rosanna and Dame Quickly. He then lined up in the Caulfield Cup with only 38.5kg and Ben Cain on his back. Patrobas was among the tailenders in the race but ran home strongly to finish sixth. His next start was in the VRC Derby, and another son of Wallace in Wallace Isinglass was a strong favourite. Ridden by top jockey Bill Smart, Patrobas was pocketed by the favourite, but once he got out, he surprised Bobbie Lewis on the more fancied colt by going away for a comfortable win by 2.5 lengths from Cetigne and Westcourt. With only 47kg in the Melbourne Cup, plenty fancied the chances of Patrobas and he started at 8/1 with Lavendo and Reputation as the joint 5/1 favourites. As much as 10/1 was bet about Patrobas because of the six kilogram penalty he was given as a result of his Derby win. Bill Smart could not ride at the weight and for a while Charlie Wheeler considered having Smart ride two kg overweight. In the end it was Bobbie Lewis that took the mount. For those who like omens, Patrobas carried saddle cloth 19 in the field of 24 and it was Bobbie Lewis’ nineteenth ride in the Cup. In another quirk, the race was run on 6 November 1915, exactly three years to the day that Patrobas had been foaled, most likely making him the youngest ever Melbourne Cup winner.

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he 1915 Melbourne Cup was quite a sombre affair even though 88,000 attended.

The VRC had decided to donate all of the profits from their wartime meetings to patriotic funds which probably contributed to the large crowd. Prior to the Cup

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Patrobas winning the Melbourne Cup

news had been received that Australian casualties from the assault on Gallipoli had reached almost 30,000 and a message had also come through advising of the capture of famous Australian jockey, Bernard “Brownie” Carslake by the Germans.

Despite weight problems Carslake rode six English classic winners and was later to escape from an Austrian POW camp while disguised as a fireman. He made his way back to England where he served out the war in England before resuming his riding career. The Melbourne Cup was an eventful affair. The good galloper Lavendo who had beaten Patrobas in the October Stakes was left at the barrier. There was a tragic three horse fall before the field had gone 200m resulting in many other horses being inconvenienced. Bobbie Lewis had escaped all interference and had Patrobas nicely placed on the fence not far from the lead. Into the straight another 3yo in Westcourt took the lead as Patrobas was momentarily held up getting around some tiring horses. Many were hailing Westcourt who had run third in the Derby as the winner but Patrobas, once described by Wheeler as the stoutest fighter he had ever seen, gradually wore down the leader to win by a half neck. Upon dismounting Lewis said, “Everything’s OK but I had to ride him hard.” Bill Smart was one of the first to congratulate Bobbie Lewis to which he replied, "Why I would have ridden I him in the Derby if I'd known he was so good."

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wner Mrs Widdis had watched the Cup from the Members’ Ladies Stand so that their young daughter Muriel was able to get a good view of the race. After the race she tried to push through the crowd to the winner’s enclosure and the VRC committee delayed the presentation waiting for her to appear. It seems the crowd would not let her pass refusing to believe that she was the owner. Eventually her husband John accepted the trophy on her behalf. When he finally found her, he is reported to have handed her the huge trophy, kissed her and asked, “Where the hell have you been?” By this stage John Widdis was like many others struggling financially because of the war. He is reported to have told his friends that had Patrobas not won the Cup, he would have been stony broke. It was traditional on settling day after the Cup that the winning owner shouted the Members bar. As membership was restricted to men only, Mrs Widdis was escorted into the club and appeared before the full committee. Rather than buying a round, Mrs Widdis offered to donate an equivalent amount to patriotic funds, an offer that was applauded by all.

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eturning for the Autumn, Patrobas came back reportedly “burly as a bullock.”

Nevertheless, he ran third in the VATC Woodcliff Handicap before winning the

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Patrobas has another heavily inbred pedigree at 18.36%. One of the more interesting factors is that we see the two major sire lines are not duplicated. Patrobas is by Wallace, a son of Carbine and in turn Musket while his dam is by Simmer, a son of St Simon and in turn Galopin. The only ancestor within the top eighth of both sire lines is Pocahontas, the dam of King Tom and also Stockwell who appears in the top quadrant of both sire lines. In the female lines of both sire and dam we see the wonderful Hurtle Fisher stallion, Goldsborough and it comes as little surprise that we also see multiple lines of that great breeder’s remarkable imported stallion Fisherman. Another important influence may be the presence of Sir Hercules, the sire of the first great Australian champion in The Barb and when mated with legendary Flora McIvor, the enduring influence of Io in the direct female line of Patrobas.

Patrobas’ owner Edith Widdis with the Melbourne Cup Trophy

VRC St Leger again beating Westcourt. He went to Sydney but showed little form although he did run third in the AJC St Leger, well beaten in a field of four. Patrobas returned as a 4yo after a long layoff. Trainer Charlie Wheeler said that it was a hard task to keep Patrobas on his feet by that stage as the racing had taken its toll. In all, he had six starts at that age for four wins in the Aspendale Park Handicap, VATC St George Stakes, Essendon Stakes and King’s Plate and a third in the VRC Governor’s Plate. The following year he was taken to Sydney for the Spring meeting, but he broke down in training and never raced again. In all Patrobas retired with almost 16,000 guineas in stakes.

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atrobas was a son of the champion stallion Wallace who had also won the Caulfield Guineas and VRC Derby. By the time Patrobas was born the stallion was 20yo although continued to produce regular stakes winners until his death. In turn, Wallace was a son of the legendary Carbine. Patrobas was out of the mare Sizzle who was by the imported stallion Simmer, a son of St Simon. Her dam was Ondine who was a daughter of Goldsborough who was a son of the Hurtle Fisher mare, Sylvia. The family of Patrobas had arrived in Australia in the early 1800’s through the mare Manto who was one of the earliest stud book mares. She is best noted for the deeds of her grand daughter Flora McIvor who appears in the female line of Patrobas. The colt himself had been bred by the Mitchell brothers at Bringenbrong in NSW.

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he story of Patrobas did not finish there even though he never went to stud.

In 1941, long after the death of John Widdis, Charlie Wheeler launched legal

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action against Edith Widdis claiming unpaid winning percentages for training Patrobas. Wheeler at that stage had named his property Patrobas in honour to the horse, while Mrs Widdis had moved to Cambria House, Neerim Road Caulfield.

Arguments from the case are a little difficult to determine although we ultimately know that Wheeler was unsuccessful. During the trial, Mrs Widdis claimed she was unaware of any arrangement between her husband and Wheeler. She did acknowledge that she and her husband cleared about £20 000 from the Melbourne Cup win, and that she knew that Wheeler was dissatisfied with the £500 paid to him.

In acknowledging the sum, Widdis also stated that in future she had agreed to pay 10 per cent of the winnings to Wheeler. Wheeler called many trainers as witnesses who all testified that payment of winnings formed part of their training agreements.

On the other hand, Mrs Widdis called a number of owners who testified that they paid their trainer a training fee, and while they sometimes paid a percentage of winnings, they did that purely at their discretion. Wheeler also claimed that Mr Widdis had continually promised to pay Mr Wheeler prior to his death in February 1918. He then forwarded an invoice for £700 to Edith Widdis in June 1918. Mrs Widdis also claimed that a gift of £200 had been paid to the executors of Mark Wheeler’s estate. To further suggest that there was a lot more to this story than was ever published, Edith Willis claims to have refunded the purchase money for Patrobas to her husband from the Guineas winnings. Charlie Wheeler also trained Shepherd King, owned by Mr Mills and Mr Widdis, who won the Caulfield Cup in 1916.

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OCTAGONAL

A CHAMPION 3YO WINS THE 1995 COX PLATE

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he 1995 Cox Plate always looked as if it was going to be a good race but few who watched it realised just what a race it would prove to be. It was a race that not only established the mighty Octagonal and his owners, the Ingham brothers at the pinnacle of Australian racing, but it also saw the legend of Mahogany, the former champion 3yo grow exponentially. Perhaps more than any other race it was also the one that saw a brash young Shane Dye catapulted to the position of pinup jockey of Australian racing.

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he field was a mix of proven wfa horses, some honest handicappers, a star 4yo and a couple of 3yo’s to top it off. The reigning Epsom winner, Nick’s Joy was a little surprisingly balloted out of the race, and as the only emergency did not get a run.

Saddle cloth number one went to Solvit, the NZ champion who had won the race the year before. As a 7yo he was still in good form having won the Ellerslie Challenge Stakes at his most recent start before coming to Australia that season. Next was ruling Melbourne Cup champion Jeune who started the Spring with a good win in the Craiglee. A couple of mixed runs in the Underwood. and a more promising run when striking trouble but still finishing only a couple of lengths behind the boom 3yo, Danewin in the Caulfield Stake saw the David Hayes trained galloper installed as the 7/2 second favourite. Number three was carried by Mahogany trained by Lee Freedman. The popular champion had won both the VRC and AJC Derbies as a 3yo and a host of other good races. He had been raced sparingly though in more recent times and had not started since he had finished a half-neck behind Jeune in the Craiglee. The other 5yo’s in the field were more moderate types who probably were not truly genuine wfa horses but still were capable of a top performance on their day. This brings us to the 4yo’s which included not only the star Danewin who was fresh from a win in the Caulfield Stakes. He was trained by Bob Thomsen himself a former trainer for the Inghams. The field also had Stony Bay who was trained by Gai Waterhouse and had come off good form in Sydney including wins in the Hill Stakes and Craven Plate before running third to Electronic in the Metropolitan and finishing a little over three lengths behind Danewin in the Caulfield Stakes.

There was also the Bart Cummings trained 4yo mare Danarani who had won the G1 Flight Stakes the year before. Then we had the two 3yo’s. The more fancied of the two was Our Maizcay who had won 13 of his 17 starts and was fresh off a 3 length win in the Caulfield Guineas, a long time tried and true form line for the Spring.

The last was Octagonal who had won the Sires’ Produce as a 2yo and ran second in both the Golden Slipper and Champagne Stakes. He was having his fourth start as a 3yo having resumed by running second to Our Maizcay in the Roman Consul.

Octagonal then won the Heritage and Stan Fox before heading to Melbourne to run third in the Guineas.

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he race was an outstanding one with Mahogany and Octagonal having a stirring battle. The two jockeys, Greg Hall and Shane Dye used all of their skill while Station Hand at 33/1 and ridden by Darren Gauci stuck on well for third. He finished just ahead of the brave Jeune who ran on well under regular rider, Wayne Harris. The big disappointments of the race were Our Maizcay and Danewin. Our Maizcay had led easily from his outside gate but failed to run the trip. Danewin on the other hand was travelling well behind the leaders when Our Maizcay stopped quickly causing interference to the stallion. He suffered cuts to his legs and almost fell at the 600m before finishing ninth with Damien Oliver on board. It would have been good for all runners to have had their chance, but the 1995 Cox Plate remains one of the most outstanding races in recent times.

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