Best Australian Racing Stories Read online

  Before the registration of names was properly controlled, different horses often raced with the same names. There were three Tim Whifflers in the Australian colonies in the 1860s: one was an imported stallion who sired the 1876 Melbourne Cup winner –Briseis, and the other two Tim Whifflers both raced in the Melbourne Cup of 1867. ‘Sydney Tim’, trained by Etienne de Mestre, won the Cup and ‘Melbourne Tim’ ran fifth!

  After his Melbourne Cup victory as a three-year-old The Barb went on to win 16 of his 23 starts. In one of his Sydney Cup wins he carried the biggest winning weight in the race’s history: 10 st 8 lb (67 kg). He was virtually unbeatable at weight for age and was unbeaten as a five-year-old. One of his defeats was actually a win. He defeated de Mestre’s Tim Whiffler in the Queen’s Plate but weighed in 2 lb light.

  When entered for the Melbourne Cup of 1868, The Barb was given the biggest weight ever allotted—11 st 7 lb (73 kg)—so John Tait decided to retire him to stud. He stood at stud until his death in 1889 and produced some useful horses, but no champions.

  John Tait was given his nickname,‘Honest John’, because he only ever protested once, when his horse Falcon was blatantly ‘hocked’ in the Sydney Cup of 1866. Even then he protested out of a sense of justice, not to gain the race, which was won by Yattendon. When The Barb weighed in light in the Queen’s Plate of 1868, he offered £100 reward to anyone who could prove foul play.

  Tait was born near Edinburgh and trained as a jeweller before deciding on a new life in Tasmania and emigrating in 1837 with his young wife and daughter at the age of 24. He found Hobart rather slow and moved to New South Wales in 1843, where he ran hotels at Hartley and Bathurst. Tait then moved to Sydney in 1851 to train horses and become licensee of the Commercial Hotel on Castle–reagh Street. His skill in the art of boxing and his sense of fair play helped him to run pubs successfully.

  Tait and Etienne de Mestre dominated racing in New South Wales for two decades, being the first trainers to bring commercial principles and good management practices to the sport of racing.

  In 1847 Tait had won the New South Wales St Leger at Home-bush with a horse named Whalebone. After a few very successful seasons he sold his horses and visited England to choose breeding stock. On his return he set up stables at Randwick and a stud at Mount Druitt, west of Sydney, and changed his racing colours from black jacket and red cap to the famous yellow jacket and black cap. Perhaps his colours were too close to those of his rival Etienne de Mestre whose horses, including the famous Archer, raced in all black.

  Between 1861 and 1878 the two great Sydney trainers won half of the Melbourne Cups contested, with de Mestre taking the Cup five times and John Tait four times.

  Australian racing had been through a stage of incredible growth in the 1860s, and the 1870s saw a series of unsavoury scandals involving trainers hiding horses’ true abilities.

  Two of the worst of these incidents involved horses from St Albans stud near Geelong. A protest was entered the day after the 1873 Melbourne Cup over the uncertain ownership, age and identity of winner Don Juan. A tale of disguised ownership emerged, and the public image of racing suffered even more when a huge Melbourne Cup plunge on the lightly raced Savanaka occurred in 1877.

  Savanaka lost the Cup to the Sydney champ Chester, but the unsavoury link between betting and training was damaging the image of racing. The tragic loss in a storm of nine Sydney horses bound for the 1876 Melbourne Spring Carnival on board the steamer City of Melbourne was made worse by the celebrations initiated by Melbourne’s bookmakers on hearing the news.

  Things were on the improve by the 1880s. The decade began with the Melbourne Cup win of one of my favourite champions of the Australian turf.

  Grand Flaneur (foaled 1877)

  Grand Flaneur holds a unique place in racing history—he is the only Melbourne Cup winner who was never defeated on a racetrack. Added to this is the fact that he was a very successful and influential sire.

  Grand Flaneur was by the great colonial sire Yattendon, out of an imported mare, First Lady, a daughter of the great British sire St Albans. Owned by AJC committeeman Mr W.A. Long, he won at Flemington over 5 furlongs as a two-year-old and then was rested until the Sydney Spring Carnival of 1880. He duly took out the AJC Derby and Mares Produce Stakes, and then returned to Melbourne to win the Victoria Derby, Melbourne Cup and Mares Produce Stakes within a week. The Melbourne champion colt, Progress, finished second every time.

  Grand Flaneur was also the horse who finally gave the greatest jockey of his time, Tom Hales, his one and only Melbourne Cup win. He defeated Progress again in the 1881 VRC Champion Stakes and VRC St Leger Stakes and ended his career by winning the 1881 VRC Town Plate. Taken back to Sydney for the AJC Autumn Carnival he broke down and was retired to stand at stud.

  Bravo, the 1891 Melbourne Cup winner, was from his first crop; Grand Flaneur also sired the 1894 Cup winner Patron and was the leading Australian sire in 1894–95.

  Grand Flaneur’s son Merman won the Williamstown Cup in 1896 and then went to race in Britain. Owned by actress Lillie Langtry, Merman won the Goodwood Cup in 1899 and the Ascot Gold Cup in 1900, the same year that his sire Grand Flaneur died, aged 22, at the Chipping Norton Stud near Liverpool, southwest of Sydney.

  The AJC had taken firm control of New South Wales racing by the 1880s, and the VRC established the Official Racing Calendar in 1882 and declared that all race meetings throughout Victoria had to run in accordance with the VRC rules. Horses competing on racetracks that did not comply were banned from racing at Flemington.

  Racing was entering a golden era as the 1890s rolled around. The skulduggery and shonky practices of the 1860s and 1870s had receded to a large degree. ‘Pony’ or unregistered racing was growing in popularity in Sydney and Melbourne, and that form of racing would remain popular until the 1930s and perhaps provided an outlet for the less savoury elements of the racing industry.

  So the scene was set for the greatest champion of them all to appear and take Australia and New Zealand on the ride of a lifetime. The time was ripe for the appearance of the greatest racehorse that ever breathed.

  Carbine (foaled 1885)

  Carbine was foaled at Sylvia Park Stud near Auckland and had multiple crosses on both sides of his pedigree back to two great 18th century horses, Eclipse and Herod. His dam was the unraced imported mare Mersey, and he was the last foal of the good sire Musket, who won the Ascot Stakes and eight other races before being sent to stand at stud in New Zealand.

  Musket, who died at age 18 after siring Carbine, was a very successful sire of stayers; his son Martini-Henri won the 1883 Melbourne Cup.

  Carbine won 33 of his 43 starts and was unplaced only once, when suffering from a cracked hoof. He won 15 races in succession, and 17 of his last 18 races.

  After five wins in New Zealand he was sent to Melbourne for the VRC Derby in 1888. Carbine finished second in the Derby; his jockey, New Zealander Bob Derret, dropped a rein in the tight finish and Carbine was beaten a head by Sydney-trained horse Ensign, carrying the famous blue and white colours of Mr James White and ridden brilliantly by Tom Hales.

  Carbine’s owner, Dan O’Brien, lost heavily on the Derby and decided to sell Carbine, who had won the Flying Stakes over 7 furlongs and the Foal Stakes over 10 furlongs in the week following his narrow defeat in the Derby.

  At the auction at the end of the carnival VRC committeeman Donald Wallace, urged on by Melbourne trainer Walter Hicken-botham, reluctantly paid 3000 guineas for him, having failed to secure the horse he really wanted to buy at the sale.

  Being the under-bidder on that previous lot—a now long-forgotten horse called Tradition, which sold that day for 3050 guineas—was to be the best piece of luck in Donald Wallace’s life.

  Walter Hickenbotham now took over training Carbine and prepared him to run third in the Newmarket Handicap and second in the Australian Cup to the champion Lochiel. He then went on a winning spree, taking first place seven times from his next eight starts as a three-year
-old, at distances from 7 furlongs to 3 miles, including the Sydney Cup in which he carried 12 pounds over weight for age.

  As a three-year-old Carbine won four races in four days during the Sydney Autumn Carnival in 1890, including the Sydney Cup on the second day. The next day he won the All-Aged Stakes over a mile and the Cumberland Stakes over 2 miles, and two days later he won the AJC Plate over 3 miles.

  While in training for his four-year-old season Carbine cracked a heel so badly that he could not race that season without a special binding of beeswax and cloth and a special bar shoe. This accounts for his poor start to the season, second in the Caulfield Stakes, third in the Melbourne (now the Mackinnon) Stakes and a brave second to Bravo in the Melbourne Cup. Carrying 10 st (63.5 kg) to Bravo’s 8 st 7 lb (54 kg), Carbine’s hoof opened during the race and he was beaten a length by a son of Grand Flaneur.

  Two days later, with his hoof repaired, he won the Flying Stakes over 7 furlongs but, two days after that, he ran last in the Canterbury Plate over 2 miles when the binding on his hoof completely fell apart. It was the only unplaced run of his career.

  With a good rest and his hoof patched up again, Carbine returned to racing in March 1891 and won three of his four starts in Melbourne before heading to Sydney for the Autumn Carnival.

  As a four-year-old Carbine went one better than the previous year. This time he won five races at distances from 1 mile to 3 miles in seven days: the Autumn Stakes, on 5 April; the Sydney Cup, carrying 9 st 9 lb (61.5 kg), on 7 April; the All-Aged Stakes and the Cumberland Stakes on 10 April; and the AJC Plate on 12 April.

  Carbine had now won seven races in succession, and would go on to win another eight before the sequence ended a year later, when he ran second in the All-Aged Stakes.

  Victories in the Spring Stakes and Craven Plate came after a five-month spell; then the horse the public called ‘Old Jack’ travelled back to Melbourne to win the Melbourne Stakes and race into immortality in the Melbourne Cup of 1890, carrying the biggest winning weight in history, 10 st 5 lb (66.5 kg).

  The great racing writer and novelist Nat Gould gave an eyewitness account of the amazing scenes at Flemington that day:

  When the saddling bell rang before the Cup race there was intense excitement, and Carbine held his position as favourite firm as a rock, and ‘Old Jack’ was fairly mobbed as he was being saddled, but as usual he took no notice of the crowd. When he came on to the track there was a terrific burst of cheering. Carbine stood still and looked round, and then declined to go to the post.

  His trainer, Mr. Hickenbotham, gave him a push behind, and Carbine moved a few paces. This was a slow process. At last Ram-age threw the reins over the horse’s head, and Mr. Hickenbotham fairly dragged him up the course.

  I shall never forget that race.

  Carbine held a good position throughout, but did not get well to the front until they were in the straight. At the home turn Highborn looked to have a chance second to none . . . No sooner, however, did Carbine see an opening than he shot through, and after that it was a case of hare and hounds. On came ‘Old Jack’, with his 10st.5lb., and at the distance he had the race won.

  Cheer after cheer rent the air, and people went almost frantic with excitement. It was a wild scene. For months the public had backed Carbine, and at last the suspense was over. It was a glorious victory, and everyone knew it.

  Carbine raced seven more times, in the autumn of 1891, for six victories. His narrow defeat came in the All-Aged Stakes at Randwick. His hoof was so bad that day that shoes could not be fitted, so he raced without shoes and ran second to Marvel on a slippery wet track. Unperturbed, Walter Hickenbotham took Carbine back to his stall, persevered and finally managed to get shoes on the champion, who promptly went out a few races later and beat Marvel easily over 2 miles in the Cumberland Stakes.

  Carbine then went for a spell with the intention of being trained for the 1891 Melbourne Cup, in spite of being given 11 st (70 kg) by the VRC handicapper.

  In early training Carbine injured his hoof again and suffered ligament damage, so it was decided he would stand a season at stud and perhaps return to racing in the autumn. However, the stud fee of 200 guineas was more than three times that of any other horse in Australia, and there was a stock market crash and a Depression looming; consequently Carbine served just three mares in 1891. Two foals survived to race and one of them, from a mare named Melodious, was Wallace, who would prove to be Carbine’s best-performed Australian son and a huge success at stud.

  It became apparent that Carbine’s racing days were over and a lucrative offer—reputed to be more than £20,000—was made for him to stand at stud in America. Donald Wallace wanted him to stay in Australia, however, and he stood four seasons at Wallace’s Stud near Bacchus Marsh, northwest of Melbourne, and sired the winners of 208 races, including: 12 stakes winners including dual Derby winner Amberite; La Carabine, winner of an Australian Cup, Sydney Cup and two AJC Plates; and Wallace, who won the VRC Derby, Sydney Cup, Caulfield Guineas, AJC St Leger and four other stakes races before going on to be a great sire of champions, including Melbourne Cup winners Kingsborough and Patrobus.

  As the Depression hit and the drought worsened in the early 1890s, Donald Wallace’s fortunes slumped drastically and he decided to sell all his horses in a dispersal sale in 1895.

  The Duke of Portland, who was looking for a stallion with a quiet temperament as an outcross to mares from his brilliant but fiery champion stallion St Simon, bought Carbine for 13,000 guineas to stand at Welbeck Stud in England.

  Ten thousand people came to the docks to say goodbye to ‘Old Jack’ as the steamship Orizaba pulled out of Port Melbourne.

  Carbine survived the trip, and an emergency stomach operation in Colombo, and was able to live in his new home, with its soft English ground, without wearing shoes. A special device was sent with the great horse to England. It was a special ‘umbrella hat’ to keep the rain and snow off his ears. ‘Old Jack’ hated rain on his ears and would run and hide from rain. Walter Hickenbotham often had to take his umbrella to the races and cover Carbine’s ears as he went onto the track. He also used the umbrella to get the lethargic stallion moving towards the barrier by opening and closing it rapidly in his face until he broke into a trot.

  In spite of being only ‘second fiddle’ sire at Welbeck, Carbine finished fourth on the list of successful sires in the UK in 1902 and 1906, and sired 138 winners and 253 second placegetters there.

  Carbine’s son Spearmint won the 1906 Epsom Derby and was a great success at stud. Spearmint’s progeny won 93 races and included Derby winner and great sire Spion Kop. Spearmint also sired the broodmares Catnip and Plucky Liege, which means that all horses with Nearco, Nasrullah and Northern Dancer lines trace back to Carbine, as do all progeny of Sir Gallahad III, the champion son of Plucky Liege.

  Sir Gallahad III raced with great success in France and was the sire of three Kentucky Derby winners. He was the most influential stallion in the USA in the 20th century, being leading sire in 1930, 1933, 1934 and 1940, and leading broodmare sire in North America in 1939, then from 1943 to 1952 and again in 1955.

  Also out of Plucky Liege was the great Epsom Derby winner Bois Roussel, who started only three times for two wins and a third; his son, Delville Wood, was five times champion sire of Australia.

  Carbine died in 1914 at the ripe old age of 29 and his skeleton is on display at the Australian Racing Museum at Caulfield. His blood has been present in the pedigrees of more than 50 Melbourne Cup winners, including Makybe Diva.

  Phar Lap was Carbine’s great-great-grandson and had Musket on both sides of his pedigree. Sunline had Carbine on both sides of her pedigree, and Kingston Town had multiple Carbine and St Simon bloodlines.

  Wakeful (foaled 1896)

  A new century saw Australia become a nation, and our first truly national champion racehorse was the first female thoroughbred to achieve the position of ‘public hero number one’. Her name was Wakeful.

  It i
s true that two fillies, Briseis and Auraria, had won the Melbourne Cup in its first four decades and been much admired by the racing public, but neither of them achieved the true champion status and public adoration that was to be the lot of the mighty Wakeful. Indeed, the phrase ‘best since Wakeful’ was used by racing men all through the 20th century to describe great racing mares and fillies. The phrase ‘better than Wakeful’, however, was one you would never have heard used in that time, except in jest.

  Briseis and Auraria were champion three-year-old fillies whose careers were finished at four. Wakeful, on the other hand, did not race at all until her fifth year, when she won the Oakleigh Plate as a maiden at her third start.

  Wakeful’s story is a fascinating one, full of coincidence, good luck, victory in adversity and strange twists of fate, some of which occurred long before she was even foaled.

  Wakeful’s dam, Insomnia, was by the champion Robinson Crusoe, a great racehorse and a great sire. Winner of the 1876 AJC Derby, Robinson Crusoe, by Angler out of Chrysolite, was a grandson of the great imported sire Fisherman. He was owned by C.B. Fisher, who had neglected to name the horse before he won the Derby.

  It was not entirely unknown for horses to race unnamed in those days. The registration process was somewhat slower then and horses having their first few starts, or never racing at all, were often referred to merely by their breeding. Many pedigrees contain nameless unraced mares if you look back far enough. Robinson Crusoe would have appeared in the race book, or race card as it was then, as ‘brown colt by Angler from Chrysolite’.

  Having won the Derby, the colt was then sent to Melbourne for the Cup aboard the steamship City of Melbourne. This was the vessel from which nine horses, travelling to the Spring Carnival, were lost in a great storm; among them was Robin Hood, Etienne de Mestre’s champion and favourite for the Cup.