Indholdsfortegnelse for April 2024 i Turf Monthly

Mr Brightside is rightly claimed to be the best miler in Australia but his origins were far from the lofty heights that his racing career has taken him. He was sold as a yearling for $22000 but later passed in at the Ready To Run sales in NZ. He was later being sold for only $7750 on the online NZ sales platform Gavelhouse. The gelding had his first race start at Matamata in NZ over 1400m in a midweek maiden on 10 February 2021, finishing fifth behind a Complacent mare in Comme Bella Fille. The winner was to later make her way to Australia where she won two races in NSW. Mr Brightside’s debut was watched in Bangkok by punter and bloodstock agent Wayne Ormond who was impressed by the…

It seems though that the author of the article got the future for Lindbergh wrong. His Derby aspirations were essentially over when he resumed as a 3yo to be unplaced as an odds-on favourite in the Hobartville Stakes behind Pride of Egypt. Lindbergh continued on to the AJC Derby, in a campaign that saw him finish second behind Prince Cortauld in the Chelmsford, but could only finish a well-beaten seventh behind Prince Delville in the Derby. It is interesting that he continued racing, for in the modern era his 2yo campaigns would have seen him bundled off to stud as the next big 2yo sire. Lindbergh though was to race until a 7yo, winning the George Main Stakes over a mile that season. He had also The Shorts and Carrington…

Flying Fox was a full sister to Vane whose daughter, Lady Wayward II came to Australia to found a line that was to produce our feature horse this month in Mr Brightside. The stallion was raced and bred by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, the first Duke of Westminster. Flying Fox was to be the last champion owned by the Duke as he died at the end of 1899, coinciding with the close of the racing career of the colt. The Duke owned Eaton Stud and had remarkable success, with Flying Fox being the fourth in a great sire line developed at Eaton starting with the Derby winner, Bend Or, his son, the Triple Crown winner, Ormonde, dual Eclipse winner, Orme and ending with Flying Fox. Flying Fox was a son of…

Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.: 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 March 1937, page 21 Stud Notes by Sterling MUTABLE WHEN Mutable won the Australian Cup brilliantly on Saturday, March 6, most people were surprised that a son of Drake would be able to stay out a soundly run two miles and a quarter. Drake has been better known as a sire of sprinters rather than stayers, but in this case Mutable has proved the exception. He really is a soundly bred horse, and no doubt he obtains his staying blood from his dam, Varium. Bred by Mr. “S. A. Rawdon” at Toolamba, in the Goulburn Valley of Victoria, Mutable was sold as a yearling to W. J. Smart for 80 guineas. His dam, Varium, was bred in New Zealand, and raced by…

The story of the two brothers started when Geoff Murphy trained a Sovereign Edition mare called Taiona who won a maiden at Yarra Glen but was placed at both Caulfield and Flemington. Although not highly rated by Murphy, the connection was enough that when her first yearling went to market at the Waikato sales in 1979, it sparked his interest. The colt by Patrick Hogan’s new stallion Sir Tristram was purchased by Murphy for a meagre $5000 and even then, he had trouble finding potential owners. In time, Tom Maltby, Geoff Tobias, and Barry Wicks purchased equal shares in the colt. Trainer Geoff Murphy was born in 1926 in Bacchus Marsh, just outside Melbourne. With designs on a career as a jockey, Murphy became a stable hand for Ron Sweetenham,…

We were saddened to hear of the passing of Billy Camer, a top jockey of the 50’s and 60’s. While he was a master in the saddle, he never really got the recognition he deserved as he rode in what can only be described as a true golden era of Australian jockeys. Camer held his own against the likes of George Moore, Neville Sellwood, Athol Mulley and Ray Selkrig to name a few. Camer was considered one of the lightest jockeys ever to ride, starting off at 4 stone 2 pounds or roughly 26.2kg. He was the stable jockey for Jack Green in Sydney and rode his champion 2yo Kingster who won the AJC Breeders Plate and Sires Produce at that age. He was a son of Star Kingdom and…

Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW: 1953 - 1954), Sunday 25 April 1954, page 24 LINDBERGH MADE BY TRAINER Messrs. H. W. and N. H, Bishop’s b c LINDBERGH 2y, Transatlantic (imp) - Dare (H. Darwon). "FULL credit for Lindbergh’s development to become the two-year-old of the season must go to Randwick trainer Harry Barron. Lindbergh earned the title when he won the Champagne Stakes at Randwick last Wednesday, adding this race to his Sires' Produce Stakes win of the previous Saturday. He became the third two-year-old in history to take the three semi-classic races conducted by the A.J.C., the first of them being the Breeders' Plate last October. At that time, Darwon decided that Lindbergh would be set essentially for the Sires' Produce Stakes, no matter what happened in intervening races. He…

Gurner’s Lane is the older brother of Sovereign Red who was also sent to Geoff Murphy to train. He had been gelded after a paddock accident seemingly threatened his racing future. Named after a street in Melbourne, Gurner’s Lane was sold by Murphy to long time client, Andrew Ramsden, a future chairman of the VRC for a syndicate that he and his friend Tom Borthwick were organising along with forty members of the Australia Club in Melbourne. The syndicate paid $7500 for the gelding who was a windsucker still carrying the scar on his injured coronet. The gelding has his first race start as a 2yo on 17 February 1981 over 1000m at Moonee Calley, surprising a few by running second. After running third at Caulfield at his next start…