Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Turf Monthly

Truth (Sydney, NSW : 1894 - 1954), Sunday 4 March 1951, page 18 Stable followers made a colossal clean-up … WHEN REVENUE WON THE CUP In this narrative of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups of 1901, the actual running of the races is not dealt with, for that has been written and discussed from every possible angle. This story deals solely with the happenings which led up to the famous Revenue coup— the most sensational and successful betting proposition ever effected in connection with Australian racing to that date, and for long after. LOOKING down the long line of winners of the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, one's mind is often stirred by memories of incidents associated with many of the contests for those great races. And if it does not…

There are a couple of reasons to look at Denise’s Joy this month. Firstly, John Singleton has recently dispersed his Strawberry Hills property which was purchase by Coolmore, as well as his lovely broodmare band. Many trace to Denise’s Joy which was one of his foundation mares of his breeding empire. The other reason to talk about the mare was that she won the 1977 Underwood Stakes. Denise’s Joy was a wonderful racehorse, winning at Group level between 1400m to 2500m. She won the VRC and Queensland Oaks in addition to the WA Derby at three. And, of course, there was a Breeder’s Plate, and a Turnbull Stakes in addition to her Underwood Stakes win. With racetrack performances like this, surely she would have been one of the highest priced…

Alligator Blood won the Underwood Stakes in September. It was the gelding’s second victory in the race, and he joined an elite group of thirteen horses who have won the race more than once. Included in the list are such horses as Ajax, Whittier, Hall Mark, and more recently Northerly and Black Heart Bart. Black Heart Bart was interesting in that while Northerly and Alligator Blood won the race in consecutive years, Black Heart Bart quite amazingly had a three year break between 2016 and 2019 for his wins. Alligator Blood is something of an enigma in Australian racing, overcoming a number of obstacles to perform at the highest level. The gelding had been bred by Gerry Harvey by All Too Hard out of his Encosta De Lago mare, Lake…

With this being the 100th anniversary of Bitalli’s remarkable Melbourne Cup win, it is worth at least a brief comment on the gelding. We have mentioned him in the past as it is such a unique story of how he had only two runs for his new owner, winning the Adelaide Tattersall’s Cup before going into the Melbourne Cup without another run. He was backed from 100/1 in to start favourite for the Cup but the connections placed a large series of small bets that many bookies were unaware of the commitment for some time. In fact, it was reported that connections had coupled Bitalli with a host of runners in the Caulfield Cup doubles to win a rumoured £30,000. Bitalli was a son of October, a stallion who was…

This year marks 100 years since the remarkable performance of Frances Tressady in winning the 1923 VRC Derby and Oaks double. Yet her name rarely is to be seen among any list of our great racehorses. There are likely plenty of reasons that the mare lives in relative obscurity, with not the least being that her wins after that Spring were few. For me, it is the knowledge that she beat the legendary Drongo, thereby relegating a wonderful horse to a future of scorn. Without that victory, perhaps Australian culture would have been changed markedly. Nonetheless, she had a remarkable career and one that is worth remembering so many years later. Frances Tressady was owned by AG Barlow who raced under the pseudonym AG Vauxhall, and originally trained by Fred…