Innehållsförteckning för June 2021 från Turf Monthly

Marchioness was an important mare for Hurtle Fisher as she had won the 1855 Epsom Oaks. It was a remarkable effort to get such a well performed mare to Australia. Perhaps it does indicate just some of the level of wealth that the Fisher family had accrued. She was to prove an excellent broodmare and was also brought to Australia in foal to the great Stockwell. That foal was to be called Rose Of Denmark and she was to become a remarkable broodmare in her own right. Her first foal by Boiardo was called Florence and she won the 1870 AJC Australia Derby, Champagne Stakes, VRC Oaks and Derby and the 1871 Queensland Derby. Rose Of Denmark produced Hamlet by Maribyrnong, the son of Fisherman who won eight stakes races…

Highland was bred at Canning Downs near Warwick in Qld by Mrs JHS Barnes, who raced the colt in her own colours for the beginning of his career. He started off in great fashion by winning the Hopeful Stakes at Eagle Farm. He beat a field of 24 despite being unfancied at 20/1 and he narrowly got home with the official margins being a head by a head. Highland was to have seven runs as a twoyear-old, but was not to win again, although he did finish third in the Claret Stakes. As a 3yo, he started off his campaign by finishing second in the Queensland Guineas before failing in the Derby at his second start. Back to shorter journeys he was to win at both Albion Park and Eagle…

Our cover picture this month is the remarkable Winx. Winx, as we saw, is another horse who would never have existed without the influence of the great breeder, Hurtle Fisher. The Fisher influence might be a little obscure, but it does not make it any less important. We see that her female line traces back to an incredibly important NZ bred mare in Stepdancer. Stepdancer was a daughter of Stepniak. That stallion won four stakes races from distances from 4 furlongs (800m) to 18 furlongs (3600m) in NZ in the Canterbury Welcome Stakes, Canterbury Cup, Derby and Steward's Handicap. Stepniak was a son of Nordenfeldt, by Musket and tracing to the Hurtle Fisher imported mare, Juliet. There are few racing fans throughout the world that are not familiar with the…

Ammon Ra was another NZ horse that made his mark on Australian racing. He was a precocious 2yo even though he was beaten at his first start over 5 furlongs on 1 December 1930. Ammon Ra won his next start over 6 furlongs on Boxing Day, and then won his next three starts before coming to Australia. His first local start was in the AJC Sires’ Produce and the NZ form more than held up when he scored a dominant two length win as the even money favourite beating Johnnie Jason. He then suffered his second defeat, this time running third behind Burwood when an odds-on favourite in the Champagne Stakes to end his 2yo season. Returning as the 3yo, the boom gelding cemented his position as one of the…

Think Big holds an interesting place in Australian racing history. He is one of only five horses to have won the Melbourne Cup more than once, but in many ways is the most unpopular of all. In 1974 he beat the glamour mare Leilani to again give his trainer Bart Cummings a quinella in the race, and in the following year he started at 33/1 after moderate form leading up to the race. Rather surprisingly the gelding had his first start as an early 2yo, on 23 September 1972. He was to stay in training until March 1973 although he raced only eight times in that period. His only win came in a 2yo handicap at Cheltenham in Adelaide when carrying only 50kg. On the strength of this win, his…

Juliet was by Touchstone out of the Tomboy mare, Lancashire Witch. She had produced three offspring before coming to Australia, but they had little impact. She was in foal to Stockwell when she arrived and produced a chestnut filly in Australia that was to be called Chrysolite. We have discussed Chrysolite to some extent as the dam of the wonderful Robinson Crusoe, but her impact extended much further. She was to prove a good racehorse, winning the SA St Leger in 1964. She was to produce four stakes-winners in total. Her first was Lapidist, interestingly a son of Fireworks, and he won the Ascot Vale Stakes as a 2yo, the VRC Derby and the VRC Town Plate. He was sent to stud in Tasmania where he did produce four stakes…

While many might be surprised that Galilee raced as a 2yo, his first start was the very last day of the season on 31 July 1965 when he ran second in a Gawler maiden over 6 furlongs. After two unplaced runs, Galilee broke his maiden in a Transition Handicap at Cheltenham over 7 furlongs starting at 7/4 favourite. His next eight runs in Adelaide saw him win six more races, and run two seconds, culminating in wins in the Listed City Of Adelaide Handicap over 8 furlongs and the Birthday Cup over 10 furlongs in March 1966 before a well-deserved spell. Galilee came back with two unplaced runs over 5 furlongs at home in Adelaide before his first trip to Melbourne. Here he won his first start over 8 furlongs…

The NZ bred colt was by Night Raid out of the Martian mare, Marsa. Marsa’s dam was Nantes, a daughter of Stepniak who was in turn the son of Nordenfeldt, the grandson of Chrysolite. Nantes was a quality broodmare in her own right, producing four stakes-winners in Artillerie, CJC Oaks and dual VATC Caulfield Stakes winner, Nanna who won the Railway and Telegraph Stakes in NZ, Prim who won the Christchurch Metropolitan and Dunedin Cup, and Marsa who herself won both the Invercargill and Timaru Cups. Nightmarch had an inauspicious start to his career, finishing unplaced in his first three starts as a 2yo in Dunedin before winning a Juvenile Handicap over 5 furlongs on 27 December 1927. A third in the Champagne Stakes over 6 furlongs followed before he…

The grand old warhorse retired in 2012, having first started racing way back in 2001. In the modern thoroughbred world, which sees plenty of young horses barely make it to their 3yo season, it is worth looking a little more closely at the career, and pedigree, of the former black type winner, Mustard. He retired having raced 131 times for 17 wins and 30 placings. His total prizemoney was $811,617. Mustard won four stakes races in the G3 STC Concorde and Star Kingdom Stakes and the Listed AJC Razor Sharp Handicap, and STC Maurice McCarten Stakes. He raced against horses like Pimpala Player, Shags, Impaler, Gullcatcher, Academe, Jetspur and even Murphy’s Blu Boy. Mustard also faced off against one of the great Australian sprinters in Takeover Target, most notably when…