Innehållsförteckning för December 2022 från Turf Monthly

December sees another year about to come to a close, and another Spring for us to reflect upon. It might be a personal bias, but apart from the win of Anamoe in the Cox Plate, the Spring has been something of a disappointment. It is hard to see many of the horses that have won going on to become household names. The Spring throughout history has been the carnival that, more than any other, has seen the birth of the true Champions. Anamoe confirmed his place among the best after overcoming last year’s disappointment. I was excited to see the Irish horse, Deauville Legend start a short-priced favourite and he looked the most impressive formline in the race, only to see him fail to overcome the difficulties of travelling to…

1999 CAULFIELD GUINEAS The 1999 Caulfield Guineas is one of those races that will live forever in the memories of those who were there to watch it. Redoute’s Choice was a champion colt and he was the hot favourite. Like all great races, it takes two to tango and Testa Rossa was the Magic Millions winner who had his own loyal following. He also had a good record against Redoute’s Choice and the battle between the two did not disappoint. We tend to forget that it was a pretty good field, and apart from the top two, the next eight runners finished within three lengths of each other. There were some pretty good ones among them, and if you have a look down the breeding of the runners, I am…

Dagworth and Reprieve are two sons who set Yattendon on the road to stud success. Both were bred by McEvilly while Yattendon was still racing, with Dagworth being foaled in 1868. It was interesting that they raced in a time when country racing was an even more important piece of Australian thoroughbred life. Country clubs would offer rich races that attracted some of the best horses. Dagworth did not race until January of his 3yo season and was beaten into third behind Prodigal in a mile and a half (2400m) maiden at Goulbourn. His next start was not until the AJC meeting at Randwick in April where at only his second race start, he finished fourth of five runners in the AJC St Leger. Three days later he was beaten…

The new Caulfield Cup winner is another imported stayer to have taken one of our great races. The Caulfield Cup has not necessarily the race that stands out for the imports, as they run the risk of incurring a penalty for the Melbourne Cup. Still, the Japanese horses have had a good record with wins by Mer De Glace and Admire Rakti within the last decade. As far as the Europeans go, Best Solution won in 2018, while Dunaden and All The Good are among the more recent winners. Few can forget the win by Taufan’s Melody in 1998 which was one of the more controversial winners of our time, although of course in TURF MONTHLY we have written about some outstanding long-forgotten scandals. The first British winners of the…

Yattendon’s racing career came to an end within a few weeks of the death of Walter McEvilly who passed away on 16 October 1867 in rather odd circumstances. Shortly beforehand, the southern extension of the railway line to Bowral had been completed. To mark the occasion, local member, John Morrice MLA had arranged a picnic at his country estate at Sutton Forest. McEvilly joined over a hundred distinguished guests that included most of the NSW Assembly on the Saturday morning trip. The guests were met with a generous spread upon arrival, and allegedly much wine was consumed. Whether that had anything to do with what was to transpire is another story, but McEvilly, in good spirits, challenged another guest to a race up the embankment. Arriving at the top, the…

Reprieve was one of Yattendon’s early success stories. He was bred in 1868 by EK Cox of Fernhill Stud out of a mare called Gazelle by Magus. He traced back to a mare called Lady Emily who was one of the earliest thoroughbred imports into Australia arriving alongside a stallion called Whisker. Reprieve was raised on the property of William Cosgrove at Monaro in whose colours he was to race. He was trained early by Matt McAlister, one of two popular brothers in the Wagga region. Reprieve made his first racetrack appearance as a 4yo in the heyday of Country racing. His first start was in the 1872 Wagga Free Handicap, a race that was run the first time the year before over two miles. The following year, 1873, the…

Apart from Walter McEvilly, there is one other man whose name became synonymous with Australian racing and breeding through his association with Yattendon. That was Edward King Cox of Fernhill near Penrith. He was born at Mulgoa on 28 June 1829 and a grandson of Lieutenant William Cox and the eldest son of Edward Cox MLC. His father had built Fernhill, a grand single storey sandstone house in 1842. His father also owned sheep stations at Rawdon in Rylstone near Mulgoa and also leased runs on the Namoi River. In 1852, in the company of his brother James, Edward travelled to England to further study sheep breeding, inspecting the best flocks throughout Europe. It was there that he also took the opportunity to visit both Newmarket and Doncaster to see…

This article was published in the Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 5, 1974 online in 2006 Walter O'Malley McEvilly (1820-1867), parliamentary librarian, was born in County Mayo, Ireland. As a labourer who could read and write he was tried on 24 March 1840 at Tipperary for forgery and sentenced to seven years' transportation. He reached Sydney on 17 August in the King William. On 23 February 1841 he was transferred from the Hyde Park barracks to the Legislative Council offices as doorkeeper and paid the usual rate of 1s. 9d. a day. He petitioned for a ticket-of-leave; granted on 25 January 1844 it was replaced by a government ticket on 22 March. In that year he signed a petition to the Queen against the exclusion of 63 Catholics from the…