After a number of weeks of contentious discussion, we finally complete our lists of the best horses to race in Australia.
Who are the final horses to scrape into the list? Read the thoughts of Andrew Hawkins, Justin Cinque and Sheek below:
50. Andrew Hawkins – Briseis (b. 1873) 17/6/2/2 (35%)
Despite her limited career, if there’s one filly who can topple Surround as the best filly to race in Australia, it’s the hero of 1876 in Briseis.
What a filly.
She won the Doncaster Handicap as a two-year-old, with the feather weight of 35kg, while she added the All Aged Stakes later in the week.
First up for a spell in the spring, she won the Victoria Derby in Australian record time, before she came out and won the Melbourne Cup under the lightweight of 40kg.
Two days later, the VRC Oaks was added to her resume, and she remains the only filly to win the Victoria Derby, Melbourne Cup and Crown Oaks treble.
Remarkably, she was also ridden at most of her races by Peter St Albans, who was just 12 when she won the Melbourne Cup. He remains the youngest jockey to win the Cup.
50. Justin Cinque – Red Anchor (b. 1981) 14/9/4/1 (64%)
Red Anchor is the only horse in history to have won the Caulfield Guineas, Cox Plate and VRC Derby in history. As such, he ranks as one of the great three-year olds in Australian racing.
At two, he won the Champagne narrowly over 1600m but his career was over less than 12 months later when suspensory ligaments gave way.
In the spring of 1984 Red Anchor was a shining light at a time when Australian racing was searching for its next superstar.
Like so many great middle-distance champions, Red Anchor’s hallmark was the ability to churn out consecutive lung-burning sections in the latter part of a race.
Therefore a feature of many Red Anchor victories was the shellacking he gave the opposition in the last furlong of a race.
50. Sheek – Archer (b. 1856) Racing stats incomplete
Archer rounds out my top 50. He simply must be here as our first ‘modern’ champion, for want of a better word. Modern in the sense that he set the template for all champions who followed in the next 100 years or so.
He was obviously considered a very good horse because in the Melbourne Cup ‘the champion horse of NSW’ was allocated 60.5 kgs in 1861 and won again with 64.5 kgs the following year.
Only an administrative error with the submission of his nomination prevented Archer from most likely winning the first three Melbourne Cups.
49. Andrew Hawkins – Mahogany (b. 1990) 43/19/7/5 (44%)
I originally had Mahogany higher, and while I’ve dragged him right down the list, I feel he deserves a mention.
A Group 1 winner at two in Brisbane, he improved as a three-year-old, winning the Caulfield Guineas before an imperious display when winning the Victoria Derby by five lengths.
He came back in the autumn to win the Australian Guineas and AJC Derby.
However, it was as a sprinter that he was to make his mark, winning two editions of the Lightning Stakes.
If he’d raced a decade later, it is likely he would have taken Royal Ascot by storm, his proven stamina a help up the punishing Ascot straight.
Nevertheless, his greatest effort for mine was a beaten effort in the Cox Plate. He entered the race second up, having finished second to Jeune in the Craiglee Stakes, and only just failed to defeat Octagonal.
He ticks the boxes for versatility and longevity which I prize, and therefore deserves a place in this list.
49. Justin Cinque – Luskin Star (b. 1974) 17/13/3/0 (76%)
Luskin Star is the second best two-year old to race in Australia behind Todman.
‘The colossal colt from the coalfields’ is the only two-year-old Triple Crown winner to have gone on to win a Caulfield Guineas (Pierro went close last year when second to All Too Hard).
Like Pierro, Luskin Star also placed third in the Cox Plate. But no-one talks about Luskin Star the three-year-old.
They speak about the hulking colt that waltzed to a seven-length victory in race-record time in the 1977 Golden Slipper.
And they remember the Sires Produce when he smashed the Australian record (as a two-year-old!) for 1400m when winning by three lengths. And there’s also his six-length demolition of the Champagne.
Luskin Star then went to Queensland to claim the QTC Sires before winning what is now known as the JJ Aitkens (Group 1) over the mile beating the very good filly Gypsy Kingdom.
Australian breeding is geared towards producing another Luskin Star so it speaks volumes that no two-year-old has gotten close to the brilliance of this great Novocastrian in the 35 years since his retirement.
49. Sheek – Rain Lover (b.1964) 46/17/10/11 (37%)
It’s probably fair to say Rain Lover would not have won a second Melbourne Cup had Big Philou started. However, this should not detract from his obvious quality.
He was undoubtedly a champion stayer, winning two Melbourne Cups, the first by an amazing eight lengths, plus an Adelaide Cup.
He was an excellent weight-for-age performer, winning the mackinnon Stakes, CB Fisher Plate, two St.George Stakes and Queen’s Plates, VRC Queen Elizabeth (then wfa), Chipping Norton and Autumn Stakes, Craiglee and Underwood Stakes.
48. Andrew Hawkins – Bonecrusher (b. 1982) 44/18/5/11 (41%)
No matter what else he achieved in his career, Bonecrusher’s career is always marked by that memorable Cox Plate of 1986.
Who could forget it?
It was the Cox Plate where he took off with fellow Kiwi and second favourite Our Waverley Star at the 800m, prompting Bill Collins to remark, “Have they gone too early?”
It looked it, but somehow, both lifted off the canvas in an epic clash for the ages. After looking defeated, somehow Bonecrusher found a fifth wind to get up and defeat Our Waverley Star.
Without that victory, I doubt he would have ‘raced into equine immortality’ and into this list.
He won many other races – the New Zealand Derby, Tancred Stakes, AJC Derby, Underwood Stakes, Caulfield Stakes and a memorable Australian Cup win over At Talaq among his other victories.
But none compare to the 1986 Cox Plate.
48. Justin Cinque – High Caste (b. 1936) 72/35/19/7 (49%)
High Caste was a grand campaigner. He boasts a near one-in-two strike rate in a career spanning 72 starts.
High Caste won more than ten times at modern-day Group 1 level and claimed the now defunct CB Fisher Plate three times. If the CB Fisher was still around, there’s no doubt it would be a Group 1 race – it has a Cox Plate-like honour roll.
At two, High Caste won the VRC Sires and the Champagne. The following spring he claimed the Rosehill and Caulfield Guineas as well as the Ascot Vale and Caulfield Stakes.
As an older horse he won three Linlithgows and two St Georges, a Epsom with 59kgs and beat Ajax in the 1940 Caulfield Stakes.
Perhaps, a bit like Lonhro, High Caste suffers from not having won a major or a feature handicap (he did win an Epsom) because it’s not often that we hear of High Caste in the 21st century. He deserves more accolades.
48. Sheek – Miss Andretti (b.2001) 31/19/3/2 (61%)
Miss Andretti is worth a mention here for establishing five track records in Australia and England. Trainer Lee Freedman claimed she was on a par with Makybe Diva. High praise indeed.
Her major wins included the Newmarket handicap, Lightning Stakes, Royal Ascot King’s Stand Stakes and Prince of Wales Stakes (Perth).
47. Andrew Hawkins – Beau Zam (b. 1984) 28/11/5/2 (39%)
Quite clearly, I rate the mid-to-late 1980s quite a good era in racing.
I was tossing up between the Beaus – Beau Vite and Beau Zam – and I decided to go with Bart’s Beau Zam, mainly because I rate Bonecrusher so highly.
For mine, it is a shame that we never saw the best of Beau Zam. I think he could have beaten the best on his day.
He was an alright juvenile, winning two of his five starts including the Fernhill Handicap by four lengths.
In the spring of 1987, he won the Hill Stakes and the Spring Champion Stakes before running a remarkable second to mudlark Lord Reims in the Caulfield Cup after suffering interference midrace.
The run seemed to bottom him out and he failed in the Cox Plate and Victoria Derby.
But it was the autumn of 1988 where he came into his own, winning the Segenhoe (now Ranvet Stakes) by five lengths, the Tancred by five and a half lengths, the AJC Derby by a similar margin, and the AJC St Leger by almost 10 lengths.
The Tancred he won was the first international edition of the race, with the likes of Japan Cup winner Le Glorieux well beaten.
He then won the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, a special race at Canberra run for bicentenary celebrations, by a head from Bonecrusher with seven lengths to Dandy Andy.
Unfortunately, we never saw his best, but I have no doubt he could have won a Caulfield Cup, Melbourne Cup or Cox Plate on his day.
47. Justin Cinque – Takeover Target (b. 1999) 41/21/6/4 (51%)
The only (and therefore the best) winner of Grafton’s time-honoured Ramornie Handicap to make the top 50 is sprinter Takeover Target.
Takeover Target is remarkable for many reasons – his $1400 purchase price, his consistency over six seasons, including four consecutive wins in his last season at nine, and his performances on the world stage.
It’s the last point that gets Takeover Target into the top 50 – he won at Group level in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide, Perth, Singapore, Japan and England.
Takeover Target had a career full of highlights – Flemington dominance in the Salinger, Lightning and Newmarket as well as fighting victories at Royal Ascot and in Japan’s Sprinter’s Stakes.
My favourite Takeover Target wins were late in his career: against Apache Cat in the Winterbottom of 2008 – Is it the greatest race in Perth history? And in the TJ Smith at Randwick when as a nine-year old he beat our best sprinters.
Takeover Target was no Black Caviar but in some ways he was more remarkable.
47. Sheek – Bonecrusher (b.1982) 44/18/5/12 (41%)
Bonecrusher won a place in our hearts when he won the ‘race of the century’ – a gut-busting, nose-for-nose duel with Our Waverley Star down the short, tight straight of Moonee Valley in the 1986 Cox Plate.
Other wins included the Australian Cup, Caulfeld Stakes, Tancred Stakes (BMW), Australian Derby and Underwood Stakes.
46. Andrew Hawkins – Eurythmic (b. 1916) 43/22/3/4 (51%)
Perhaps this is one horse I should have ranked higher, but it is too late to change now.
It’s a close battle between him and Northerly to decide the best galloper to emerge from Western Australia, and while I’m not a huge Northerly fan, it was the fact I could actually see his races for myself that saw him ranked higher.
Eurythmic’s record reads impressively. Wins in the Karrakatta Plate, WATC Derby, Cox Stakes, WATC ST Leger and a dead heat victory in the Perth Cup read well, but like Northerly, it was in the east that he demonstrated his talent.
He won three Caulfield Stakes and three Memsies, as well as two Mackinnons, a Caulfield Cup, a Sydney Cup and a Futurity Stakes under the equivalent of 67kg.
Quite the record, even during a weaker period of racing.
46. Justin Cinque – Strawberry Road (b. 1979) 45/17/7/7 (38%)
Strawberry Road is our greatest performer on the world stage. As a younger horse in Australia he won the Rosehill Guineas, AJC and Queensland Derbies, Freeway (now Manikato Stakes over 1200m) and Cox Plate.
In Europe he won famous races including Germany’s best race – the Grosser Preis von Baden at Baden Baden and the Grand Prix de Saint Cloud in France.
As a result, Strawberry Road finds himself in the middle of some of Europe’s most esteemed honour rolls.
In the US he finished a close second to the great Darley mare Pebbles in the Breeder’s Cup Turf and won, at seven, the Grade 1 that is now known as the Kilroe Mile Handicap at Santa Anita.
Amazingly, Strawberry Road is still considered the victim of a bad ride in the 1984 Arc de Triomphe when he finished a tiring fifth.
Australian horses are increasingly found competing on the world stage but no horse has done as much as Strawberry Road – our greatest world star.
46. Sheek – Mountain King (b.1904) 21/12/2/1 (57%)
Mountain King followed Poseidon a season later and compares very favourably with that other champion of more than a century ago.
He was yet another ‘whistler’ forced to retire early due breathing problems. But his record was outstanding until health problems intervened.
Mountain King won both AJC and VRC Derbies and St Legers, the VATC Futurity Stakes and AJC All Aged Stakes, AJC Craven Plate and beat Poseidon in the CB Fisher Plate. He also ran third in the Melbourne Cup as a three-year-old.
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Here is our composite list, the Roar’s top 50, as compiled by Sheek:
1. Carbine 150 (max. score)
2. Tulloch 146
3. Phar Lap 145
4. Kingston Town 141
5. Wakeful 134
6. Bernborough 132
7. Black Caviar 127
8. Ajax 126
9. Manikato 123
10. Makybe Diva 122
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11. Vain 120
12. Rising Fast 113
13. Peter Pan 111
14. Malua 103
15. Sunline 102
16. Todman 101
17. Might And Power 94
18. Tobin Bronze 93
19. Gloaming 87
20. Poseidon 86
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21. So You Think 85
22. Galilee 84
22. Gunsynd 84
24. Shannon 82
25. Sky High 76
26. Chatham 73
27. Crisp 71
28. The Barb 67
28. Eurythmic 67
30. Grand Flaneur 62 (2/3 votes)
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31. Super Impose 60
32. Redcraze 58
33. Tranquil Star 56
34. Dulcify 55
35. Northerly 54
36. Octagonal 51
37. Saintly 39
38. Surround 35
39. Amounis 34 (2/3 votes)
40. Better Loosen Up 30 (2/3 votes)
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41. Flight 27
42. Vo Rogue 24 (2/3 votes)
43. Strawberry Road 21 (2/3 votes)
=44. Heroic 19 (1/3 votes)
=44. Wenona Girl 19 (2/3 votes)
46. Dalray 18 (1/3 votes)
47. Delta 17 (1/3 votes)
48. Comic Court 16 (1/3 votes)
=49. Lonhro 14 (2/3 votes)
=49. Bonecrusher 14 (2/3 votes)
Others to poll votes are: Takeover Target (13), Beau Vite (7), Manfred (7), Let’s Elope (6), Mountain King (5), Beau Zam (4), Miss Andretti (3), High Caste (3), Rain Lover (2), Luskin Star (2), Mahogany (2), Archer (1), Red Anchor (1), Briseis (1)
dp robertson
Roar Rookie
Obviously this list is before Winx but there are some glaring omissions. Gloaming should be higher, Windbag is omitted, where the hell is Gothic whom Pike claimed was the greatest horse he rode after Phar Lap? Considering he is one of the very few dual winners of the Newmarket and winner of the Futurity-Newmarket double probably should be in the Hall of Fame. Archer would have won a third Melbourne Cup but for the VRC. Delta only won a Melbourne Cup because Morse Code fell, so would Delta still be on this list without a Melbourne Cup? Heroic is no where to be seen on this list and probably would have cleaned up in the 1924 Spring carnival had in to been for disqualification due to Purser. Then there are great three year olds that should be taken into consideration such as Prince Foote, Artilleryman and Strephon.
tony nemaric
Guest
Mr Sheek's comments about Big Philou being a certainty in the Melbourne Cup won by Rain Lover, had he started flies in the face of what horse racing is all about. Or, putting it another way, please come to the track with me and pick me all the winners. You make is sound so ridiculously simple. For my part, I find it hard to pick 'em. Big Philou recovered from his nobbling and came back full fitness. I recall him running fourth in a subsequent Caulfield Cup, to Gay Icarus, Igloo, and Gunsynd. How's that for a start studded line up. Big Philou ran in the Sydney Cup and one of his main rivals was Rain Lover. Rain Lover proved the better horse of the two by beating Big Philou over the two miles. Try again Mr. Sheek
tony nemaric
Guest
The problem with selecting the greatest racehorses, whether they be international or Australian, is that different horses specialise in different distances. e.g. if Black Caviar and Frankel had competed, what would have been the distance? When Brigadier Gerard beat Mill Reef, for example, the mile was The Brigadier's pet distance. It would be better to nominate the best sprinters, the best milers, best middle distance horses, best stayers, and best steeplechasers. Also one could even argue that a separate category for mares be included. Finally, the category for best all-rounder could throw up some suprising names, e.g. Comic Court. For what it is worth, the best sprinter might indeed have been Black Caviar, miler Super Impose, middle distance horse, Kingston Town or Winx, stayer, Makybe Diva, jumper Crisp, and so on. The best mare may have been Wakeful, And surely there is a special category for Might and Power and Rising Fast the only horses to have won the Cox Plate, the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, the latter in a span of 17 days. Perhaps there also should be another category for Australian racehorses which won big overseas. And another category for the most overrated horses, and another for the most underrated. These lists could be endless!
Daryl Brant
Guest
I know that there is a lot of really good horses over 200 years or so but I'm surprised that Placid Arc didn't get a mention. Where do you rate this quality sprinter?
Justin Cinque
Expert
Hi Cate, Schillaci would've absolutely made my top 75. Leilani wasn't in my calculations. Two grand horses and it goes to show 1. how hard this task was 2. just how good a horse had to be to make our top 50 I think towards the end, I began to show a bit more bias towards horses from the modern era which probably worked again Leilani but it did mean that Schillaci was up there. I can't stress enough how hard a task this was.
Cate
Guest
What about Leilani and Schillachi??
Floyd Calhoun
Guest
James, look out for Gold Edition's colt by Street Cry. Sept 2012. Kevin O'Brien is hoping to use GE as the cornerstone of his Laurieston breeding facility. Might produce another Zenyatta, who knows?
Cameron
Roar Guru
...
James
Guest
Good to see Miss Andretti getting a mention, one of my favourite horses was the QLD mare Gold Edition and that pair used to square off in virtual match races in some of our feature sprints. Miss Andretti always just had the edge over Gold Edition however both were top class. Just to show how good Black Caviar was I heard Lee Freedman say once that Miss Andretti wouldn't have held a candle to her and that is serious praise because Miss Andretti was a great in her own right.
Drew H
Guest
Winners are grinners. Good call mike. I backed Mustard at big odds when it won. It's a champion. I backed Grant Ace over the jumps. Top jumps jockey. I backed Colin Hayes - Brent Thomson duo to the end. You champion$$$ (you listed Dulcify - huge Cox Plate win but sad story) Will there be a top 50 owners list formed? ie. not owners of stables, sales yards etc. or is that that inevitable.
mike from tari
Guest
My 50 best horses of all time are the ones I won a lot of money on, Galilee, Family of Man, Gunsynd, Triton & the midweeker in Sydney that I cant remember its name but I won a Motza on.
sheek
Roar Guru
Ah shucks.....
Alfred Chan
Expert
Great series Gentleman. When can I find the book at all local bookstores?
Geoff Parkes
Expert
Gentlemen, hats off to you all for what has been a wonderful series. An impossible task really to compare across different eras like that, but a very good job of it all the same. Nice to see Takeover Target get a mention, even if he just missed the top 50 by a whisker. Racing needs more rags to riches stories like that.
sheek
Roar Guru
It's pleasing that the net was cast wider in the final round. Andrew, Justin & I have acknowledged 64 different horses in our individual selection of 50 horses each. They are all deserving of a 'Mention in Dispatches' - MID.
Justin Cinque
Expert
You are In Top Swing Drew H.
Drew H
Guest
These lists show more about 'society times' rather than great horses. (items of account) We're currently in post EI era. My gut feeling is that we will soon be in Hendra Freeze. The status of current standing sires like Casino Prince are reminders of many missed opportunities. I Plagiarize many Gold Editions published but Mentality is Pure Energy. We're all Reigning To Win but sometimes the Court Command stops us. A Takeover Target funded from Boom Time Savings has not produced Sequential Charm of Tinkler's Falaise. Gerry goes Down The Wicket and makes an Empires Choice. It's All Too Hard but Letmeentertainyou because that Excites me. We will all Dance On Board again while I hold My Middi close to me. Here We Go, shave off the Five O'Clock Shadow, Recapitalize, even if it is a bit Hairy at the moment, or else I might go home because I Miss Finland. Everything is a double reflection, like Mirror Mirror effect. I'm Splashing Out on a holiday under the Montana Sunset in fear of a Sniper's Bullet, yet I liked the Fashions Afield, like Miss Andretti, a real Nova Star. Here De Angels brought out Nediym's Glow. Equine Influenza can never be repaired for many players. There is a hole in the industry now. The glass is half empty.