Racing royalty retired: A tribute to the elegant Guelph

I love racing and I love a great horse. Guelph, one of my all-time favourite fillies, will be retired in the next few days.

It’s another early retirement in Australian racing – Guelph is only a three-year-old – but this one is easy to reconcile. I think Darley might have pulled the right rein here.

I only knew Guelph for 14 months but it’s been an enjoyable time. I first saw her on Australia Day 2013 at the races at Warwick Farm. As soon as I spotted her in the mounting yard, a two-year-old having her second start, I fell in love.

You often hear racing people talk about ‘conformation’. Essentially, it’s a word to describe the build of a horse.

Wikipedia gives a great definition – “Equine conformation evaluates the degree of correctness of a horse’s bone structure, musculature, and its body proportions in relation to each other.”

I haven’t seen a horse with a better conformation than Guelph. She’s equipped with a beautiful deep girth and a massive pair of haunches.

She’s always been a large filly but not so big that her size would become a liability. She was built for power and built perfectly.

In an era of Australian racing where so many good horses have been cruelled by injury, it is no surprise that Guelph – the most physically correct of them all – never spent time on the sidelines.

Guelph is also the name of a Canadian city. I only found out on Saturday that it’s nicknamed ‘The Royal City’, fitting because Guelph is racing royalty.

Her father Exceed And Excel is one of the hottest sires in the country, but the royalty lies on her dam side. Guelph’s half-brother Ghibellines (the Guelphs and Ghibellines were two factions in German and Italian politics in the Middle Ages) won the Todman Stakes (1200m, Group 2, two-year-olds) on Saturday and is one of the best two-year-olds in the country.

Guelph’s mother Camarilla was an outstanding filly. She won the 2007 Sires Produce (1400m, Group 1, two-year-olds), a race Guelph would claim in 2013. Camarilla’s career (13 starts) lasted one race less than Guelph’s, and like Guelph, she was retired at three.

Camarilla’s dam was Camarena, the winner of the 1999 Queensland Derby (2400m, Group 1, three-year-olds) against the boys.

Camarena is a daughter of Danehill, one of the most influential sires in the history of Australian breeding.

In short, Guelph’s pedigree is outstanding. It’s not too dissimilar to that of Black Caviar, whose pedigree is also dotted with notable horses.

The similarities between Guelph and Black Caviar don’t end there. In the 2013 William Reid Stakes (1200m, Group 1, weight-for-age), Black Caviar’s last race in Victoria, she was described beautifully by the Melbourne race-caller Greg Miles.

“[T]his is brutal power wrapped in an elegant machine,” was his description as Black Caviar coasted to victory. That could describe Guelph’s greatest moments on the racetrack too.

On the day Black Caviar raced for the last time, Guelph made her mark. In the Sires Produce Stakes at Randwick, the race that made her mother, Guelph dismantled a field that included the top two-year-old in the country, Overreach.

When Guelph passed nine horses in the last 300m to win the Champagne (1600m, Group 1, two-year-olds) by a nose a fortnight later – meaning she had won the last two legs of the Australian juvenile Triple Crown – she ascended to the top of the nation’s juvenile ranks.

After that Champagne victory, in April 2013 and four months shy of her third birthday, I earmarked Guelph as a Cox Plate (2040m, Group 1, weight-for-age) filly. Only one filly has won the Cox Plate – Surround in 1976.

Guelph returned in the spring a more seasoned racehorse. Her brilliance – the cornerstone of her victory in the Sires Produce – began to slowly fade away.

Guelph was developing into an outstanding miler. Speed, stamina and powerful victories defined her domination of the spring fillies’ features.

She sat wide and exposed for the whole way in the Flight Stakes (1600m, Group 1, three-year-old fillies) at Randwick, her favourite track, in October. Her marvellous attitude and fantastic conformation helped her to a soft victory despite a tough run.

I always felt Guelph’s easygoing nature would help her handle the pressure of racing against the older horses in big Group 1s like the Cox Plate, but she never got her chance.

After the Thousand Guineas (1600m, Group 1, three-year-olds) when she led all the way for an easy kill, Guelph had claimed four Group 1s.

She had won them from midfield (Sires Produce), from near last (Champagne), wide and exposed (Flight) and from the lead (Thousand Guineas). She was practically bombproof.

I argued that she should have been given her chance in the Cox Plate. Sometimes, in racing, it’s best to strike when the iron is hot.

Our weight-for-age ranks are not strong at a middle distance and I was convinced a three-year-old could win the Cox Plate. Instead, Guelph went for a spell, paving the way for Shamus Award – a three-year-old who had not even won one race beforehand, a maiden – to claim the Cox Plate.

According to Darley, Guelph had big fish to fry in the autumn and after a massive 2013, she had earned her break. She had!

But in the autumn of 2014 she didn’t return the same horse. Her dwindling acceleration had almost left her completely by the time she raced first-up at Randwick in February. Over 1200m, she was a very average sixth.

Then at Warwick Farm, in my heart, I knew the Guelph I loved was never going to return. Against fillies she had belted in the spring, Guelph could only finish eighth over 1400m – her second-favourite distance behind the mile.

Before that day, whenever I gave Guelph a cheer – usually at the 300m mark – she would respond by giving a big kick. Of course she couldn’t hear me, but she always delivered at the right time. It’s what all good horses do.

In that race at Warwick Farm, the Surround Stakes (Group 2, three-year-old fillies), Guelph began to tire just as I cheered. Pre-race she had looked as beautiful as always – big, strong and healthy. But this wasn’t the same horse.

On Saturday at Rosehill in the Phar Lap Stakes (1500m, Group 2, three-year-olds) it was D-Day. Guelph had to fire one of her best shots to avoid having the curtains drawn. Once again, she paraded in outstanding health; an absolute picture to watch.

She was headed at the 400m mark. Her acceleration – 12 months ago a great strength – had now become her biggest weakness. To her credit she fought her way back into the contest by the 200m mark. There was hope!

But again, she tired late, finishing third behind two horses who will probably never get close to the heights Guelph scaled.

Guelph won seven times in 14 starts, collecting $1.6m in the process. She won four Group 1s, a Group 2 and a Group 3. I was lucky enough to be at the races for eight of her starts, in which she won three Group 1s and five races overall.

Guelph won’t go down as one of the greats. She never beat the older horses, or even one great horse, but she was never given the chance. It’s a fair knock on the filly, but no-one can take away her four Group 1 victories or her great looks.

Guelph will go to the breeding barn now. When the next Cox Plate is run in late October 2014, she’ll be an expectant mother. When that little racehorse is born, probably in August 2015, it will be racing royalty.

If Guelph can pass on just half of her class to her progeny, she’ll be a star as a broodmare. And it’s how it should be. She’s a filly I won’t soon forget.