Phar Lap
Famous for: winning 36 races from fifty starts in Australia, including the 1930 Melbourne Cup, before going to the United States in 1932. There he won North America’s richest race, the $US100,000 Agua Caliente Handicap, in track record time.
Did you know….that Phar Lap died of colic, probably caused by mouldy feed, sixteen days after his Agua Caliente victory.?
He’s kewl because…..he was so good that Australians are still claiming him as one of their own!
Carbine
Famous for: setting a weight-carrying record of 10 stone five pounds (almost 66 kg) when he won the 1890 Melbourne Cup in race record time.
Did you know…..that Carbine’s (stuffed) head can still be seen in the Racing Museum at Ellerslie Racecourse, Auckland?
He’s kewl because….his son Spearmint, grandson Spion Kop and great-grandson Felstead all won the English Derby.
Tulloch
Famous for: being the first horse in Australia to win £200,000 in prizemoney and winning the Victoria, Queensland and Australian Derbys, and the Caulfield Cup in Australasian record time.
Did you know….that his owner scratched him from the 1957 Melbourne Cup because he didn’t want to break Tulloch’s heart?
He’s kewl because….despite a sway back and an illness that kept him away from racing for two years he became a turf legend.
Sunline
Famous for: being Australasia’s all-time leading stake-earner with more than $A11 million, being rated the world champion female performer of 2000 and for winning 31 top-class races in three countries as a two-, three-, four-, five- and six-year-old.
Did you know….Sunline is related to Phar Lap? She’s descended from a full-sister to ‘Big Red’.
She’s kewl because….she liked to do things her way, and she loved to run in front.
Sir Patrick Hogan
Famous for: standing champion sires Sir Tristram and his son Zabeel, and selling a yearling for $3.6 million.
Did you know…..that some of his fellow shareholders in Sir Tristram didn’t like the horse and sold their shares?
Sir Patrick’s kewl because….he stuck with Sir Tristram and changed the face of New Zealand breeding.
Jeanette Broome
Famous for: breeding the winners of two of the world’s most famous races - the Aintree Grand National (Seagram, 1991) and the Melbourne Cup (Jezabeel, 1998).
Did you know….that Jezabeel was sold as yearling for only $26,000, effectively a loss for her breeder, and then won more than $2 million for her owners?
She’s kewl because….she reminds us that small breeders can breed terrific horses too.