With Asfoora again in the news crowned European Champion Sprinter (the third Australian horse awarded that honour) in the prestigious Cartier Awards, it is timely to take a look at some of the other great performances by Australian horses on the international stage; memories of four fabulous home grown (and one rather famous Kiwi) globetrotters…
BETTER LOOSEN UP
A horse with pedigree links to Asfoora – his dam Better Fantasy being the third dam of Asfoora’s sire Flying Artie – Better Loosen Up enjoyed one of the most successful campaigns of all time; his oh so memorable spring of 1990.
Kicking off with a fourth in the Liston Stakes, the David Hayes trained galloper decided from thereon that he really didn’t like the taste of defeat and he went through the rest of that preparation undefeated.
The Feehan Stakes, the Turnbull Stakes, the W.S Cox Plate and the Mackinnon Stakes were all at his mercy though that stellar form was not enough to see him respected by punters as he headed to Fuchu racecourse to contest the Japan Cup which the year before had been won in record time by the New Zealand mare Horlicks.
Even decades later watching a replay accompanied by Bryan Martin’s emotionally proud call brings a lump to the throat!
“Better Loosen Up in the middle is coming with a magnificent run… Better Loosen Up in the middle has put his head in front, Better Loosen Up has won for Australia… we’ve done it, we’ve taken the Cup!”
Passing away at Living Legends in 2016 at the age of 30, Better Loosen Up was an ambassador for Australian racing with David Hayes noting that “Better Loosen up never shirked an issue at any time and he gave the world a wonderful insight into how good our racing was in Australia.”
CHOISIR
Due to contest the Singapore International Sprint that Northerly’s half-brother North Boy had won the previous year, the burly chestnut Choisir had his 2003 plans diverted when a SARS outbreak shut that city down.
Having had horses run competitively in the big Hong Kong races, Paul Perry noted that the UK sprinting form lines were not as strong as Australia’s and with Choisir recording one of best wins down the famous Flemington straight (the Lightning Stakes), Royal Ascot looked a pretty good option.
Big odds were on offer for Choisir in the King’s Stand Stakes but he soon had the race in control with the caller noting that “Choisir the Australian sprinter going like the wind out in front… the Aussie is going to do it, what a famous victory!”
It was quite the future stallion trifecta that day, Choisir defeating Acclamation and Oasis Dream who have both made their mark on the breed.
Four days later adding the Golden Jubilee Stakes to his record, Choisir saw out his career with a July Cup second to Oasis Dream enroute to an excellent stud career with 12 Group 1 winners amongst his 103 stakes winners.
And one of those, Starspangledbanner (the first Australian crowned European Champion Sprinter), would reiterate his sire’s Royal Ascot success seven years later also taking out the Golden Jubilee – as well as the July Cup.
In 2015 inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame, Choisir remains a strong force in pedigrees (Starspangledbanner siring the recent Breeders Cup Juvenile Turf winner Gstaad who also received a Cartier gong as Champion 2Y0 Colt) with Coolmore Stud’s Colm Santry noting that “his influence is going to be felt across the world for a long time to come.”
FALVELON
The first – and still only – Australian trained winner (and he did it twice) of the Hong Kong International Sprint, Falvelon doesn’t get mentioned as often as he should.
Part of a big day for Australasian racing fans at Shatin on December 17, 2020 – a day which also saw Sunline emerge victorious from her epic battle with local favourite Fairy King Prawn – Falvelon was having his 17th start when he first ventured overseas and he had won ten of those.
Including his first six with his first defeat coming in the hands of Testa Rossa in the Lightning Stakes.
The Hong Kong race was a Gr.3 event the first time he won it, his class helping to elevate it to Gr.2 status the year after. And he was back for a third crack the first time it was run as a Gr.1, finishing a game third behind the David Hayes trained All Thrills Too.
Falvelon’s trainer Dan Bougoure was not the first member of his family to train a globe-trotting success story with his father Doug the original trainer of Strawberry Road before that W.S Cox Plate hero headed to Europe and then America (contesting the Japan Cup in between).
A Gr.1 winner in France where he lined up in the Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe (finishing fifth with Sadler’s Wells behind him), Strawberry Road also ran several great races at the elite level in the United States before a successful stud career in that country.
Falvelon also went to stud, proving to be a reliably consistent stallion though none of his 12 stakes winners were as good as himself.
At the age of 29 he is still alive and well in retirement at Glenlogan Park Stud.
BLACK CAVIAR
Well and truly sealed Australia’s reputation for breeding world class sprinters (the second of our trio of European Champion Sprinters), Black Caviar headed to the UK with 21 victories to her name and she was on that day – as she had been at all but one of her starts (her debut) – an odds-on favourite.
The Diamond Jubilee was the race, the race taken out by Starspangledbanner two years before and seven years before that his sire Choisir.
Expectations were not only high in regards to her success, in fact it was really just a matter by how far. What did surprise was that she ended up winning by the shortest margin of her stellar career with Moonlight Cloud giving Black Caviar and her many fans a bit of a fright.
Black Caviar’s fourth win – the Danehill Stakes at Flemington – saw her salute by 3/4 length which was the closest another horse (on that occasion her stablemate Wanted) had ever got to her. And they wouldn’t again as her next three big wins back home all came by wide margins.
Whilst Black Caviar was not seen at her absolute best at Ascot the horse she defeated was certainly no slouch, Moonlight Cloud already a Gr.1 horse – subsequently winning six of her final nine starts – four at Gr.1 level.
And she fulfilled a wish of Queen Elizabeth to meet the wonder mare (a plan to do so in Melbourne the year previously thwarted) with Black Caviar’s part-owner Pam Hawkes cherishing that memory… “I have a photo of the moment on a mug!” she laughed.
PHAR LAP
No list of international performances is complete without mention of the champion of them all. Yes we know he was New Zealand bred but his racing career was an Australian one and it was our form lines he represented when heading on that fateful journey to Mexico in 1932.
Whilst debate raged amongst American trainers, jockeys and media about Tommy Woodcock’s training style, the big chestnut was impressing everyone who saw him – so much so that by race time he was a hot favourite for the rich Agua Caliente Handicap.
Garnering much attention from the local press, Phar Lap had many affectionate labels placed upon him – “The Wizard From Down Under,” “The Anzac Antelope,” “The Red Terror Of The Antipodes.”
Riding to keep him out of trouble, Billy Elliot had Phar Lap back and wide before making a sweeping move with 1200m to go – in the blink of an eye making up ten lengths to take the lead.
For a brief moment at the 600m he looked as though he might be in trouble but the champ was just kidding them and his track record breaking victory goes down as one of Australian racing’s finest moments.
“Phar Lap is the biggest advertisement Australia has ever had” David Davis said on the day.
A win so far from home after a lengthy journey by ship with Phar Lap distressed whenever his beloved companion was out of sight. New surface, new shoes and a foot injury in the lead-up. He had massive odds to overcome but he was no ordinary horse.
Sadly as we all know, 16 days later, Phar Lap was gone.
