Grand campaigner and two-time Australian Cup winner Vo Rogue has died this week aged 28.
The dashing frontrunner was a darling of the turf through the late 1980s and early 1990s when he won 26 of his 83 starts and was placed on another 23 occasions for earnings of more than $3.1 million.
From his modest beginnings at the Gold Coast where he was well beaten in a two-year-old maiden on debut, Vo Rogue rose to racing’s greatest heights winning seven Group Ones.
While best known over middle distances, he proved his versatility winning the 1988 William Reid Stakes over 1200m.
His feats propelled trainer Vic Rail into the national spotlight before Rail’s death in 1994 from the Hendra virus.
Vo Rogue also thrust regular rider Cyril Small to national prominence.
Small, who partnered Vo Rogue in 68 of his runs, remembered him fondly and said his fighting spirit was evident to the end.
“He certainly had a special life,” Small told Sydney’s Sky Sports Radio on Wednesday.
“He made racing a special thing for a lot of people.
“A lot of horses don’t make it past 20 but he was a fighter through and through.”
Small said his association with Vo Rogue was primarily the result of an established relationship with his owner Jeff Perry.
He won a couple of races aboard the star’s older half-brother Rode Rogue whose owners got such a thrill they bought his younger sibling sight unseen.
Small said Vo Rogue always showed talent but in the early days his hopes for the gelding were modest.
“I thought he was a little bit above average,” Small said.
“I thought he would race in novice class in Brisbane but I never at that stage thought he would make it to the heights that he finally reached.
“He was a super horse with a big heart and a will to win and he just kept improving.”
Vo Rogue was a Queenslander but his best form was in Melbourne.
One of Vo Rogue’s best campaigns was in the autumn of 1988 when he won five of his six starts with his only loss a second to Dandy Andy in the Australian Cup.
Small felt that defeat was one of his most courageous runs.
“Jeff (Perry) picked me up at the airport and said, `I don’t think this horse is any hope of winning today’,” Small said.
“He’d gone 2000 (metres) back to 1400 and back to 2000. It was a huge effort – he just wasn’t himself.”
But Small rated Vo Rogue’s 1990 Australian Cup victory over Better Loosen Up and Super Impose as his crowning moment.
“Probably his second Australian Cup when everyone thought he was gone, when he beat Better Loosen Up,” Small said.
