Champions Winx and Black Caviar feature prominently in the expanded horse racing section of the revamped Australian Sports Museum.
The museum at the Melbourne Cricket Ground re-opens on Saturday after undergoing a $17 million refurbishment in the past six months.
The ASM houses historic items from a range of sporting codes including football, cricket, cycling, athletics, swimming and horse racing.
The silks worn by Hugh Bowman in Winx’s fourth Cox Plate in 2018, along with his saddle, riding boots and bridle, are all on display.
Black Caviar’s trip to England in 2012 is featured with video footage of her Royal Ascot win, along with a signed rug, silks and a race book from the journey.
An interactive display also runs through the history of Australian racing.
After starting out at Caulfield racecourse, the racing museum moved to Federation Square before shifting to the MCG 10 years ago.
Australian Racing Museum chairman Greg Carpenter said the move allowed for more foot traffic through the horse racing gallery.
“Horse racing is probably the most enduring sport in our modern history of this country,” Carpenter said.
“Communities have been gathering at racecourses the length and breadth of this country for three centuries, watching, celebrating, marvelling at the speed and stamina of horses, the skill of their riders and the collective courage of equine and human athletes.
“Horse racing sits very comfortably and very proudly within the Australian Sports Museum.”
Carpenter said Australian racing had been fortunate to have iconic horses through the generations from Archer to Carbine, Phar Lap to Rising Fast along with Tulloch, Light Fingers, Galilee and Rain Lover.
“But the story of horse racing continues to be told through the champions of our recent past in Winx and Black Caviar,” he said.
Former champion jockey Darren Gauci, now an apprentices’ coach with Racing Victoria, has donated his favourite saddle used in feature race victories aboard Lonhro, Super Impose and Shaftesbury Avenue.
