Winx

 

Winx is often cited as one of the best racehorses in history. While such accolades are always based on subjective opinion, the mare’s record is truly incredible: 37 wins and three places in 43 races. That run included 25 Group 1 wins, which is an all-time record. While some racing fans and rating agencies might cite Secretariat, Phar Lap, Frankel or a handful of others as the best of all time, Winx is almost always in the conversation.

Winx was foaled in 2011. Dubai World Cup winner Street Cry was her sire, and Vegas Showgirl was her dam. She was sold as a yearling for $230,000 to Magic Bloodstock Racing and pegged to be trained by Chris Waller. Winx made her debut at Warwick Farm on 4th June 2014, winning a low-key handicap race by just under a length. Later in 2014, she would record her first major race victory, winning the Group 2 Furious Stakes.

After a slow start, Winx became a record-breaker

Winx’s three-year-old season was somewhat erratic, with the mare going on a (relatively) poor run through late 2014 and early 2015, winning just one race in seven starts. By May 2015 when she was set to make her 11th start at Sunshine Coast, her record read 3-3-0. But then, something extraordinary happened: Winx never lost a race again, winning 33 consecutive races across almost four years.

As you might expect, Winx became a hero to the Australian public. Obviously, her success meant she was beloved by punters, and the bane of Australian bookmakers like Tattsbet, Neds and Ladbrokes. Only twice in that 33-race winning streak was she priced above even money, and she was always priced up as favourite for that run. Winx earned over $26 million in career prize money, but the money she generated in winning bets must have been many times that amount.

As mentioned, Winx won 25 Group 1 races, and that included four consecutive Cox Plates, arguably second only to the Melbourne Cup in prestige. She gained international acclaim, too, earning awards for being the best mare or filly in the world, then moving up to being named world racehorse of the year by 2018. In 2018, she also won the Secretariat Vox Populi Award, with fans in 60 countries voting her in as the most popular horse on the planet.

Hard to say who is the greatest

If we can offer the viewpoint of those who claim that Winx shouldn’t be considered among the greatest horses in history, most of the argument lies in two areas: The fact Winx never raced outside of Australia, and the quality of her opposition. The latter can be challenged, as some of the horses Winx beat also went on to win over 20 Group 1 races collectively. As for staying at home, that’s been the case for many of the best horses in history, including most of the American greats, so it seems an unfair stick to beat Winx with.

Nonetheless, Winx will still be considered one of the best in the eyes of modern Australian racing fans. Today, years after her retirement, she still makes the headlines as fans wonder how she will fare as a mother. As with the best horses in history, Winx means more to the public than just winning races. She is a cultural icon.

War Admiral (1934 – 1959)

War Admiral is an American Thoroughbred racehorse, best known for winning the American Triple Crown in 1937 and his Match Race with arch-rival SeaBiscuit.

 

Sired by one of the greatest racehorses of all time, Man o’War, War Admiral won 21 out of 26 starts during his career and was named 1937 Horse of the Year. Memorable victories include the Washington Handicap, Pimlico Special, the Whitney Handicap, the Jockey Club Gold Cup and the Wilson Stakes.

 

War Admiral’s surprise victory in the Kentucky Derby helped propel him to become one of the biggest stars of the era. He followed that achievement up by winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes, becoming only the fourth horse to win the prestigious Triple Crown.

 

His place in racing history was cemented with the Pimlico Special match race against arch rival Seabiscuit. The November 1938 head-to-head contest was billed as ‘the Match Race of the Century’ and was headline news in the U.S. It was the first time the two fierce competitors would meet, Seabiscuit ended up winning by four lengths, setting a new track record.

 

After leaving the track, War Admiral had a hugely successful career as a stud and was named the Leading sire in North America for 1945.

 

He sired 40 stakes winners including Blue Peter, Busher, Busanda and Bee Mac. Descendants of note include Zentatta, Swaps, Buckpasser and Cigar. He features eight times in the pedigree American Pharoah, the 2015 Triple Crown winner.

 

War Admiral was owned by prolific breeder Samuel D. Riddle, who also owned his father, Man o’War.

 

Burrough Hill Lad

According to Timeform, Burrough Hill Lad was the joint eighth best steeplechaser of the last 50 years or so,
rated just 3lb inferior to
Desert Orchid and 7lb inferior to Kauto Star. Owned by Stan Riley and trained by Jenny Pitman, his main claim to fame was victory in the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1984, in which he beat Brown Chamberlin, for whom he had been passed over by his regular partner John Francome.

 

However, that year he also won the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury and the King George VI Chase at Kempton. John Francome, who was reunited with Burrough Hill Lad in the King George VI Chase, later recalled, “Burrough Hill Lad was one of those horses you’d never get to the bottom of, a great big, strong powerful horse…” All in all, Burrough Hill Lad won 17 of his 27 steeplechases – including the Gainsborough Chase at Sandown three years in a row – and amassed nearly £200,000 in total prize money.

 

He was retired from racing, as a 12-year-old, in 1988 after pulling up lame on the gallops at home. He spent most of his retirement in Frickley, near Doncaster, before being put down in 2004 at the age of 28. That same year he featured at No. 44 in a poll of 100 favourite racehorses conducted by the Racing Post so was a popular fellow.

 

Amassing £200,000 in prize money is no mean feat and punter will have seen the benefits of that too. This was in ‘pre internet’ days so nowadays it may also have been possible to pick up a few nice bonuses of online bookmaker offers along the way. Bettingtop10.com can point yu in the right direction here. Odds also end to be more generous in this day and age due to more competition in this online gambling era. Outsiders especially tend to be available at much bigger odds, which is handy if you enjoy a speculative bet or two, and many are fans of multiple / accumulator bets based on the returns on offer. If you can latch onto a horse as good as Burrough Hill Lad and follow him tthroughout his career, you’ll be quids in!

 

 

 

Makybe Diva

Record-breaking Thoroughbred Makybe Diva is one of the most famous and accomplished racehorses in Australian history.

 

The British-bred, Australian-trained racehorse is the only winner of three consecutive Melbourne Cups, (2003, 2004, 2005) and has also claimed victories in the Australian Cup, BMW Stakes, the Werribee Cup and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

 

Twice named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year, she is the only horse to win both the Sydney and Melbourne Cups in the same season.

 

Sired by double Irish Classics winner Desert King, Makybe Diva was foaled in 1999 in the U.K before being shipped to Australia with her dam, Tugela. She was initially trained by top trainer David Hall, before switching to Lee Freedman in 2004 after Hall moved to Hong Kong.

 

Makybe Diva made her race debut July 2002 as a three-year-old, coming fourth at Benalla, Victoria. She was upgraded to a four-year-old when she ran again three weeks later and secured her first victory. It was the start of a six-race winning streak and Makybe Diva began to emerge as a racing talent.

 

After a shaky start the 2003-2004 season, she came from the back to win her first Melbourne Cup in November 2003 by a length and a half. She repeated the twice more, setting history in 2005 by becoming the first ever horse to claim victory three times and in consecutive years.

 

After glory on the track, Makybe Diva was retired and started breeding. She produced four foals in total including Rockstardom, who as a yearling, sold at auction for $1.5million AUD.

 

Nashwan

Nashwan was an American race horse that was shipped to the other side of the world to dazzle fans with his relentless potential and aggressive pursuit for victories at the tracks. This powerful chestnut showed promise early in life while growing up at a farm in Kentucky, and his stature alone was known to set other horses’ tails wiggling with nerves. When he was transported to Britain, owner Hamdan Al Maktoum knew that the tide was about to turn. In England, Nashwan was trained by Major Dick Hern for all his races, with Willie Carson riding the saddles for the entirety of the horse’s career.

Career

In 1988 at the start of his two-year-old season, there was a buzz surrounding the horse’s pedigree. A lot of people expected to see him strut his stuff out there, and he sure did. In the first two races of his fledgling career, Nashwan managed to show power and grace despite his size. His three-year-old spell started off in a tantalizing manner, when he grabbed the General Accident 2000 Guineas. Afterwards, it became evident that he was a top horse that thrived o victories and never needed a whip to hit the ground running. Some of his best moments include the Epsom Derby, which he claimed in 1989 as well as the Eclipse Stakes in the same year. At 3 years old, Nashwan was rated as the best British-trained stallion of 1989. He was always a joy to watch because of the grace he projected and indeed, Joy was his name, only that he was named in Arabic.

Nashwan was retired in 1989, upon where he became a highly successful sire, with winners in his wake. He had participated in 7 races. At the time of retirement, he had accumulated £793,248 in winnings. The stallion passed on in 2002 after undergoing a foot surgery.