We were saddened to hear of the passing of Billy Camer, a top jockey of the 50’s and 60’s. While he was a master in the saddle, he never really got the recognition he deserved as he rode in what can only be described as a true golden era of Australia

Sun-Herald (Sydney, NSW: 1953 - 1954), Sunday 25 April 1954, page 24 LINDBERGH MADE BY TRAINER Messrs. H. W. and N. H, Bishop’s b c LINDBERGH 2y, Transatlantic (imp) - Dare (H. Darwon). "FULL credit for Lindbergh’s development to become the two-year-

Gurner’s Lane is the older brother of Sovereign Red who was also sent to Geoff Murphy to train. He had been gelded after a paddock accident seemingly threatened his racing future. Named after a street in Melbourne, Gurner’s Lane was sold by Murphy to

The story of the two brothers started when Geoff Murphy trained a Sovereign Edition mare called Taiona who won a maiden at Yarra Glen but was placed at both Caulfield and Flemington. Although not highly rated by Murphy, the connection was enough that

Mr Brightside is rightly claimed to be the best miler in Australia but his origins were far from the lofty heights that his racing career has taken him. He was sold as a yearling for $22000 but later passed in at the Ready To Run sales in NZ. He was

Flying Fox was a full sister to Vane whose daughter, Lady Wayward II came to Australia to found a line that was to produce our feature horse this month in Mr Brightside. The stallion was raced and bred by Hugh Lupus Grosvenor, the first Duke of Westm

Williamstown Advertiser (Vic. : 1875 - 1954), Saturday 17 February 1917, page 2 The Racing Club MR C. F. ORR RETIRES FROM THE SECRETARYSHIP On Wednesday the committee of the Williamstown Racing Club accepted with regret the resignation of Mr C. F. Or

It seems though that the author of the article got the future for Lindbergh wrong. His Derby aspirations were essentially over when he resumed as a 3yo to be unplaced as an odds-on favourite in the Hobartville Stakes behind Pride of Egypt. Lindbergh

Australasian (Melbourne, Vic.: 1864 - 1946), Saturday 20 March 1937, page 21 Stud Notes by Sterling MUTABLE WHEN Mutable won the Australian Cup brilliantly on Saturday, March 6, most people were surprised that a son of Drake would be able to stay out

Australasian (Melbourne, Vic. : 1864 - 1946), Saturday 31 August 1935, page 20 DENIS BOY THERE are few horses at the stud in Australia with better breeding and racing credentials than Denis Boy, who is the principal sire in the Tatyoon stud, in the C

It is hard to imagine a speedier or more precocious example of the Australian thoroughbred than Vain. To this day, he remains to many the greatest example of the breed. He tasted defeat only twice in a fourteen start career, both times in Group 1 rac

Following are the fields and finishing positions in the last three Golden Slippers. We have also looked at the form of the runners post-race and it makes for interesting reading. What appears to stand out is the path that many of the colts in particu

Truth (Brisbane, Qld. : 1900 - 1954), Sunday 11 July 1948, page 10 VICTORIAN VISITORS LANDED THOUSANDS WHEN DENHOTI CRACKED FLYING CRACK Victorian colt, Denhoti, a failure in the Ten Thousand, rehabilitated himself yesterday when he took the Flying H

Storm Boy was an outstanding winner of the Magic Millions in January and, if all has gone well as we count down to the Golden Slipper, he will be among the favourites for our greatest 2yo race. While only two horses in Phelan Ready and Dance Hero hav

Gold And Black was another of the star NZ stayers of the 1970’s. He was a son of In The Purple, a French bred stallion who stood in NZ with great success. He had earned black type over 3100m in France, and was a son of Right Royal by Owen Tudor out o

Last month we started to look at Faux Tirage who was a son of Big Game out of Commotion by Mieuxce from Riot by Colorado. Riot was a daughter of Lady Juror and a half-sister to the renowned stallion Fair Trial who we are also investigating shortly. W

The popular stayer of the mid-1980’s was another racehorse that traced back to a mare by Faux Tirage. This time it was a daughter called Punihau who was from a rather moderate line of the famed number 2 family of Bruce Lowe that traced back to mares

On 10 February 1999, a field of 2yo’s lined up over 1100m on a heavy track at Warwick Farm in a No-Metro-Win race. It was to prove a remarkable race in terms of quality with the winner being Marechal who was to go on to win the Listed Heritage Stakes

Riff Rocket was an impressive winner of the VRC Derby in November. He is exciting in that he is the first local Group 1 winner for the US Triple Crown star, American Pharoah. American Pharoah won the Triple Crown in 2015 as a result of winning the Ke

Without A Fight won the 2023 Melbourne Cup in a dominant performance. As we will see shortly, his performances this year represent a marked improvement to those when he arrived in Australia last year. It raises a very important question as to how imp