We all have our favourite racehorses, and last year we took a look at some of the greatest horses of all time. And while that list was something of a “who’s who” of international horse racing superstars, we decided to make another list of purely Australian horses. Here’s what we came up with.
Sunline
Sunline was known as ‘the mare’, and she was one of the most frighteningly-successful racehorses of the modern era. She won successive Cox Plates in 1999 and 2000 and just missed out on a hat trick in 2001. She ran races in Australia and New Zealand and even made the trip to Hong Kong and Dubai. She ran 48 races and won 32 of those, placing in all but four of her races. That is a phenomenal achievement and quite rightly puts her on our list as one of the greatest of all time, but, even so, she’s still not quite the best we’ve ever produced on these shores.
Makybe Diva
Although Makybe Diva doesn’t quite have the impressive stats as the other horses on this list, she still remains many people’s favourite race horse. Three Melbourne Cups, a Cox Plate, an Australian Cup, and a Turnbull Stakes are just some of the highlights of this amazing horse’s career. The reason her winning stats are so low, though, is because she didn’t travel well and failed to win any of her overseas races.
Black Caviar
The word “legend” gets thrown around quite a lot these days, but this horse deserves that status. Black Caviar ran 25 times and won an astounding 25 times. Yes, that’s every single race won. To say she captured the public’s interest would be a huge understatement. She was the horse that everyone rooted for and the one that always won. She took on everyone over short courses and even went to England to win the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
Winx
A modern-day great, Winx has won the Cox Plate an incredible four times. Unfortunately, the horse is now retired, giving her competition much better odds of winning the race this year. It’s a pity, as Winx was the finest racehorse this country has ever seen, winning races over 1,100 right up to 2,200 metres. It’s rare to find such a versatile horse, but that’s what made Winx so special—she could arrive at any course and win the race. In fact, her winning streak of 33 wins remains the longest winning streak in Australian horse racing.
