Horse racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules rugby and football, making it one of the country’s most beloved and storied sports. Australia boasts more racecourses than any other nation internationally, and is second only to the United States in terms of the number of horses starting races each year, solidifying the nation as one of the major players in international horse racing. Given the rich history of the sport internationally and in Australia itself, it is little wonder that there are so many influential figures participating in the sport today, as Australia’s horse racing community continues to grow and thrive with the help of the following four racing legends.
Black Caviar, and Her Eight Lucky Owners
If you and your family follow Australian horse racing, then Black Caviar is probably a household name to you and yours. Black Caviar is a now-retired Australian thoroughbred racehorse that went undefeated in 25 consecutive races, which is a feat that has not been accomplished in Australian horse racing in the last 100 years. One of the most decorated horses of all time, this mare was named the World Thoroughbred Racehorse Rankings, or WTRR, World Champion Sprinter for four consecutive years, between 2010 and 2013. As the story goes, Black Caviar’s eventual owners and long-time friends Colin and Jannene Madden, Gary and Kerryn Wilkie, and Neil Werrett hired a houseboat for a leisurely afternoon, when Werrett posed the idea of buying a racehorse to the rest of the group, assuming they would ride the horse themselves. One year and one added owner later, they had all committed to the endeavour, and within two years their commitment paid off, as Black Caviar won her first of many WTRR World Champion Sprinter titles. It was announced on April 17, 2013 that Black Caviar was officially retired from racing, after 25 consecutive wins, and was inaugurated into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in the same year. A statue of her was erected in the town of Nagambie, and the much celebrated mare is now in foal with Exceed and Excel; her inevitable offspring will be the most anticipated racers in the coming years.
Bart Cummings: Australia’s Greatest Horse Trainer
Widely known among Australian racing fans as the finest horse racing trainer of all time, Bart Cummings is still active in racing at the age of 86. Born James Bartholomew Cummings, this legendary trainer and race visionary is known as the “Melbourne Cup King,” an honour bestowed on him after he won the race of the same name an unprecedented eleven times, every year from 1965 to 1976. Cummings was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1991, and then into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in its inaugural year in 2001, and was given immediate “Legend” status for his wide variety of achievement in the sport. Cummings is so widely known that in 2007 he appeared on an Australian postage stamp as part of the “Australian Legends” series. In 2008, Cummings returned to the fore of Australian horse racing by training another Melbourne Cup winner named Vision, for legendary racehorse owner and Cummings’s friend Dato Tan Chin Nam. It is also interesting to note that Cummings gained all of his success with horses while being allergic to hay.
Dato Tan Chin Nam: Legendary Australian Racehorse Owner
Reportedly one of the richest men in Asia, Tan Chin Nam is known in Malaysia as a famous property developer. In Australia, Tan Chin Nam is the principal owner for Australia’s most successful horse trainer, Bart Cummings. Tan has had a successful working relationship with Cummings for more than thirty years, owning at least a share in most of Cummings’s well-known horses, including “Think Big” who was a winner of back-to-back Melbourne Cups in 1974 and 1975, as well as the multiple Group One winner “Saintly.” Tan owns a now-famous stud farm located along the Wingecarribee River at Burradoo that he named “Think Big Stud,” which continues to produce some of the finest racehorses in the country. In fact, a number of stakes winners have been bred and sold by “Think Big Stud,” including “Faint Perfume,” who was crowned Australia’s Champion Filly of 2009. Also, “The Dato Tan Chin Nam Stakes” in Melbourne at Moonee Valley Racecourse is named in honour of the man, which speaks to his lasting legacy in the sport.
Glen Thornell: Picnic Racing Legend
Glen Thornell might not be a household name like Bart Cummings, but his impact in picnic horse racing is more than substantial, after winning five consecutive races in Australian horse racing’s grassroots stage of picnic racing in Victoria. A Somerville horseman, Thornell recently purchased his winning racehorse “Argentinian Storm” for a mere $500, and the horse has gone on to win five consecutive races, taking the elder trainer on an unexpected journey so late in his training career. Thornell still goes to work as a truck driver most days of the week, and has owned and trained a small team of successful picnic gallopers for more than three decades, though the success he is seeing now is relatively new to him and his family, to whom Thornell credits his long and continued involvement in picnic racing. “My father was a picnic trainer and amateur rider and he got me into horses so that’s how I kicked off,” Thornell said in an interview with racingvictoria.net.au, “I just love picnic racing.” It is the dedication and loyalty to the sport that puts Thornell among the aforementioned Australian racing legends.
Australian racing has seen some of its more exciting history take place in the last few years, with the unprecedented success of Black Caviar, which reinvigorated the already popular sport. In the coming years it will be interesting to see who will emerge as the country’s new racing heroes, legends, and prized horses, though it is likely these influential figures in the sport will be involved in one way or another, using their best horse racing tips to usher in a new generation of successful horse racers, trainers, and owners.
