Phar Lap obvious No.1 in the top 10 Australian-trained racehorses of all-time

PHAR Lap is a deserved No.1 on our list of the top 10 Australian-trained racehorses of all-time, but Sunday Herald Sun Sports Editor Danny Russell had a tough time with rest of the list. VOTE

PHAR Lap is our greatest ever racehorse.

He is also a national treasure. Big Red gave people hope and a reason to cheer when they needed it most — in the depths of the Great Depression.

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Phar Lap is our greatest racehorse of all-time.

Phar Lap’s deeds during the 1930 Melbourne Cup Week will never be rivalled. Seven days after winning the Cox Plate he won four races in eights days at Flemington — the 2000m Mackinnon Stakes, the 3200m Melbourne Cup, the 1600m Linlithgow Stakes on Oaks Day and the 2400m Fisher Plate on the final Saturday.

Phar Lap went on to win the Cox Plate the following year before travelling to North America in 1932 and capturing the Agua Caliente Handicap in Tijuana, Mexico in March.

His shock death a month later in California, writhing in agony in the arms of his faithful strapper Tommy Woodcock, became a national conspiracy, many accusing American gangsters of poisoning our hero. Accusations that were never proven.

Phar Lap was born and bred in New Zealand, but tops the Sunday Herald Sun’s list of champion Australian horses because he was trained and raced in this country.

That and greatness are the simple criteria.

Legendary trainer Tommy Smith’s Tulloch sits second behind Phar Lap, largely because of his unprecedented dominance as a three year old.

Tulloch won the Queensland Derby, VRC Derby and AJC Derby as well as the Caulfield Guineas, Caulfield Cup and Rosehill Guineas before turning four.

Tulloch was an unstoppable force on the track, and revered off it.

The freakish Bernborough is third, winner of 15 races straight as a six year old lugging massive weights, including 63kg in the 1946 Newmarket Handicap as well as 68kg over the 2200m Doomben Cup.

Remarkably, Bernborough was restricted to racing in Toowoomba until he was six because of an ownership dispute. His record should have been greater.

Ajax and Carbine round out the top five. Four times Carbine raced twice and won in the same day and his effort to haul 66kg to win the 1890 Melbourne Cup is a record that will stand forever.

Black Caviar might be the greatest modern day racehorse ever.

Unbeaten in 25 starts, Black Caviar is the first of the modern-day greats to make the list in sixth, while the only horse to win three Melbourne Cups, Makybe Diva, sits seventh.

Kingston Town’s three Cox Plates places him in eighth, while little separates sprinting sensations Vain and Manikato in ninth and 10th.

Carbine carried a remarkable 66kg to win the 1890 Melbourne Cup, a record that will probably never be broken.

The top 10

1 Phar Lap

2 Tulloch

3 Bernborough

4 Ajax

5 Carbine

6 Black Caviar

7 Makybe Diva

8 Kingston Town

9 Vain

10 Manikato

Three Melbourne Cups? Makybe Diva had to make the list.

The unlucky 10

Wakeful

Peter Pan

Malua

Might And Power

Winx

So You Think

Todman

Tobin Bronze

Gunsynd

Better Loosen Up

Originally published as Phar Lap obvious No.1 in the top 10 Australian-trained racehorses of all-time