|
1985 Melbourne Cup
The 1985 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 5 November 1985. The race, run over , at Flemington Racecourse. The 1985 Melbourne Cup was won by What A Nuisance a horse who had just recovered from a damaged suspensory ligament. This running of the race was notably for many reasons as it was the first horse race in Australia to have a prize pool of $AU1,000,000 and it was also the first time the Melbourne Cup was sponsored as it was sponsored by Foster's. Legendary commentator Bruce McAvaney called his first Melbourne Cup for Network 10, he would go on to call three more. Field This is a list of horses which ran in the 1985 Melbourne Cup. References {{MelbourneCup 1985 Melbourne Cup Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Melbourne Cup
The Melbourne Cup is an annual Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia, at the Flemington Racecourse. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and older, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club that forms part of the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival. It is the richest two-mile handicap in the world and one of the richest turf races. The event starts at 3:00 pm on the first Tuesday of November and is known locally as "the race that stops the nation". The Melbourne Cup has cemented itself as a part of Melbourne and Australian culture, having been run every year since 1861 (except for an intermission during World War I and World War II). The day of the race has been a public holiday for much of Victoria since 1876. It was originally run over but was shortened to in 1972 when Australia adopted the metric system. This reduced the distance by , and Rain Lover's 1968 race record of 3:19.1 was accordingly adjusted to 3:17.9. The present record holder is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Black Knight (horse)
Black Knight (27 August 1979–2002) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. He was best known for winning the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse in November 1984. Background Black Knight was a dark bay horse bred in Western Australia by his owner Robert Holmes à Court, a South-African born businessman described during the 1980s as Australia's richest man. He was sired by Silver Knight (horse), Silver Knight, a New Zealand-bred stallion who won the 1971 Melbourne Cup. The horse was sent into training with the veteran George Hanlon at his training base at Leopold, Victoria. Black Knight was gelded early in his life and usually raced in blinders, blinkers. Racing career Black Knight established himself as a contender for the 1984 Melbourne Cup when finishing placed behind Chagemar in the Geelong Cup and Lexus Stakes, The Dalgety. In the build-up to the race, the gelding was the subject of a major gamble, being backed down from odds of 50/1 to 11/1 shortly before the ev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1985 In Australian Sport
The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a new agreement on fishing rights. * January 7 – Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launches ''Sakigake'', Japan's first interplanetary spacecraft and the first deep space probe to be launched by any country other than the United States or the Soviet Union. * January 15 – Tancredo Neves is elected president of Brazil by the Congress, ending the 21-year military rule. * January 27 – The Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) is formed, in Tehran. * January 28 – The charity single record "We Are the World" is recorded by USA for Africa. February * February 4 – The border between Gibraltar and Spain reopens for the first time since Francisco Franco closed it in 1969. * February 5 – Australia cancels its involvemen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Clarke (jockey)
Michael Clarke is a retired Australian jockey A jockey is someone who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase (horse racing), steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing. The word "jockey" originated from England and was used ..., best known for riding At Talaq to victory in the 1986 Melbourne Cup. References Australian jockeys Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-horseracing-bio-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Cassidy (jockey)
Jim Cassidy (born 21 January 1963), often referred to as "Jimmy" is a retired New Zealand jockey who has been inducted in both the Australian Racing Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Jimmy's career and life Jim Cassidy was one of seven children of Arthur "Blue" and Francie Cassidy of Wellington, New Zealand. Cassidy initially rode in New Zealand with Pat Campbell in the Hawkes Bay, having over 500 winners in his country of birth. He achieved even greater success in Australia. Cassidy rode Kiwi from last into the straight to win the 1983 Melbourne Cup. He won his second Melbourne Cup in 1997 aboard Might and Power and they also won the following year's Cox Plate. Cassidy has won the Australian Derby three times; in 1990, 1993 and in 2009. Cassidy is the third jockey to win 100 group one races, winning his 100th race aboard Zoustar in the Coolmore Stud Stakes (1200m) at Flemington on Saturday 2 November 2013. His older brother Ricki was an apprentice ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Letts (jockey)
John Richard "Johnny" Letts (born 28 July 1943) is an Australian former jockey whose career spanned almost 30 years, retiring from race riding in 1988. Letts began riding as an apprentice in 1959, aged 16 years old and eventually rode over 2,300 winners. He was immortalized by winning the Melbourne Cup twice on Piping Lane in 1972 and Beldale Ball in 1980. Apart from his Melbourne Cup successes he rode a host of big race winners including three SAJC Adelaide Cups on Rain Lover (1968), Grand Scale (1976) and Amarant (1983). He also had success in the 1977 AJC Epsom Handicap on Raffindale, the 1975 Victoria Derby on Galena Boy and the 1980 VRC Australian Cup on Ming Dynasty The Ming dynasty, officially the Great Ming, was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 1368 to 1644, following the collapse of the Mongol Empire, Mongol-led Yuan dynasty. The Ming was the last imperial dynasty of .... In recent years, Letts has been prominent as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mick Dittman
Leonard Ross "Mick" Dittman (born 2 July 1952 in Rockhampton Queensland) is a retired Australian Racing Hall of Fame jockey. Nicknamed "The Enforcer" due to his strong use of the whip, he was renowned for his vigour and strength in a tight finish. He rose to become one of the best jockeys in the country. Some of the achievements during his career included winning the Melbourne Cup ( Gurner's Lane), three Golden Slippers (Full On Aces, Bounding Away and Bint Marscay), two Cox Plates (Red Anchor and Strawberry Road) and a Caulfield Cup (Sydeston). During a career spanning more than thirty years in the saddle it is estimated he has won more than 1,700 races (which included 88 Group 1 races) and through his partnership with trainer Tommy Smith also won three Sydney Jockey Premierships. Mick Dittman was inducted in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame The Australian Racing Hall of Fame is part of the Australian Racing Museum which documents and honours the horse racing, horsera ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Darren Gauci
Darren Gauci (born 26 December 1965, in Melbourne, Australia) is a former Australian jockey. Racing career Gauci was one of Australia's most successful and durable jockeys. He won the Senior Victorian Jockeys Premiership in 1983–84, 1985–86 and 1990–91. He came close to winning Australian racing's greatest prize on three occasions, with seconds in the Melbourne Cup on Chagemar (1984), Super Impose (1989) and On A Jeune (2005). Gauci won 35 Group 1 races. For several years, Gauci also rode with great success in Hong Kong. Gauci won five races on trainer Lee Freedman's champion Super Impose, including an Epsom Handicap (1990), and rode Lonhro to victory in the Caulfield Guineas (2001) and the St George Stakes (2004) in his two rides on the "black flash". In an extensive association with trainer John Hawkes, he also won The Thousand Guineas on Shame (1995), a Doncaster Handicap on Over (2000) and a Stradbroke Handicap on Crawl (2001), but the partnership was terminated i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Colin Hayes
Colin Sidney Hayes (16 February 1924 – 21 May 1999) was an Australian champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Adelaide, South Australia. During his career he trained 5,333 winners including 524 individual Group or Listed winners. He won 28 Adelaide and 13 Melbourne Trainers' Premierships. The C S Hayes Stakes is named in his honour and run annually at Flemington Racecourse. Hayes was elevated to Legend status in the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2018, a feat only achieved by two other horse trainers, TJ Smith and Bart Cummings. Early days Hayes was born in Semaphore, South Australia on 16 February 1924. His father died when Hayes was 10 years old. On leaving school he gained employment with the South Australian Electricity Trust as a boilermaker, but his love of horses soon led him to purchase a steeplechaser named Surefoot, for £9. As an amateur rider, Hayes rode Surefoot himself, with his best result being a third in the 1948 Great Eastern Steeplec ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Noel Harris
Noel Graham Harris , also known as "Harry" or "NGH", is a former jockey in Thoroughbred racing in New Zealand. He is notable for having ridden 2,167 raceday winners in New Zealand which is the fourth highest total behind Chris Johnson, David Walsh and Lance O'Sullivan and he has won the jockeys' premiership in both New Zealand and Singapore. In 2018 Harris was inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. In 2025 Harris was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to the thoroughbred racing industry. Riding career Noel Harris was apprenticed at Woodville to his father, John William (Jock) Harris who was a leading jockey both on the flat and over jumps before becoming a horse trainer. Noel rode his first winner at Foxton on 16 May 1970 and took out the 1971–72 apprentice jockeys' premiership at 18-years-old before sharing the national jockeys' premiership with David Peake the following year. Harris achieved 34 Group One wins, including al ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kiwi (horse)
Kiwi (19 October 1977 – 2 February 1995) was a New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who won both the Wellington Cup in New Zealand and the Melbourne Cup in Australia in 1983. Kiwi is especially renowned for his last-to-first victory in the Melbourne Cup, and remains the only horse in history to have won both of these cups. Kiwi raced from 1980 to 1987, and died in 2 February 1995 at the age of 17. Background Kiwi was bred by Brian Fischer in Parore, New Zealand. He was bought for NZ$1000 by Waverley sheep farmer Snow Lupton and his wife Anne, with Anne's personal preference for him to have a chestnut hair coat.The Press, 24-01-1983, J.J.BolyeKiwi snatches cup victory with brilliant late bid��Paperpast）. "Anne Lupton has a liking for the stock Blarney Kiss and a fondness for chesnuts" . access-date:20-08-2023. They had previously owned a Blarney Kiss horse.The Canberra Times, John Hourigan, 30-10-1983RACING 'Strange' Kiwi methods have worked beforeTROVE), "they previously had on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harry White (jockey)
Harry White (1944 – 21 October 2022) was an Australian jockey. He was one of the country's leading jockeys, especially in the 1970s, and was a four-time winner of the Melbourne Cup. He also won three Newmarket Handicaps, three Oakleigh Plates and three Futurity Stakes. Early life White was born in Melbourne, Victoria, in 1944. His father was also a jockey who won the Caulfield Cup in 1943. White was brought up by his grandparents and started working on riding track when he was a young teenager. His apprenticeship contract was revoked after he committed vandalism, but it was eventually reinstated after one year. He won his first race at the Braybrook Handicap held at Flemington Racecourse in July 1959. Career White usually rode for the "cups king" Bart Cummings, George Hanlon, and Angus Armanasco. He rode the winners of four Melbourne Cups – on Think Big (1974 and 1975) and Hyperno for Cummings (1979), as well as on Arwon for Hanlon in 1978. He tied Bobbie Lewis f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
