Living Legends (Living Legends – The International Home of Rest for Champion Horses Incorporated) is a nonprofit equine charity located at 207 Oaklands Road in Woodlands Homestead at Woodlands Historic Park in Greenvale near

Melbourne, Australia Melbourne ( , ; Boonwurrung/ or ) is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second most-populous city in Australia, after Sydney. The city's name generally refers to a metropolitan area also known ...

. Opened to the public on 31 October 2006, the organization's primary activity is bringing champion and popular gelding racehorses back to the people; but it also supports the care of older

horse The horse (''Equus ferus caballus'') is a domesticated, one-toed, hoofed mammal. It belongs to the taxonomic family Equidae and is one of two extant subspecies of ''Equus ferus''. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 mi ...

equine Equinae is a subfamily of the family Equidae, known from the Hemingfordian stage of the Early Miocene (16 million years ago) onwards. They originated in North America, before dispersing to every continent except Australia and Antarctica. They are ...

research, education and training to benefit horses of any age or breed. Modelled on The Horse Trust in

Speen, Buckinghamshire Speen is a village in the Chiltern Hills, an Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, situated in the civil parish of Lacey Green, in Buckinghamshire, England. The centre of the village (depicted by the village sign) is south-east of Princes Risbo ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, Living Legends is a charitable organisation which relies on private and corporate donations and sponsorships.

Activities

Living Legends - The International Home of Rest for Champion Horses Inc. has four main programmes of activities - providing lifetime sanctuary for retired champion racehorses, promoting horse welfare, funding research into horse health and welfare, and educating people about horse health and ownership.

Sanctuary

Living Legends provides lifetime sanctuary for retired champion

thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a list of horse breeds, horse breed developed for Thoroughbred racing, horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thorough ...

gelding racehorses. Based only 6 minutes north of

Melbourne Airport Melbourne Airport , known locally as Tullamarine Airport, is an international airport serving Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Operating 24/7 service, 24 hours a day with on-site parking, shopping and dining, Melbourne Airport is the List of th ...

, and about 20 km north-west of the Melbourne city centre, Living Legends is open to the public from 10.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. daily (except for Christmas Day).

Current residents

Retired geldings residing at Living Legends are: * All Times Lucky * Almandin *

Apache Cat Apache Cat (foaled 2002) is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who had 43 starts for 19 wins (including eight Group One (G1) victories) and was placed on another 11 occasions from for just under $4.6 million in prize money. He was born and bre ...

*Beat The Clock *

Beauty Generation Beauty Generation (; foaled 27 September 2012) is a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his performances in Hong Kong. He began his career as a three-year-old in Australia where he won two races and ran second in the Rosehill ...

* Beauty Only *

Brew Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (BREW, also known as Brew MP or Qualcomm BREW) is an obsolete application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party a ...

Bullish Luck Bullish Luck ({{zh, c=牛精福星) (foaled 1999) is a Hong Kong–based Thoroughbred racehorse. Bred in Kentucky, he is the son of the 1990 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Royal Academy and out of the Alysheba mare Wild Vintage. He was sold by his b ...

California Memory California Memory () is an American-bred Hong Kong–based Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the nominees of 2010–2011 Hong Kong Horse of the Year. Background California Memory is a grey gelding sired by Highest Honor out of the mare Kal ...

*Dances With Dragon *

Designs On Rome Designs On Rome (foaled 17 March 2010) was an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. He was best known for his performances in Hong Kong where he was named Hong Kong Horse of the Year, Horse of the Year in 2014. Background Designs On Rome was a ba ...

* Efficient *

Fawkner Fawkner is a suburb in Melbourne, Victoria (Australia), Victoria, Australia, north of Melbourne's Melbourne central business district, Central Business District, located within the Cities of City of Hume, Hume and City of Merri-bek, Merri-bek ...

* Good Ba Ba *Good Fit *Harlem * Lucky Nine *Maluckyday *Mr Stunning * Pakistan Star *Peniaphobia *

Prince Of Penzance Prince of Penzance is a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred race horse who won the 2015 Melbourne Cup. He was trained by Darren Weir. In the race, he was ridden by Michelle Payne, who became the first female jockey to win the race. Background Prince ...

* Redkirk Warrior *Russian Emperor *

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So Si Bon SO or so may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * ''So'' (album), an album by Peter Gabriel * So (band), a duo from the 1980s formed by two members of The Opposition * "So" (Static-X song), a song by Static-X * "Sō (New Love New World)", ...

* Super Jockey *The Cleaner * Tom Melbourne *

Who Shot Thebarman The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations which coordinates responses to international public health issues and emergencies. It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and has 6 regional offices and 150 ...

* Zavite

Notable deceased residents

Fields of Omagh Fields of Omagh (22 September 1997 – 8 June 2023), also known as FOO, was an Australian champion middle distance Thoroughbred racehorse of the early-mid-2000s. He was a half-brother to the stakeswinners, King Brian (Bunbury Cup, Pinjarra Cup), ...

(d. 8 Jun 2023) *

Rogan Josh Rogan josh ( English: /ˌroʊɡən ˈdʒɑʃ/);Rogan Josh
Oxford English Dictionary ), also spell ...

(d. 24 Jun 2022) * Zipping (d. 22 Mar 2022) *Paris Lane (d. 2 Jul 2021) *

Might and Power Might and Power (6 October 1993 – 11 April 2020) was a New Zealand bred, Australian owned and trained Thoroughbred racehorse who was named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year, Australian Horse of the Year in 1998 and 1999. As a four-yea ...

(d. 12 Apr 2020) *

Saintly Saintly (21 September 1992 – 16 December 2016) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1997. A giant chestnut gelding by Sky Chase out of All Grace (by Sir Tristram), he was bred by his tra ...

(d. 16 Dec 2016) *

Better Loosen Up Better Loosen Up (foaled 29 August 1985 – died 15 March 2016) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse that won the Japan Cup in 1990 and was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1991. He campaigned from two to seven years of age, and won ...

(d. 15 Mar 2016) *

Takeover Target Takeover Target (27 September 1999 – 20 June 2015) was a much-travelled Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won top sprinting races in each of the five major cities in Australia as well as in the United Kingdom, Japan, and Singapore. He ...

(d. 20 Jun 2015) *

Doriemus Doriemus (17 November 1990 – 11 January 2015) was a Thoroughbred horse racing, racehorse who began his career in New Zealand and rose to prominence in Australia by winning the Caulfield Cup, Caulfield and Melbourne Cups in 1995. He was the eig ...

(d. 11 Jan 2015) *

Admire Rakti Admire Rakti (20 February 2008 – 4 November 2014) was a Japanese Thoroughbred racehorse who won the Diamond Stakes in Japan and the Caulfield Cup in Australia. He died in his stall after competing in the 154th Melbourne Cup on 4 November ...

(d. 4 November 2014) *Regal Roller (d. 12 Mar 2014) *

Northerly Northerly (17 October 1996 – 9 May 2012) was an Australian racehorse who is considered arguably Australia's best middle distance Thoroughbred horse of the early 2000s. Northerly, trained by Western Australian harness racing legend Fred Kersle ...

(d. 9 May 2012) *Sky Heights (d. 13 Apr 2011)

Visit the Living Legends

For a cost of $15 (adults) or $10 (concession), people can visit the Living Legends on a self-guided tour. For an extra $10 visitors can meet and mingle with the Living Legends on daily guided tours at 11.00 a.m. and 2.00 p.m. Being based at Woodlands Homestead in Woodlands Historic Park, Living Legends is set in a unique, picturesque location for a family outing or day trip. People come to visit the Living Legends in their paddocks, plus see the wild kangaroos, explore the homestead, or just enjoy the magnificent gardens and abundant parklands. Living Legends is also a venue for functions and events, including corporate functions, meetings and weddings. The money raised through these activities helps to fund the charitable works of Living Legends.

Welfare

Living Legends funds research into equine welfare.

Research

Living Legends funds non-invasive research into equine diseases, such as

strangles Strangles (also called equine distemper) is a contagious upper respiratory tract infection of horses and other equines caused by a Gram-positive bacterium, ''Streptococcus equi''. As a result, the lymph nodes swell, compressing the pharynx, la ...

sweet itch Also known as Queensland itch, seasonal recurrent dermatitis (SSRD), summer itch or more technically, ''Culicoides'' hypersensitivity. Sweet itch is a medical condition in equines caused by an allergic response to the bites of ''Culicoides'' mi ...

colic Colic or cholic () is a form of pain that starts and stops abruptly. It occurs due to muscular contractions of a hollow tube (small and large intestine, gall bladder, ureter, etc.) in an attempt to relieve an obstruction by forcing content ou ...

grass sickness Grass sickness, alternatively termed equine dysautonomia, is a rare but predominantly fatal illness in horses. Grass sickness may affect all types of horse, pony and donkey, and has affected some well known horses including the thoroughbred stallio ...

and

cardiology Cardiology () is the study of the heart. Cardiology is a branch of medicine that deals with disorders of the heart and the cardiovascular system. The field includes medical diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart defects, coronary artery di ...

Education

Living Legends runs an education programme to promote responsible horse ownership. Horse owners can call up Living Legends to get advice on caring for their horse. The charity also offers information on its website on horse health and ownership.

References

External links

Living Legends - The International Home of Rest for Champion Horses official website

"Where the Champions Go"

* * * {{cite web , title=Great Melbourne Cup champ dies , website=heraldsun , date=15 December 2016 , url=https://www.heraldsun.com.au/sport/superracing/vic-racing/saintly-dies-melbourne-cup-winning-horse-dead-aged-24/news-story/48b660bd34eb3f864b62016519c85626?nk=581dc8ed38ff6e49f892743ddeade834-1708175577 , access-date=17 February 2024 Charities based in Australia 2006 establishments in Australia Equestrian organizations Horse racing in Australia Organizations established in 2006 Animal welfare organisations based in Australia Non-profit organisations based in Victoria (state)