Red Handed (1962−1990) was a New-Zealand bred, Australian-trained
Thoroughbred
The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are ...
racehorse, who won the
1967 Melbourne Cup
The 1967 Melbourne Cup was a two-mile handicap horse race which took place on Tuesday, 7 November 1967. The race, run over , at Flemington Racecourse.
The race was won by the New Zealand bred stallion Red Handed, trained by Bart Cummings an ...
.
He was sired by the French stallion, Le Filou. His New Zealand bred dam, Red Might, was by Red Mars (GB).
The horse was purchased in
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 List of islands of New Zealand, smaller islands. It is the ...
relatively cheaply by
Bart Cummings
James Bartholomew Cummings (14 November 1927 – 30 August 2015), also known by his initials J. B. Cummings, was one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He was known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as he wo ...
for the sum of 870
guineas
The guinea (; commonly abbreviated gn., or gns. in plural) was a coin, minted in Great Britain between 1663 and 1814, that contained approximately one-quarter of an ounce of gold. The name came from the Guinea region in West Africa, from where ...
. This was due to the horse having a club foot and a paralysed ear (an injury incurred as a result of being kicked in the head by another horse as a yearling, paralysing the nerves down one side of his face).
In the lead up to the Melbourne Cup he placed fourth in the
Mackinnon Stakes
The VRC Champions Stakes, registered as the ''LKS Mackinnon Stakes'', is a Victoria Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run under Weight for Age conditions over a distance of 2000 metres at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Australia on ...
and second in the
Caulfield Cup
The Caulfield Cup is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under handicap conditions, although the Melbourne Racing Club is in the process of turning the race into weight for age (WFA) conditions. This is for all horses ...
. Despite being headed in the straight by Red Crest, Red Handed fought back to win the race by a neck under hard riding from jockey
Roy Higgins.
References
Red Handed's pedigree and partial racing stats
1962 racehorse births
Racehorses bred in New Zealand
Racehorses trained in Australia
Melbourne Cup winners
Thoroughbred family 22-b
1990 racehorse deaths
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