Straight Draw (foaled 1952) was a

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 ...

bred thoroughbred racehorse, that is most notable for winning the 1957

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Me ...

Background

Straight Draw was bred by Little Avondale Stud in

Racing career

Straight Draw started at the odds of 13/2 in the 1957 Melbourne Cup. For some time the race favourite that year was the legendary Tulloch, however connections decided to not run him in the race. Under the guidance of

Australian Racing Hall of Fame The Australian Racing Hall of Fame is part of the Australian Racing Museum which documents and honours the horseracing legends of Australia. The museum officially opened in 1981 and created the Hall of Fame in 2000. The numbers in brackets a ...

jockey

Noel McGrowdie Noel Leonard "Digger" McGrowdie (25 December 1920 – 9 September 1961) was an Australian jockey, best known for riding Straight Draw to victory at the 1957 Melbourne Cup. Biography McGrowdie was born at Breakfast Creek in Brisbane, Queensl ...

, Straight Draw won the race by a neck margin. His owner,

Ezra Norton Ezra Norton (8 April 1897 – 4 January 1967) was an Australian newspaper baron and businessman. Early life Norton was born in the Sydney suburb of Watsons Bay, son of the proprietor of ''Truth'', John Norton (1858–1916) and Ada McGrath (18 ...

, a strictly private man, remained in Sydney rather than go and watch the race. The horse's trainer Jack Mitchell was sent to collect the Cup on his behalf, avoiding having to make a speech. Straight Draw also became the first horse to ever win The Metropolitan,

and

Sydney Cup The Sydney Cup is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred handicap horse race, for horses three years old and older, run over 3200 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia in the autumn during the ATC Championships series and it ...

in the same season.

Pedigree

References

New Zealand racehorses Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in Australia 1952 racehorse births Melbourne Cup winners Sydney Cup winners {{Racehorse-stub