Cover image: a sketch of Beauford from Martin Stainforth’s painting, image courtesy of Racehorses in Australia, 1922
If opposition is the true measure of a racehorse, then Beauford is right among it. The chocolate-coated gelding, bred in 1916 by pastoralist William Hooke Mackay, is these days best-remembered for his battles with Gloaming (The Welkin {GB}) and Eurythmic, both of whom are in the Hall of Fame.
For the years in which this trio were at their best, there was not much between them at all. In particular, Beauford and Gloaming cut a spectacular cloth in 1922, with Gloaming ‘stouter and hardier in constitution. He thrived on hard racing, whereas one or two severe contests would knock Beauford out.’
It was a theme of Beauford’s career, in fact.
A close-up of Martin Stainforth's famous painting depicting Beauford (on the rails) edging out Gloaming in the 1922 Spring S. at Randwick
The lightly built gelding was best when fresh, and after two or three runs he often didn’t stand up to the wear and tear. His trainer, the Newcastle identity Sid Killick, found it difficult to keep the horse both sound and settled, and the trainer was often forced to cart other horses by train to Sydney to keep Beauford calm.
Nevertheless, on his day, there would few that could stay with the gelding when his blood was up. In 1921 he won the Craven Plate, Epsom H., Hill S., Railway H. and Tramway H. In 1922, it was the All-Aged S., Autumn S., Spring S., Rawson S. and Chelmsford S., and that was the season that hosted his titanic arguments with Gloaming.
From 37 starts, Beauford won 17 races and the hearts and minds of Novocastrians. And it was a vintage era for Australian racing, one that also included Windbag, Rivoli, Wolaroi, Cetigne, Poitrel and Desert Gold (NZ) (All Black {GB}) in a short space of time.
Some of Sydney's leading trainers in September 1921, with Sid Killick, Beauford's trainer, second from the right
Beauford was bred by WH Mackay in the middling years of World War I. Mackay came from very wealthy stock, and his father was the master of Minimbah, which still sits grandly in the hills outside of Singleton.
Mackay, himself, lived at Maitland in the 23-roomed Anambah homestead, which also still stands today and which was finished in 1889. Certain records suggest Beauford was bred here, while others suggest he was bred at Minimbah or Mackay’s Upper Hunter holding, Tinagroo Estate.
William Hooke Mackay (from The Sun newspaper, April 5, 1922)
Either way, the gelding was by an unfashionable stallion from an equally obscure mare called Blueford (True Blue {NZ}), and he was offered on lease early in his life as a ‘slab-sided, herring-gutted, hammer-headed clothes horse’. Only Sid Killick was willing to take him on.
Mackay remained devoted to Beauford throughout the horse’s life. He retired him in 1924 when it was clear Beauford had severed a tendon, and the gelding whiled away the rest of his life in happy retirement at Anambah.
However, in December 1939, Mackay died in Sydney at the age of 81, and the valuable stock at Anambah was dispersed. Beauford was left behind with the farm hacks until, at the age of 26, he was shot and his carcass sent to the boiling works. It was an outrageous end to the fabulous old horse, with turf discourse at the time claiming it a local disgrace.
Gallery: The homestead's where WH Mackay and Beauford resided
So, Beauford was gone forever in 1942, no gravestone to mark his brilliant life, and it was therefore a kind tribute in 1982 when The Beauford Club was established at Newcastle. The race in the old horse’s name, much deserved and due this Saturday, was first introduced in 2021.
