Denise's Joy (Seventh Hussar {Fr})
Kicking off her career with a Listed Widden S. victory at her debut, the classy and durable Denise's Joy (Seventh Hussar {Fr}) raced another 50 times, winning another 12 races - 10 of those at stakes level.
Racing 10 times as a 2-year-old and contested three of the juvenile features, finishing fifth in the G1 Blue Diamond S., second to Toy Show (Showdown {GB}) in the G1 Golden Slipper S. and second to Rosie Heir in the G1 Champagne S.
Her biggest moment at two was a G2 Bloodhorse Breeders' Plate victory over two other fillies who would go onto bigger things - Better Draw (Better Boy {Ire}) and How Now (NZ) (In The Purple {Fr})... and in fifth position was Maybe Mahal (Maybe Lad).
Denise's Joy when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
At three she raced 13 times, gaining revenge on Toy Show in the G2 Moonee Valley S. before tackling four consecutive Group 1 races including the G1 W.S Cox Plate in which she finished eighth before winning the G1 VRC Oaks.
There was to be no rest for the tough filly who also contested the G2 Sandown Guineas (splitting Better Draw and Toy Show) before heading to Perth for two races, winning the G1 WA Derby. Her autumn was busy too, the highlight of that campaign being a win in the G1 Queensland Oaks before a G1 Queensland Derby second.
Back for more in the spring, she added to her tally in the G2 Turnbull S. - defeating Balmerino (NZ) - and the following year she won another four races including the G1 Underwood S.; leaving in her wake the likes of Vice Regal (NZ), How Now, Family Of Man, Gold And Black (NZ) (In The Purple {Fr}), Ming Dynasty (Planet Kingdom) and Reckless.
Six of the nine foals produced by Denise's Joy made it to the track, only three of them being winners. But one of those was very good - her second-last foal Joie Denise (Danehill {USA}) winning four races; emulating her dam by taking out the G1 Queensland Oaks as well as winning the Listed Toy Show Quality.
Joie Denise with Sunday Joy as a foal | Image courtesy of Kristen Manning
It is as a matriarch that Denise's Joy really made her mark... seven of her foals were fillies and five of those produced stakes winners. Her first foal Joy And Fun (Showdown) produced the G1 Champagne S. winner Euphoria (Marauding {NZ}), the dual Group winner Christmas Tree and the Listed winner Jewel In The Crown (Mighty Kingdom).
Her second foal Bolt Of Lightning (Blazing Saddles) foaled the G3 Fernhill H. winner Jolly (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) and the Listed winner Eastern Star (NZ) (Star Way {GB}).
Missing three years running, Denise's Joy produced the placed Clifton Gardens (Mighty Kingdom) as her third foal - and she went on to produce the Listed winner Miss Minden (Bellotto {USA}).
Her next successful broodmare daughter Joie de Vivre (Vain) appeared four years later - that lightly raced mare well-represented by the Group 1 winners Joie De Grise (Kenmare {Fr}) and Arlington Road (Danehill {USA}).
And her next daughter was Joie Denise who has also done the job at stud with her six winners including the four-time Group 1 winner Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}) and the G1 AJC Oaks heroine Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}).
Gallery: Group 1 -winning granddaughters of Denise's Joy, images courtesy of Sportpix
From those mares the Denise's Joy dynasty has spread. She has a total of 76 stakes-winning descendants, 14 of those being Group 1 winners... and four of those are multiple Group 1 winners; Tuesday Joy and Joie De Grise joined by Bentley Biscuit (Peintre Celebre {USA}) and More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}).
Six of her male descendants to have stood at stud have sired six stakes winners with Thorn Park and Stryker represented by Group 1 winners.
Circles Of Gold (Marscay)
A six-time winner who was not far off amassing a seven-figure sum on the track, the attractive chestnut Circles Of Gold (Marscay) was both classy and versatile - winning on a variety of surfaces from 1200 metres to 2400 metres before embarking on a stud career that rightly earned her the reputation of one of the finest broodmares Australia has produced.
Circles Of Gold when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
It was at her 11th start that Circles Of Gold really struck form, adding to her first two wins the G3 Adrian Knox S., the G1 AJC Oaks and the Listed Laelia S. in Adelaide. She then ventured to Brisbane where she contested both the G1 Queensland Oaks and Derby - second (to Denise's Joy's daughter Joie Denise) in the former and out of the placings in the latter.
Twice stakes-placed that spring, she kicked off her autumn campaign in the G1 CF Orr S., finishing a game third behind Racer's Edge and in front of Mahogany (Last Tycoon {Ire}). During that campaign she was also fourth in the G1 Australian Cup won by Saintly (Sky Chase {NZ}) and fifth in the G1 Tancred won by Octagonal (NZ)... she was taking on the best.
The 1996 spring again had her in good form, Circles Of Gold defeating Filante (NZ) in the G3 Coongy H. - backing up three days later to finish a gutsy second in the G1 Caulfield Cup won by Arctic Scent (Blazing Sword). She continued to race in the best of company, retiring to stud in 1997.
Hailing from the same branch of the prolific Eulogy (GB) (Cicero {GB}) family that has since produced the Group 1 winners Starspangledbanner and Amicus (Fastnet Rock), Circles Of Gold produced 12 foals. All of them raced, nine were winners.
Two of whom were particularly good; Elvstroem and Haradasun not only both multiple Group 1 winners but horses able to successfully represent Australian breeding on the international stage.
Circles Of Gold's stakes-placed daughter Hveger (Danehill {USA}) has done the same - from her Irish base producing six winners including Swettenham Stud's former shuttler, seven-time Group 1 winner Highland Reel (Ire), who now stands in Japan, the G1 Caulfield S. winner Cape Of Good Hope (Ire), the triple Group winner Idaho (Ire) and the Group 3 winner Nobel Prize (Ire) (Galileo {Ire}).
Highland Reel (Ire) | Standing at S T Farm
And Hveger's grandson Angel Bleu (Fr) won a couple of French Group 1 races - the Prix Jean-Luc Lagardere and the Criterium International - in 2021. Another three of Circles Of Gold's descendants are stakes winners whilst four: Elvstroem, Haradasun, Highland Reel and Gold Centre, have sired stakes winners.
Horlicks (NZ) (Three Legs {GB})
One of the greatest mares New Zealand has produced, Horlicks (NZ) (Three Legs {GB}) wrote herself into the history books as the first Southern Hemisphere winner - in world-record time - of the G1 Japan Cup.
And that was just one of the highlights of a wonderful career that saw the popular grey win 17 of her 40 starts with another five of her successes coming at Group 1 level. Two runnings of what is now the G1 Zabeel S. (then the Television NZ S.), two editions of the now defunct DB Draught Classic and the Mackinnon S.
Horlicks (NZ) when racing | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Having won five of her first 11 starts, Horlicks was first seen in stakes company winning the Listed Dulcie S. in late 1987. Four starts later she was taking on the big guns, finishing second to Bonecrusher (NZ) (Pag Asa) in the G1 Air New Zealand S. - two starts later winning her first Group 1.
Later that year she ventured to Melbourne, catching the eye of many at Moonee Valley's Breakfast With The Stars before finishing second to fellow New Zealander Our Poetic Prince in the G1 W.S Cox Plate in which Bonecrusher was third.
She was again in Melbourne the following spring, en route to Japan winning the Mackinnon S. - leaving in her wake the likes of King's High, Vo Rogue (Ivor Prince {USA}), Super Impose (NZ) (Imposing), Empire Rose (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) and that year's G1 Melbourne Cup winner Tawrrific (NZ).
Watch: Horlicks (NZ), winner of the 1989 G2 Mackinnon S.
Her great form in Group 1 company continued after her historic win in Japan - two more big wins as well as a G1 Tancred S. third behind Sydeston (St Briavels {GB}). She retired to stud in 1990 having amassed in excess of $3.2 million in stakes.
And what a fine job she did at stud, her six winners including two stakes winners. The G2 Avondale Guineas winner Bubble (NZ) (Sir Tristram {Ire}) who died young and a horse called Brew (Sir Tristram {Ire}) - winner of the 2000 Melbourne Cup.
Horlicks is also the grandam of the triple Group 2 winner My Tusker (NZ) (Volksraad {GB}), the dual Group winner Solo Flyer (Belong To Me {USA}), the G1 Tancred S. and G1 AJC Derby winner Fiumicino (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}) and the two-time Group 2 winner Tremec (NZ) (Zabeel {NZ}).
Brew, winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup in 2000 | Image courtesy of Sportpix
Another seven of her descendants are stakes winners - including the G1 Queensland Derby and G1 Toorak H. winner Mr Quickie (Shamus Award) and the G1 JJ Atkins S. winner Sacred Elixir (NZ) (Pour Moi {Ire}).
Wakeful (Trenton {NZ})
One of the greats of the Australian turf, Wakeful (Trenton {NZ}), who did not race until she was four, Wakeful raced 44 times - winning 25 races and filling placings on a further 16 occasions.
She did what few can, what few are even asked to do - thrown in the deep-end early, racing over a variety of distances - successful at weight for age and in handicaps under big weights.
Winning the G1 Oakleigh Plate at just her third start, she followed up with G1 Newmarket H. success before heading to Sydney - straight up to the mile with a G1 Doncaster H. victory. And in record time too. If that wasn't enough, two days later she ran in the G1 Sydney Cup, finishing third.
Wakeful | Image courtesy of Wikipedia
Adding the G1 Caulfield S. and the G1. Melbourne S. to her record that spring, she was also fifth in the G1 Melbourne Cup. Her successes earned her big weights in handicaps but she continued to contest them - winning the 1902 G1 Sydney Cup under 60kg.
She enjoyed another outstanding spring that year though her owner withdrew her from the Melbourne Cup after she was allotted 65kg! She did turn up with 63.5kg the following year however, finishing a gallant second to Lord Cardigan (Positano {GB}) who was carrying at astonishing 23kg less (sadly he died of heart issues just days after the race).
That was her send-off, and a big crowd gave her a great reception, duly fitting of a horse who won 19 races at what could be considered Group 1 level (either now or rated as principal races at the time).
Breeding records from the time are somewhat sketchy but it seems that Wakeful had 10 foals. It is unclear how many raced and won but what we do know is that she was able to make up for her own Melbourne Cup defeat by producing a winner of that famed staying test... her son Night Watch (St. Alwyne {GB}) overcoming interference to fight back after being headed; a gutsy performance.
And he went on with it too, the following year winning two of what are now Group 1 races - the October (Turnbull) S. and the Caulfield S.
Night Watch, winner of the G1 Melbourne Cup in 1918 | Image courtesy of Lucinda Murray
As adaptable at stud as she was on the track, Wakeful also produce Blairgour (Wallace) who won feature races over 1100 metres (the Oakleigh Plate won by his dam 10 years previously), 1400 metres (the G1 Futurity S.) and 1800 metres (the now G1 Memsie S.)
Descendants of Wakeful - the Australian Racing Hall of Fame who has a race and a social club named after her - include the stakes winners Regal Light (Seven Fifty), Regal Star (Scaliger {GB}), Emboss (Boissier {GB}), Whiskey Lover (Whiskey Road {USA}), Half Hennessy (Precotant {Fr}), King Tribute (Gypsy Kingdom), Yeoval (Bourbon), Spherical (Globetrotter {GB}), Lurica (Yours Truly), Frill Prince (Frilford {GB}), Yarramba (Spearhead {GB}) and Dream Son (Propontis).
Sadly, there is now just the one descendant of Wakeful at stud in Australia - the unraced Place To Gaze (Intergaze) last spring producing a Sidestep filly who has the mighty mare as her 12th dam.
There are however a few nice types going around with Wakeful in their pedigree - descendants of the dual stakes winner Natural Wonder whose sire, Aurilandy, has Wakeful as his seventh dam.
Rainbird (The Buzzard {GB})
The most influential female G1 Melbourne Cup winner, Rainbird (The Buzzard {GB}) first burst onto the scene winning the 1944 G2 Wakeful S., subsequently an unlucky second in the G1 VRC Oaks. Next time in winning the sadly now defunct South Australian St Leger, she was set for the Cups double - finishing second in the G1 Caulfield Cup before making her way to Flemington.
Watch: Rainbird, winner of the 1945 G1 Melbourne Cup
Outstaying and outclassing her rivals with her 2.5l victory, Rainbird remained in work, the following month winning the Cheltenham S. and the Port Adelaide Cup; both features of the time.
She raced 47 times, winning eight races - competitive from two to five.
It took a while for Rainbird's best runner to appear - 20 years after her Wakeful victory her daughter Raindear (Orgoglio {GB}) taking out that same race, also winning the G1 South Australian Oaks and the G3 Auraria S.
Raindear was also a successful broodmare and this is a family that has flourished through the generations - Rainbird the ancestress of 78 stakes winners with nine of those successful at the elite level... Laisserfaire (Danehill {USA}), Malaguerra (Magnus), Allez Wonder (Redoute's Choice), Aloha (Encosta De Lago), Lone Rock (Fastnet Rock), Snitzerland (Snitzel) and Personal (Fastnet Rock) as well as two big-race winners currently at stud - Tivaci and Cool Aza Beel (NZ).
Gallery: Some of the Group 1-winning descendants of Rainbird, images courtesy of Sportpix
Seven stallion descendants of Rainbird have sired stakes winners - Tivaci joined by Sooboog, Devorant, Time Thief, Vain Rancher, Foreplay and the high-class stallion Centaine who was represented by 11 Group 1 winners.
Several of Rainbird's stakes-winning descendants are still racing... such as the 3-year-old As Time Goes By (Deep Impact {Jpn}) winning the Listed Clare Lindop S. at her most recent outing, Ranges (Shooting To Win) winning two Listed races last year and Prairie Fire (Snitzel) being a last-start Morphettville winner.
