Milestone Memories: The Oaks

It is a celebration of high fashion, and features the Group 1 Crown Oaks (2500m), a three-year-old fillies’ race that was first run in 1861.
Some champion fillies grace the winner’s list of this time-honoured classic.

The VRC’s Joe McGrath reflects on various milestone victories recorded over the years.

1995 - Saleous

30 YEARS AGO

Saleous was the first horse of note in a training sense for 1985 Melbourne Cup-winning jockey, Pat Hyland. In the Oaks, she was ridden by the golden boy of racing, Darren Beadman, who had also secured the Wakeful Stakes the Saturday before on the same filly. This followed a narrow second in the Thousand Guineas at her previous start.

Saleous would defeat the subsequent Caulfield Cup winner, Arctic Scent, and go on to engage in a Cups campaign the following spring, highlighted by victory in the Craiglee Stakes (now the Crown Makybe Diva Stakes), leading into a sixth in the Turnbull Stakes and a sixth in the Caulfield Cup.

The win was sweet success for Hyland, who had previously won the race on Rom’s Stiletto in 1982 as a rider, and had turned his hand to training only a few seasons earlier.

Securing a horse like Saleous in his stables was seen as a godsend at the time, so early in his career. For Beadman, it was only the start of bigger things to come, including a second Melbourne Cup win on Saintly in 1996.

1975 - Denise's Joy

50 YEARS AGO

When you talk of great fillies, it is hard to surpass Denise’s Joy.

A filly trained by the great T.J. Smith, and ridden by Melbourne Cup-winning jockey John Duggan, Denise’s Joy was the top three-year-old filly of her year, winning races such as the VRC Oaks, the WATC Australian Derby, and the QTC Queensland Oaks. She had also won the Moonee Valley Stakes en route to her VRC Oaks victory that year.

Although considered a modest producer with only one stakes-winner, her daughters proved her worth, with many producing multiple stakes winners.

Five of her daughters produced stakes winners: Joy And Fun (3 SWs); Bolt Of Lightning (1 SW); Clifton Gardens (1 SW); Joie de Vivre (2 SWs) and Joie Denise (2 SWs). In breeding circles, she is regarded as the foundation of a highly commercial family. 

1955 - Evening Peal

70 YEARS AGO

Evening Peal was a classic example of patience being a virtue. Bought by trainer Peter Lawson for 800 guineas, it was only in the 1955 VRC Wakeful Stakes over a mile and a quarter that Evening Peal began to distinguish herself from her rivals.

After winning the Victoria Oaks five days later, Evening Peal was set on a classic fillies’ path, securing the AJC and the QTC Oaks the following year.

She faced some formidable older opposition as a four-year-old, including outstanding stayers Rising Fast and Redcraze. However, at Flemington on the first Tuesday in November in 1956, she secured a Melbourne Cup victory, becoming the first mare to win the VRC Oaks–Melbourne Cup double. Briseis (1876) and Auraria (1895) both won the Oaks after having won a Melbourne Cup in their three-year-old year.

In the Victoria Oaks, Evening Peal was ridden by the diminutive George Podmore.

Evening Peal was bred by the famed breeder Percy Miller from Kia Ora Stud in the Hunter Valley, New South Wales.

She was a top-flight filly by Delville Wood, who also sired other top horses such as Hydrogen, Valerius, Electro, Caesar and Prince Delville. Evening Peal came from the family of 1925 Melbourne Cup winner Windbag.

1895 - Auraria

130 YEARS AGO

Auraria would prove to be one of the greatest Australian three-year-old fillies of all time. A winner of the 1895 Victoria Oaks, this victory was one of two for the 1895 Melbourne Cup Carnival. She raced on each of the four days.

On the first Saturday, she finished third behind Wallace in the Derby. On the Tuesday, she won the Melbourne Cup. On the Thursday, she won the Oaks and on the following Saturday, she dead-heated with Wallace in the C.B. Fisher Plate. In those days they would send the horses around again, but it was deemed too much of an impost on the participants, and both owners agreed to settle on a dead-heat.

Auraria was bred by W.R. Wilson at St Albans Stud, who coincidentally owned Wallace, her three-year-old nemesis.

She was owned by David James from Kapunda, South Australia, one of the original shareholders in the Broken Hill Mining Company, better known as BHP. 

Auraria was by Trenton, a dual-placed finisher in the 1885 and 1886 Melbourne Cups, finishing third and second respectively. She was a sister to the accomplished Aurum (1897 VATC Caulfield Guineas; third in the 1897 VRC Melbourne Cup), as well as Golden Slipper, Aurous, and Auriferous.

1870 - Florence

155 YEARS AGO

Florence, trained by ‘Honest’ John Tait was well-performed and well-bred, but raced in and around controversial circumstances.

She joined a unique group of nine horses to win both the VRC Oaks and VRC Derby in the same week. Her record also included victories in the 1870 VRC Oaks, AJC Oaks, and Victoria Derby, as well as the 1871 Queensland Derby. She also won the 1870 AJC Champagne Stakes as a two-year-old.

Controversially, Florence was at the centre of ‘the Declaration Rule Controversy’; where stables declared multiple runners but would withdraw a more favoured one close to the race, manipulating betting markets in favour of their stable mate.

This practice borrowed from European racing, left a bitter taste in the mouths of the betting public when markets were manipulated accordingly. Controversy aside, Florence was a very well-performed filly and was extremely well bred.

By Boiardo, the sire of brothers Banker (1863 Melbourne Cup) and Barwon (1862 Victoria Derby), Florence was the first foal from 1863 and 1864 Melbourne Cup-placegetter, Rose Of Denmark. She was one of four stakes winners from the mare, with the well-performed Hamlet, Horatio and Guinea as half relations.