Won by some of our greatest ever thoroughbreds, the Group 1 Australian Cup run over 2000m at the famous Flemington racecourse was once upon a time the pinnacle of the autumn carnival.
First run in 1863, and steeped in history, the honour board includes Dulcify (1979), Bonecrusher (1987), Octagonal (1997) and triple Melbourne Cup hero Makybe Diva (2005).
And who could forget The Black Flash Lonhro, lifted off the canvas by Darren Beadman, responding to the deafening roar of the crowd, to score in the 2004 version of the race in his final Victorian start.
One of the most incredible Australian Cups took place in 1872 when Saladin and Flying Dutchman went across the line together. The rules of the time stipulated that the race be run again that day in a match race between the two horses.
The result a second time around? Another dead heat.
A winner was finally declared after Saladan won the third race by a huge margin of half a length.
These days the focus during the autumn months is firmly on Sydney and the road to The Championships but go back a decade or so and the Australian Cup held a great amount of prestige.
Returning Melbourne Cup runners, especially if they were trained by the late, great Bart Cummings, were often given light autumn campaigns with their target being the 2000m at headquarters for the Australian Cup.
Bart, of course, is a living treasure in the Australian horse racing industry but what if I told you he won the Australian Cup (13) more times than the Melbourne Cup (12).
He achieved the double with his beloved mare Leilani, Hyperno, Let’s Elope and Saintly, a feat last achieved by Fiorente in 2014.
We won’t see the best 2000m horses compete in the 2025 Australian Cup this Saturday, which has unfortunately been the way for a period of time now.
We can however reminisce on the glory days of the race when the champions of each era lined up against one another.
It didn’t always go to plan and many odds on favourites have been upstaged by big priced winners.
1988 – Dandy Andy
The 1988 Australian Cup was a two horse race according to anyone that followed the sport of kings.
This included the bookmakers.
Vo Rogue had won the Turnbull Stakes during the spring as a three-year-old and started favourite.
Bonecrusher was a Cox Plate winner as well as this race a year previous.
An exciting front running horse, Vo Rogue had opened up an eight length lead more than half the way down the Flemington straight, and while he would go on to win the race the next two years, was run down by a 125-1 chance in the form of Dandy Andy.
To this day it is one of the biggest upsets we’ve seen on an Australian race track in a Group 1 race.
2006 – Roman Arch
Lad Of The Manor ran into the three-time Melbourne Cup winning mare Makybe Diva on a number of occasions but he was surely sick of her in 2005.
He ran third to her in the Australian Cup, second in the Turnbull Stakes and fifth in the Cox Plate.
But after her record setting three Cup wins, the ‘Diva’ was retired and Lad Of The Manor subsequently started favourite in the 2006 Australian Cup.
The only other runner in betting was Our Smokin’ Joe after the pair filled out the quinella in the Group 2 St George Stakes two weeks earlier as well as the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes during the spring.
No one, and I mean no one, gave the seven-year-old Roman Arch a chance.
Trained by Robbie Laing, and having his 73rd career start, he won his maiden, and only, Group 1 race at $51.
In fact he never won again.
1979 – Dulcify
Hindsight is great but going into the 1979 Australian Cup there was only one three-year-old that the racing public was talking about.
Despite winning the Derby during the spring, Dulcify who had just run 11th in the Schweppes Cup at Caulfield, was the forgotten three-year-old.
Manikato had won the Blue Diamond/Golden Slipper double as a juvenile but his trainer Bob Hoysted wanted to get him out over some distance as “the prize money just wasn’t there for the sprinters”.
How times have changed.
He’d won the Futurity over 1800m leading into the Australian Cup so the champion sprinter was the one they wanted in the betting ring.
Dulcify caused one of the biggest boilovers in the races’ history when scoring at $80 but would cement his legacy in Australian racing by winning the Rosehill Guineas and AJC Derby that autumn, and then the Cox Plate in the spring before tragically losing his life in the Melbourne Cup.
He would have won that Australian Cup by six lengths with clear running if you watch the replay!
Manikato would never race over a distance greater than 1600m again.