Starcraft was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who came to international attention when he won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Newmarket in England in September 2005. He was the winner of five Group One (G1) races in four countries, the 2004 Australian Champion Three Year Old and also the 2005 World Champion Older Turf Miler.
Thoroughbred horse racing is a spectator sport in Australia, and gambling on horse races is a very popular pastime with A$14.3 billion wagered in 2009/10 with bookmakers and the Totalisator Agency Board (TAB). The two forms of Thoroughbred horseracing in Australia are flat racing, and races over fences or hurdles in Victoria and South Australia. Thoroughbred racing is the third most attended spectator sport in Australia, behind Australian rules football and rugby league, with almost two million admissions to 360 registered racecourses throughout Australia in 2009/10. Horseracing commenced soon after European settlement, and is now well-appointed with automatic totalizators, starting gates and photo finish cameras on nearly all Australian racecourses.
High Caste was a Thoroughbred racehorse and stallion that was bred in New Zealand and was considered the best two-year-old in New Zealand after winning three of his four race starts. He was a good racehorse under handicap and weight for age conditions and combined this with wins in good races from 5 furlongs to 1+3⁄4 miles (2,800 m), carrying up to 10 stone 6 pounds.
Danehill was an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who was the most successful sire of all time with 349 stakes winners and 89 Grade 1 winners. He was the leading sire in Australia nine times, the leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland three times and the leading sire in France twice.
Fastnet Rock is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse stallion.
Weekend Hussler is a retired Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. He is a bay gelding by Hussonet out of Weekend Beauty. He was foaled in 2004. Hussonet had been a very successful sire in Chile for Haras de Pirque where he stood for the largest fee of any stallion in the history of Chilean Thoroughbred breeding.
Raven's Pass is an American-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse most notable for being the first English-trained winner of the Grade I Breeders' Cup Classic at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California.
Volksraad was a British-bred thoroughbred horse who when standing at stud in New Zealand was a champion sire. He dominated the New Zealand sires lists, with six consecutive titles from 2001 to 2007.
Choisir was an Australian-bred dual hemisphere-winning Thoroughbred racehorse. He became the first Australian-trained winner of the Group Two King's Stand Stakes. The same year, Choisir also won the Golden Jubilee Stakes and was second in the July Cup.
Manitoba (1930-1951) was a British bred Thoroughbred racehorse that was a race winner in England before he was exported to Australia where he was a leading sire.
Encosta De Lago was an Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse that won three group races from eight starts including the Group One (G1), Vic Health Cup against older horses. He was the Leading sire in Australia during 2008 and 2009.
Springfield (1873–1898) was a successful English Thoroughbred racehorse that won 14 consecutive races and was a useful sire of the late 19th century. He was the grandsire of two English Triple Crown winners: Galtee More, who was exported to Russia, and later Germany and Rock Sand, who was exported to the U.S. and in turn was the grandsire of Man o' War, widely considered one of the greatest racehorses of all time.
Danehill Dancer was a bay horse bred by L. K. and K. McCreery and foaled on 20 January 1993. He was sired by Danehill, who won the Haydock Sprint Cup in 1989. Danehill Dancer's dam is Mira Adonde, a daughter of Sharpen Up. Mira Adonde was trained by Alec Stewart, but only raced once, finishing seventh in a seven-furlong maiden race at Newmarket.
Virginia Waters is an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse. In a racing career which lasted from September 2004 to October 2005 she ran twelve times and won three races. After winning once from four starts as a two-year-old, she won the Group Three Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial Stakes on her first appearance of 2005. She then recorded her most important success when winning the Classic 1000 Guineas two of her six races including an upset win in the Group Two Rockfel Stakes at Newmarket Racecourse. Virginia Waters failed to win her remaining six races, her best results coming when she finished fourth in The Oaks and second in the Matron Stakes. At the end of her three-year-old season she was retired from racing to become a broodmare.
Excelebration is an Irish-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. As a three-year-old he recorded wins in the Mehl-Mülhens-Rennen and Hungerford Stakes, before winning his first Group 1 in the Prix du Moulin de Longchamp. After finishing second to the unbeaten Frankel in his first two starts of 2012 he recorded successive victories in the Prix Jacques Le Marois and Queen Elizabeth II Stakes. These were followed by a fourth-place finish in the Breeders' Cup Mile, after which he was retired to stud. He was trained by Marco Botti until being transferred to Aidan O'Brien at the end of the 2011 flat season.
Jest (1910–1921) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare, best known for winning two Classics in 1913. The filly won four times from eight races in a track career which lasted from July 1912 until July 1913. As a two-year-old in 1912 she won twice from four starts. On her three-year-old debut she won the 1000 Guineas over one mile at Newmarket and then won the Oaks over one and a half miles at Epsom a month later. She was retired from racing after being beaten in the Coronation Stakes at Royal Ascot and the Nassau Stakes at Goodwood. As a broodmare she produced the 1921 Epsom Derby winner Humorist before dying at the age of eleven.
Minardi was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the top-rated European two-year-old in 2000 when he recovered from a defeat on his debut to win the Phoenix Stakes and the Middle Park Stakes. In the following year he finished fourth in the 2000 Guineas and third in the Irish 2,000 Guineas. He was retired to stud but had limited success as a breeding stallion.
Bluebird was an American-bred, Irish-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He fetched $1.1 million as a yearling and spent his racing career in Europe. He showed promise as a juvenile in Ireland in 1986 when he won on his debut and finished third in his only other race that year. In the following spring, he finished second in the Leopardstown 2,000 Guineas Trial Stakes before being dropped to sprint distances to win the Ballyogan Stakes and subsequently recording an emphatic victory in the Group One King's Stand Stakes. He failed to win in three subsequent starts and was retired at the end of the season. He later stood as a breeding stallion in Ireland and Australia and had considerable success as a sire of winners.
Bracelet is an Irish Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She won the second of her two starts as a two-year-old in 2013 and developed into a top-class filly in the following year, taking the Leopardstown 1,000 Guineas Trial and Ribblesdale Stakes. She recorded her biggest victory on her sixth and final appearance when she won the Irish Oaks. She was retired from racing at the end of the season and became a broodmare for the Coolmore Stud.
Merchant Navy is an Australian-bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He showed considerable promise as a juvenile when he was undefeated in three start including the Listed ANZAC Day Stakes. As a three-year-old he proved himself one of the best horses of his generation in Australia over sprint distances, taking the HDF McNeil Stakes and the Coolmore Stud Stakes as well as being placed in both the Rubiton Stakes and the Newmarket Handicap. In the summer of 2018 he was relocated to Europe where he won both his races, the Greenlands Stakes in Ireland and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
