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.
Doncaster was an English Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was the winner of the 1873 Epsom Derby and the sire of the great stallion Bend Or. Through Bend Or he is the direct male-line ancestor of most modern thoroughbreds.
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.
Sadler's Wells was an American-bred, Irish-trained champion Thoroughbred racehorse and outstanding sire. He was the 1984 European Champion miler after winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas, Eclipse Stakes and Phoenix Champion Stakes in that year. He also finished second in the French Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes.
Haradasun was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. His most significant wins include the 2007 Group 1 Doncaster Handicap and George Ryder Stakes in Australia and the Queen Anne Stakes in Britain in 2008.
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.
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. His breeder's daughter Savannah Daisley was found guilty of sexually assaulting a 14 year-old boy on October 27, 2023 and was sentenced to 3 years in prison.
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.
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.
Pope Joan (1809–1830) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse. She won four of her eight starts before being retired to stud, where she became a successful broodmare. She foaled 1000 Guineas winner Tontine, 2000 Guineas winner Turcoman and Epsom Oaks winner Turquoise. Pope Joan was bred by Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton and after his death was owned by his son George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton.
Turtle Island was an Irish-bred, British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. He was one of the leading British two-year-olds of 1993 when he won four of his seven races including the Norfolk Stakes, Phoenix Stakes and Gimcrack Stakes. In the following year he won the Greenham Stakes before winning the Irish 2,000 Guineas by fifteen lengths. He was beaten in his three remaining races and was retired to stud, where he had some success as a sire of winners.
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, namely the Greenlands Stakes in Ireland and the Diamond Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot.
