Cup a hoodoo for so many champions

GAMMALITE, Our Sir Vancelot, Thorate, Village Kid, Westburn Grant, Im Themightyquinn and Leap To Fame have so many things in common.

Each has earned more than $1million, captured numerous Group Ones, been Australian Horse of the Year and can lay claim to the status of a champion.

The sextet has also enjoyed success in the race regarded as the industry’s ‘holy grail’ – the Inter Dominion.

Now, it is fair to assume most people will make the reasonable declaration that the Inter Dominion is the hardest event on the harness calendar to win.

No doubt a survey among participants will back up the theory, but here is something which may change that way of thinking – or in the very least, provide food for thought.

The Victoria Cup is harder to capture than the Inter Dominion.

Sure, the first reaction will be ‘No way’, but consider a few facts first.

The above mentioned stars, which have won an amazing 60 Grand Circuit races between them, couldn’t win Victoria’s premier mobile feature from several attempts.

In fact, since its inception in 1974, the Cup – which was known as the Winfield Gold Cup until 1989 – has only been won by nine Inter Dominion stars.

With the exception of the Victoria Cup, the elite fraternity mentioned at the beginning of this article has won every state’s flagship race.

So does that make the Cup the most difficult race to win?

Record-breaking horseman Vic Frost believes it is.

“I didn’t realize so many champions couldn’t win that race,” Frost said. “It just goes to show how difficult the Victoria Cup is to win and that’s saying something.

“We took him everywhere and enjoyed success all over the place, but he just couldn’t crack the Cup.

“That Cup was the thorn in his side – Westburn Grant’s kryptonite.”

Frost trained, drove and part-owned Westburn Grant, which had three starts in the Group One, with two fourths his best results.

The son of Land Grant competed in 1990, ’92 and ’93, finishing fourth behind Sovereign Cloud and Master Musician and fifth behind Franco Ice.

“The time Franco Ice beat him, I probably shouldn’t have run him,” Frost declared. “He had a virus a few weeks before it and missed a lot of work.

“After leading halfway down the straight, they swamped him as he ran out of puff.”

For the record, Westburn Grant, which retired as the nation’s richest stallion with earnings of $2,074,916, was triumphant in two West Australia Cups, two Miracle Miles, the Queensland Pacing Championship, M H Treuer Memorial, two South Australia Cups and the Australian Pacing Championship.

The late Bill Horn, who prepared and co-owned Village Kid, once referred to the Victoria Cup as the race that “got away.”

“Every race that gets away from you gives you a feeling that you’ve missed out and the Victoria Cup was one of those,” Horn said. “We never had much luck in the race and it is the one that got away.”

Village Kid crossed the Nullarbor twice for the Cup and found Bag Limit his nemesis on both occasions.

In 1987 the son of Gramatan was beaten by a metre-and-a-half when second to the Bob Knight-trained local before a fourth the following year.

Retiring as the nation’s richest pacer, Village Kid secured two Miracle Miles, the M H Treuer Memorial, two Fremantle Cups, Australian Pacing Championship, four West Australia Cups and the A G Hunter Cup on his way to earning $2,117,870.

Just like Village Kid’s strong affiliation with the WA Cup, Gammalite had a bond with South Australia’s pinnacle event.

The Leo O’Connor-trained iron horse captured the SA Cup on four consecutive occasions between 1982 and 1985.

Gammalite, which retired as the richest pacer in the Southern Hemisphere, was a star from the time he made his debut and grabbed his first Group One when he secured the SA Derby.

On that occasion, the flashy chestnut staved off a late challenge from a little-known pacer named Popular Alm.

Gammalite and Poppy, as he was affectionately known, became archenemies during the early 1980s, with the latter winning 17 of their 19 encounters.

Unfortunately for Gammalite, two of those defeats were in the Winfield Gold Cup.

The son of Thor Hanover finished fourth behind Popular Alm in 1982 and second in 1983.

Gammalite, which was driven by Bruce Clarke on each occasion, was also runner-up to Frosty Imp in 1981.

“When Popular Alm beat us, we were clearly beaten,” Clarke said. “When Popular Alm was at Moonee Valley he was close to unbeatable.

“Frosty Imp was also too good on the night.”

Gammalite’s Grand Circuit wins include the Queensland Pacing Championship and West Australia and A G Hunter Cups.

As with Frost and Horn, Clarke is amazed at the number of champions which couldn’t win the Cup, stating the ‘secondary honour roll’ is just as impressive as the victors’ list.

“That’s a very interesting statistic,” Clarke declared. “It certainly is a fair field of horses which couldn’t win it.

“Just goes to show how competitive the Victoria Cup is.”

Master reinsman Brian Hancock jokingly cites a superstitious reason for his defeats in the Cup.
Hancock believes his misfortune is due to the name change from Winfield Gold to Victoria in 1990.

During the Winfield era, Hancock won the race on three consecutive occasions with Koala King, but has failed to enjoy the glory from 12 attempts since the switch.

“I haven’t been able to win it since they changed the name,” Hancock said. “The Winfield days were good to me, but the Victoria Cup days haven’t been as nice.”

Hancock was represented during the latter starts by Thorate and Our Sir Vancelot, which were both beaten in the last stride in one of their attempts.

Thorate had four starts in the Cup for a second, third, fourth and last.

“The year he finished second behind Sovereign Cloud, I think I went too soon with him,” Hancock declared.

“The two times Sinbad Bay beat him, Sinbad Bay just went enormous and was a class of his own on both occasions.

“It was the same case with Franco Ice, which was going amazing at the time.

“By that race though, Thorate was at the end of his tether.”

A son of King Kellanie, Thorate managed to emerge triumphant in the Queensland Pacing Championship, M H Treuer Memorial, South Australia Cup and Tasmanian Championship.

Like Thorate, which was beaten by a half-head when by Sovereign Cloud, Our Sir Vancelot was denied his glory by the narrowest of margins in 1998.

Having won his previous six starts – including four Group Ones – Our Sir Vancelot was understandably the public elect.

After finding the front on a waterlogged track, the son of Vance Hanover was caught in the shadows of the post by New Zealander, Brabham.

Our Sir Vancelot’s other starts resulted in a third behind Holmes D G in 1999 and a fourth behind Desperate Comment in 1997.

“Sandy just didn’t have any luck in the Victoria Cup,” Hancock said. “I’ve gone close on a couple of occasions, but just missed out.

“There were a few bad drives there in the mix too, I don’t mind saying.”

The first pacer to capture three Inter Dominion titles, Our Sir Vancelot retired with earnings of $2,197,990 to take the crown as the nation’s richest pacer from Village Kid.

Our Sir Vancelot boasts the Miracle Mile, two M H Treuer Memorials, the South Australia Cup, Australian Pacing Championship and two West Australia Cups among his victories.

Then there is the ‘Western Wonder’ – Im Themightyquinn.

One of only three pacers to capture three or more Inter Dominions, Im Themightyquinn has been void of luck each time he has competed in the Cup.

Making his debut in the 2010 edition, Im Themightyquinn finished third behind Mr Feelgood and The Sleepy Tripp as a $3.50 favourite.

A year later the Gary Hall-trained gelding – which was later found to be severely dehydrated – finished at the tail of the 12-horse field as Smoken Up rated a track record for the 2240 metres.

During the next 12 months, Im Themightyquinn was unbeaten from 11 starts, including three Grand Circuit wins, before Hall once again made the journey across the Nullarbor.

A raging $1.60 favourite, Im Themightyquinn had to settle for third behind outsiders Caribbean Blaster and Mah Sish.

“The Victoria Cup has been a thorn in Quinny’s side,” Hall said. “He was beaten as a good thing a couple of times and in another he was crook.

“It’s a race he hasn’t had any luck in.”

As of last night, arguably the world's best pacer, Leap To Fame, has come up short on three occasions.

The Grant Dixon-trained stallion was third in 2023, was scratched during the week of the 2024 edition and finished third last night.

So far the son of Bettors Delight has won 12 Group Ones, including two Inter Dominions, A G Hunter Cup, Miracle Mile and The Blacks A Fake.

Hancock believes the losing list justifies the Victoria Cup’s position as one of the most prestigious features on the calendar and agrees it is one of the hardest – if not the hardest – Grand Circuit events to win.

“Hearing the list of horses which have been able to win it certainly puts some prestige on it,” Hancock said. “Some great horses have won the race and some super horses have missed out.

“The Victoria Cup is a great race and a great night too.

“It is a true test of the Grand Circuit.”

Given these facts and the knowledge of the who’s who of pacers that couldn’t win it, the Group One Victoria Cup certainly rivals the Inter Dominion as the hardest race to win.

Or is it harder?