A Race with Great History

MULTIPLE WINNERS

Two horses have won the Winter Cup on three occasions:

• CATALOGUE: 1937, 1938 & 1939
• RONGONUI: 1988, 1989 & 1990

 

A further six horses have been dual winners:

• BASHFUL LADY: 1942 & 1943
• CHEYENNE: 1958 & 1960
• JULIUS CAESAR: 1948 & 1949
• ROYAL WARRANT: 1955 & 1956
• SONERI: 1946 & 1947
• KARLA BRUNI: 2013 & 2014

 

AGE

Five-year-olds have the best record in the 120 years history of the race with 34 wins followed by; 6yo’s 30 wins, 4yo’s 27 wins and 7yo’s 17 wins.

8yo’s have 8 wins, the first being KREMLIN in 1905 followed by CATALOGUE in 1938 then LORD MONTY 2007, SHAMROCK STAR 2008, TAKING THE MICKEY 2009 and PROPEL in 2010.

9yo’s; 3 wins (CATALOGUE 1939, DIAMOND PAL 1977 and NASHVILLE last year, 2017).

10yo; 1 win (MOUNT BOA 1933).

 

SEX

Geldings have the greatest success rate with 79 wins followed by Mares with 24 wins and Entires with 16 wins.  One (1) Rig, KAUERE LAD in 1975, has won the Winter Cup.

 

COLOUR

In terms of colour Bay, as would be expected, dominates with 46 wins followed by Chestnuts with 34 wins and Brown 27 wins.  Bay or Brown 1 win, Black 4 wins, Grey 7 wins and Roan 1 win.

 

WINNING JOCKEYS

Hall of Fame jockey Bill Broughton holds the record for the most riding wins with five; CATALOGUE 1937, GOLDEN CORONACH 1953, LADY TINKLE 1940, SONERI 1946 & 1947.

 

Arthur Oliver PENATES 1908, NORTH EAST 1909 & NYLAND 1910; Bert Ellis SOLFERITE 1927, TOXEUMA 1930 & FAST PASSAGE 1932; Keith Nuttall JULIUS CAESAR 1948, 1949 & JOLLY SAILOR 1951; Bill Skelton FAIRASSAN 1961, LEI 1963 & TRITON 1971; Brian Hibberd on RONGONUI on three successive years 1988 1989 & 1990; Russell McAra DANDYMAN 1974, CORRIGAN LAD 1993 and AMORE MIA 1996 all recorded three riding victories.

 

TRAINERS (since 1925)

Mark Oulaghan is the ‘most winning’ trainer in Winter Cup history having prepared four winners; AMORE MIA 1996, JOLLY RODGER 2000, SHAMROCK STAR 2008 and PROPEL 2010.

 

Five trainers have saddled three winners:

• Warren Collett; RONGONUI 1988. 1989, 1990
• Syd Brown; GOLDEN CORONACH 1951, FREE PASS 1968, TRITON 1971
• ‘Granny’ McDonald; CATALOGUE 1937, 1938, 1939
• Fred Pratt; EPRIS 1935, FAIRASSAN 1961, MUKUPAI 1966
• Clarrie McCarthy; JOLLY SAILOR 1951, JULIUS CAESAR 1948 & 1949

 

TRACK CONDITIONS

Surprisingly track conditions described as Good are the most prevalent over history with 46 runnings followed by Heavy on 34 occasions and Slow on 22.  Dead 15 times and Fast 3 round out the options.

 

TIME

Fasted time: 1:34.79 by TROUNCED in 1998.

Slowest time: 1:50.08 by ROYAL WARRANT in 1955.

 

MARGIN

The biggest winning margin recorded is 13 lengths by RAGHAM in 1973 with the second biggest being 10½ lengths by LORD MONTY in 2007.

 

FIELD SIZE

KING STAR in 1917 and JOLLY SAILOR in 1951 hold the record for defeating the largest fields of 29 runners whilst the smallest fields of 13 were when FIRST LOOK 1995, RONGONUI 1990, LORD REGENT 1992 and SUPERTURF 2011 won their Winter Cup.

 

DIVIDEND (Dollars and cents only)

The smallest win dividend of $1.60 was paid on TRITON in 1971 with the largest being $97.30 paid on Diamond Pal in 1977.

 

FAVOURITISM (Since 1933)

In the 82 runnings of the Winter Cup since favouritism was recorded the win favourite has won on 15 occasions and the 2^nd favourite on 12 occasions.  The 3^rd favourite has won 11 times and the 4^th favourite 7 times.

The longest winner in the market was PRINCESS DOREEN in 1934 who stated 22/24 in the betting.

 

 

WEIGHT

The biggest weight carried to victory since the introduction of metrics was 62.5kg by SHIFNAL CHIEF in 1976.  The second highest weight carried has been 60kg which NASHVILLE Carried last year 2017 followed by 56.5kg by both TANGARAKAU 1997 and ROBYN’S AFFAIR 1991.  Incredibly SHIFNAL CHIEF did not carry the number 1 saddlecloth; SHOW GATE was handicapped at 63kg but did not run.  The lowest weight was the 49.5kg allotted to AMORE MIA in 1996 and 50kg carried by DIAMOND PAL in 1997.

 

Under Imperial measures TOXEUMA in 1930 carried 11 stone 5 pounds (73kg) but it appears that the minimum was 9 stone or 57kg in that era.  11 stone 4 pounds (72.4) was carried by SONERI in 1947 when the minimum had dropped to 8 stone (approximately 51kg).  The lowest imperial weight recorded as being carried to victory was 7.8 (49.5kg) by GILLIN in 1964.