Famous Horses - Makybe Diva is a mythical horse that won the prestigious Melbourne Cup a record three times in a row : Aussiepunter

Famous Australian Horses

The saga of equine magnificence began with Archer, an out-of-towner, upsetting Mormon the local favourite by coming up from behind to win the first ever Melbourne Cup in 1861. It was an eventful race where a fall resulted in a collision that killed two horses and injured a jockey. In the resulting melee, Archer managed to overtake Mormon and dash past the finishing post. As if to dispel any notion that this was pure luck, Archer went on to win the next year, once again pushing Mormon to second place, and trotted away with the prize.

Another horse to win the Cup twice was Peter Pan who pranced all over the competition in 1932 and 1934. This was the stuff legends are made of when in 1932 he went down and came up again managing to regain his balance, and won the race by a neck length. He repeated his performance in 1934 and finished three lengths ahead of his competition. 1968 and 1969 belonged to Rain Lover; where in the first race he won by an unrivalled eight lengths. His second triumph was clouded by a controversy when the favourite Big Philou was drugged and had to drop out of the race minutes before it was due to begin. In 1974 and 1975 it was Think Big's turn to repeat this amazing feat of consecutive victories.

To win twice is an accomplishment, but to win thrice is what takes a horse from history to mythology. Makybe Diva would then have to be called a mythical horse, for she won the prestigious Melbourne Cup a record three times in a row starting from 2004. She is also the latest to be inducted to the Racing Hall of Fame. Being the only mare in this illustrious group of multiple winners, and outdoing their accomplishments, she might well be termed a feminist icon, but she is presently living in domestic bliss with her new born colt, born in the early hours of the 17th of August, in the Hunter Valley, NSW.

Carbine, a New Zealand thoroughbred was another illustrious horse that was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. Earlier on he was known for his penchant for biting strangers and dropping unsuspecting riders. His remarkable Melbourne Cup win in 1890 was a triumph in more ways than one. He set a weight carrying record of 66.5kg and won the race in a record time of 3 minutes and 28 ¼ seconds which took 15 years to be broken. All this with a heel that had split open and had to be lanced. Carbine was indeed a horse of heroic proportions.

Another glorious inductee into the Hall of Fame was Tulloch who had an amazing career and nineteen victories under his saddle. Bernborough, with twenty six wins was also one of the five to be conferred this honour. Kingston Town, the champ of the 1980s was a big time winner who made over 1.5 million dollars in prize money and won 30 victories, and was therefore deemed worthy to be a Hall of Famer. But of the magnificent five the one that lives on to this day as a legend would have to be Phar Lap, the greatest racehorse ever.

With a name that meant "lightning" in Thai, he was however, disowned by his owner Davis who was totally unimpressed with his skinny looks and ugly face. But his trainer Telford had faith in him and managed to convince Davis to lease him the ugly looking brute. Stable boy Tom Woodcock soon became his attendant and best friend, so much so that the horse would refuse food if Woodcock wasn't in the stall.

This equine equivalent of the ugly duckling soon transformed into a world class race horse that won races as a matter of routine. He became so famous that it unnerved bookmakers and one of them even tried to assassinate him on Derby Day, 1930. Woodcock moved swiftly and place himself and a pony in the line of fire and managed to save the legend. Three days later Phar Lap went on to win the Melbourne Cup.

He was taken to America where he continued his winning streak in spite of personal injury and weather changes. But on the 5th of April, 1932, the mighty horse died under mysterious circumstances, breaking over a million hearts. Woodcock is supposed to have thrown himself on his dead mate and cried like a baby. Amid controversies that he was poisoned, the legend still lives on in the hearts of all Australians and horse lovers the world over.