A to Z of the Doomben Cup

By Ross Stanley

Doomben opened for business with a two day meeting in 1933. The highlights were the Newmarket (now Doomben 10,000) over the straight six on Thursday, May 26, and, two days later, the Doomben Cup.

During its history, the Cup has been decided in May, June or July over distances ranging from 2000-2200m.

Since 1990, it has been a weight-for-age contest. From 1942 to 1945, Albion Park was the wartime venue.

The event was a Coronavirus casualty in 2020. Last year’s rain forced a week’s postponement and a shift to Eagle Farm.

The total prize money for the first Doomben Cup was £1000 with a gold cup valued at £100. This year’s $1 million renewal on May 20 rewards the winner with $600,000 plus, if QTIS eligible, the option of $50,000 or a $100,000 sales voucher. If the performer has won the A.D. Hollindale Stakes, another $200,000 is payable.

Below are 26 short snippets about this key contest.

ABSTRACTION, the Grosvenor gelding that scored for the Lee Freedman-Darren Gauci side in 1989, was out of Grand Fiesta. She was the daughter of Rajah Sahib, a 1969 Doomben Cup placegetter, and Manikato’s dam, Markato. 

According to Mark Cushway’s November 1993 Turf Monthly article, Abstraction stayed in Queensland after the Cup success. However he “developed a bad attitude to racing, refused to eat and dwindled away into racing obscurity”.

“And so, as a gaunt eight-year-old who had no zest for life, he was put up for sale at William Inglis in 1992.”

Lindsay and Stacey Felton, a couple highly experienced in educating horses at Wiangaree north of Kyogle, picked him up for $1100. They had been hired to buy and train four black horses for a New Zealand movie production of The Black Stallion.

Abstraction’s mind was stimulated by the Feltons. He learnt the tricks and played the film role of Black Tide. In time, his rejuvenation signalled that he could have another try on the turf. He revelled in the heavy going for the 1993 Grafton Cup with Graeme Birney aboard. Glen Boss was the pilot when the Neville Stewart-trained veteran also added the 1993 Coffs Harbour Cup to his resume.

BORE HEAD was bought for 1200 guineas by Bill Chaplain. The grazier from Malakoff Station near Cloncurry gifted the 1959 son of Double Bore (GB) and Mauna Kea to his son, Robert, and daughter, Carmel Burke.

A year earlier, Chaplain had wanted to buy the Delville Wood-Mauna Kea yearling but the drought made the plan unaffordable.

Although Bore Head is best remembered for his slashing win in the 1965 Caulfield Cup for Brisbane trainer Ron Dillon and jockey Fred Clarke, the renowned stayer also saluted in the 1963 Queensland Cup for Colin “Chicka” Pearson and dead heated for Bobby Greaves with Isaacson (Tony Erhart) in the 1964 Ipswich Cup.

After relocating to Des Judd’s Melbourne stables, he collected the 1967 Australian Cup (Harry White) and 1967 Doomben Cup (Barry Stein). 

The lowest moment was his fall, along with Matloch and the 1966 Doomben Cup winner River Seine, in the 1965 Melbourne Cup.

A 1964 Caulfield Cup attempt was aborted without a southern run when Bore Head fretted for his Brisbane environs. Dillon took a travelling companion for him 12 months later. Judd wisely placed him in Ron’s care for his Doomben Cup mission.

Double Bore earnt the laurels in the 1955 Goodwood Cup while his sire, Borealis, had scooped up the 1945 Coronation Cup and his progeny’s credits were a German Derby, an Irish Thousand Guineas and an Irish St Leger. 

Mauna Kea’s sire Brimstone produced Baystone (1958 Melbourne Cup, Brisbane and Doomben Cups-placed). Her dam, the Magpie mare Gazza, dropped the famous brothers Delta, Deep River and Midway when mated with Midstream.

CLASSIC winners have been to the fore to a small degree.

The Eagle Farm Derby heroes Earlwood, Book Link, Tails, Cheyne Walk and Rough Habit and their Randwick counterparts Divide and Rule, Durbridge and Prince Delville along with the AJC Oaks heroine Streama all garnered Doomben Cups.

DARK MARNE was first brought north by the Canterbury mentor Alf Klinge in 1947.

The three-year-old was ridden by George Podmore when he took out the BATC Carnival Handicap in course record for the mile and the Doomben Cup, beating Hiraji.

Come November, the first pair home in the VRC Hotham Handicap was again Dark Marne and Hiraji with the latter securing the Melbourne Cup three days later.

Dark Marne’s two further trips to Brisbane furnished a win in the 1949 P.J. O ‘Shea Stakes and runner-up cheques in the Brisbane Cups of 1948 and 1949. 

The chestnut, that was also on top in the 1947 STC Hill Stakes, 1948 Sydney Cup, AJC Colin Stephens Stakes and 1949 Rosehill Cup, was declared the closest of seconds to Rimfire in the 1948 Melbourne Cup.

The name was linked to the paternal sires Heroic and The Marne through the Battle of the Marne in France during the Great War. 

EARLWOOD was bought as a Boxwood foal at foot by Milmerran’s Bill Jones, the principal of Wodonga where Bore Head was born.

His primary interest was the dam Honey Buzz, the full sister by The Buzzard to the 1938 Caulfield Cup winner Buzalong.

Fate stepped in when the bay was passed in and Jones decided to have him prepared by Bert Cook.

His stakes wins included the QTC Sapling Stakes and Lonergan Stakes at two, the 1958 BATC O’Mara Stakes, QTC Guineas, BATC Summer Cup, QTC Derby and the 1959 Tattersall’s Cup.

In 1958, the entire won the Doomben Cup ahead of Skyline (1958 Golden Slipper, AJC Derby). Cook had to rely on a rigorous swimming program to ready Earlwood for his successful title defence in the 1959 Cup. Russell Maddock was the partner on both occasions 

FIRST BUZZARD, the 1937 victor, was one of The Buzzard’s 42 representatives that generated 110 stakes wins across the six mainland states.

The wonderful progenitor resided at Jack McDougall’s Lyndhurst Stud near Warwick.

Bill Tucker, First Buzzard’s owner-trainer, was the patriarch of an eminent racing family. The winning jockey John “Uncle” Conquest had also booted home Verdun in the previous Cup. His brother Ernest “Bronco” Conquest started the ball rolling on Serlodi in the 1935 edition.

GREY AFFAIR, the 1977 Cup winner for apprentice Gary Palmer, finished in the top four for half of his 99 starts. The record could well have been better if he had handled Melbourne’s anti-clockwise layouts.

All up, the grey’s score of 18 hits for Toowoomba trainer Jim Atkins embraced two QTC Metropolitans and two Moreton Handicaps, an AJC Chipping Norton Stakes, the 1979 Brisbane Cup, and the QTC Frazer Handicap-Queensland Cup double at age eight.

The Queensland-bred stayer was by Lumley Road (GB). The bloodstock by his maternal grandsire Gaekwar’s Pride included the southern Derby victors Prince Morvi and Martello Towers and Nagpuni (Doomben 10,000).

HIRAJI, in 1947, became the only Melbourne Cup winner to be placed in a Doomben 10,000 and a Doomben Cup.  

Leviathan owner F.W. Hughes bought the promising young New Zealand grey, hoping it would become a fine advertisement for his sire Nizami, the French stallion that was also destined to father the 1949 Melbourne Cup winner Foxzami. Nizami and The Marne were on duty at the Sydney wool and shipping magnate’s Kooba Stud.

The Jim McCurley-trained gelding had finished runner-up in Columnist’s 1947 Caulfield Cup.

INTERGAZE, the successful candidate in 1999, was a case of love at first sight in a Hunter Valley paddock for Warwick Farm trainer Rod Craig.

Peter Bennett, a beginner breeder who was involved with Les Young in setting up Middlebrook Valley Lodge at Scone, had the Lunchtime stallion Integra in the barn. The coupling with Tempergaze (US), a grand-daughter of Secretariat created Intergaze, an underrated performer raced by previously unlucky friends of Craig.

Craig Carmody was the regular race rider for the $15,000 buy that had eight hits and a swag of placings at the elite level. 

At three, the wonderfully game chestnut downed Octagonal in the 1997 AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes and franked the form by winning the event’s 1999 renewal.

 In Brisbane, Intergaze beat all bar Might and Power in the 1998 Doomben Cup, won the race a year later and also prevailed in the 1998 QTC O’Shea Stakes.

JOCKEYS who have been most striking in the Doomben Cup with three wins each are the New Zealander Maurice McCarten: Pentheus, 1933; Whittingham, 1934; Beaulivre, 1940; George Moore: Rio Fe, 1949; French Echo, 1953; Book Link, 1958; Jim Cassidy: Rough Habit, 1991-1993; Kerrin McEvoy: Metal Blender, 2010; Our Ivanhoe, 2016 and Huetor, 2022.  

Dianne Moseley’s success on Double You Em (20/1) in the 1982 edition was the first Group 1 in Australia for a female rider. The New Zealander’s father Peter “Whizz” Moseley was the Double Nearco gelding’s trainer and part owner but fellow Kiwi Bruce Marsh put the polish on for the Brisbane sojourn.

A protest saw Shamrock, Marsh’s permanent lodger, relegated from third to fourth. 

Another hoop from across the Tasman in Maree Lyndon scored in the 1985 version on Mr Trick. 

A highly ecstatic rider was Graham Cook in 1975. On Golden Khan, he emulated his father Frank’s Cup feat with Forge in 1948.

The host of Doomben Cup winners who plied their trade in Europe includes Kerrin McEvoy, Bill Williamson, Russell Maddock, Neville Sellwood George Moore, Garnet Bougoure, Ron Hutchinson and Kevin Moses. Bill Camer did likewise in the US as did Noel McGrowdie, Michael Rodd, Blake Shinn, Arthur Ward and Peter Leyshan in Asia and Len Hill in Mauritius.

Hugh Bowman has had winners in England and Hong Kong.

Among the trainers, the Freedman surname is the most prominent with Lee with Abstraction, Bush Padre (for apprentice Michael Rodd) and Durbridge. 

His brother Anthony saddled up Mahwingo and the pair of brothers were partners in Our Ivanhowe’s achievement.

John Wheeler chalked up a hat-track with Rough Habit, Chris Waller scored three times, courtesy of Comin’ Through, Beaten Up and Metal Bender while Maurice McCarten, by training Tossing in 1952, is the only figure in both camps.

KNEE HIGH (NZ), the well-named son of Sobig and  the Le Filou (Fr) mare High Filou (NZ) gave lightweight apprentice  Leonard “Mick” Dittman his initial Group 1 victory. In 1972, it was Jim Griffiths that legged him up on the thoroughbred that was unraced until four.

Knee High won six times during his first season under silk and later, when based with Tommy Hughes in Melbourne, picked up a Yarra Glen Cup, Hobart Cup, STC Tancred Stakes and the WATC Imperial Stakes to give him features across five states.

LORD SEAMAN, the 1983 Cup hero with Maurice Logue making the requisite 46.5kg, was leased to hobby trainer Don Cleal by Alan Bermingham.

The Beaudesert hobby breeder operated Argyle Lodge Stud, the home of Seaman, the gelding’s sire. 

Lord Seaman traces back to the legendary Man O’War (US) on both sides of his ancestry. Seaman was by Todman from Coogee (GB), the dam of the full brothers by Todman in Bletchingly and Beaches.

The Cup tilt was Plan B. Lord Seaman’s postage weight in the Doomben 10,000 that saw him quickly balloted out. A switch to the Chairman’s Handicap on the same card unveiled a dashing win for John Marshall. The Cup’s other placegetters were the Kiwis My Axeman (58 kg) and Avitt (52.5kg).

Six MARES have parcelled up a Cup. First was Cooranga in 1939, next was Qualeta (see below) in 1943 and then the lightweight apprentice Jim Denman delivered on Dream in 1950 for Nudgee farmer-owner-trainer Harry Lee.

Handicapped to carry the imperial equivalent of 44.5kg, Dream was the daughter of the dual Derby winner Talking. He was by Magpie, the sire of the 1920s champions Amounis and Windbag.

In 2005, Cinque Cento won the Doomben Roses and was runner-up in the Queensland Oaks. Sadly, a serious illness forced her Sydney trainer Tony Wildman to retire and the mare, so named because her dam, Laydown Misere, was connected to the card game Five Hundred, joined Peter Moody’s string.

The Nothin’ Leica Dane mare, handled by Shane Arnold, won the 2007 Queen of the South Stakes in Adelaide. The duo repeated the dose in the Doomben Cup at 20/1. 

Warwick Farm trainer Guy Walter, who had captured the 2004 Cup with Defier, encored in 2014 with Streama but died suddenly just over a week later.

In 2013, Walter’s high class conveyance had put away her Hollindale Stakes foes and was placed in that year’s Stradbroke and Tatt’s Tiara.

When prepared by Darren Weir, Kenedna won the 2017 Doomben Roses and ran fourth in the Queensland Oaks.

Breeder-part owner Mick Johnston named the horse after his grandparents, Ken and Edna Johnston. Thankfully the latter was alive when the Not a Single Doubt mare, under the Ciaron Maher-David Eustace banner, relished her first Group 1 success in the 2019 ATC Queen of the Turf Stakes.

In Brisbane, with John Allen again aboard, Kenedna completed the Doomben Cup-O’Shea Stakes double.

Whilst NEW ZEALAND-bred gallopers have had a significant impact on the Cup, the natives have done very well.

Twenty-two of the first 23 Doomben Cups were taken out by Australian-bred stayers. The sole interruption was by the Kiwi Beaulivre in 1940.

The locals continued to hold sway until 1969 with the exception of Fair Chance (NZ, 1956) and Maspero (NZ, 1963). 

Divide and Rule in 1970 was the first of 19 more New Zealanders to claim the trophy. During this run up to 2022, the Australian-breds scored 25 victories.

OBJECTIONS can be divisive. The atmosphere was fiery in the stewards’ room in 2012 after Peter Moody, trainer of third-placed Manighar ($1.75 fav) tendered an unorthodox protest against Mawingo ($8), alleging interference on the turn out of the straight in the 2000m event.

Manighar (Luke Nolen) struck trouble when Mawingo (Nash Rawiller) crossed in front of him.

Past the post, Mawingo had a short neck over Moody's other runner, Lights Of Heaven ($8), with Manighar a length-and-three-parts away. Stewards turned down the objection. The two-length margin was decisive.

Moody’s argument was the intention was to settle in the box seat in third spot and that his horse was not afforded the chance to be there. He would have clinched the quinella if the verdict had gone his way! 

In the case of Galroof (Stathi Katsidis) versus Warwick Hailes’ charge Mr Bureaucrat (Adrian Robinson) in 2002, the inquiry lasted a half-an-hour.

The advantage in favour of the Sir Byrne Hart Stakes and the Hollindale Stakes winner over the Michael Moroney-trained mare was a half-length. The protest was dismissed.

After the 1994 Cup, Lee Freedman’s Durbridge (7/4) survived a protest from Paris Lane (9/2), the stablemate that was en route to a Caulfield Cup victory. Freedman’s hopeful Doriemus had conquered his restricted company rivals in the race before the Doomben Cup. The following spring, the chestnut pulled off the coveted Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double.

PENTHEUS took out the inaugural Cup in controversial circumstances in 1933. The Rossendale (GB) entire had performed very poorly for an apprentice in its final lead up in the QTC Whinstanes Handicap. The Cup success with Maurice McCarten as pilot did not go down well. 

Brisbane’s Telegraph newspaper on January 3, 1933 reported that trainer C.P. (Charles) Brown and his apprentice A.(Rod) Ellis were disqualified for two years for not letting Pentheus run on its merits in the Whinstanes Handicap.

Pentheus was talented enough to take out the 1929 Caulfield Guineas and finish second in the 1931 AJC Craven Plate when Phar Lap clocked an Australian record for 10 furlongs.

His seven stakes winners included Bangster (AJC Champagne Stakes, Breeders’ Plate), Sir Neith (AJC Villiers) and Romero (1941 TTC Weetwood).

QUALETA, in 1943, was prepared  by Toowoomba horseman Walter Neale and ridden by Noel “Digger” McGrowdie.

Lismore horse-dealer Athol Strong acquired the Marabou filly for around 15 guineas. He sold her as a juvenile to Frank Wotherspoon, the Lismore auctioneer who leased her to Neale.

During wartime travel restrictions, Qualeta survived a horrendously rough boat trip south with the Sydney Cup as target. 

The Daily Telegraph of February 1945 stated that attendants were not allowed to travel with horses booked as deck cargo, so the mare could not get proper attention.

Somebody fastened her securely to the crate with heavy ropes that cut her to ribbons when she took fright. Naturally, the campaign ended.

ROUGH HABIT was an extraordinary achiever for John Wheeler’s New Plymouth yard.

Ten of the baldy faced bay’s 21 Australasian Black-Type wins were registered in Queensland as were six of his eleven triumphs at the elite level.

The son of Roughcast carried 55kg and 58.5kg to glory in the 1991 and 1992 Stradbroke Handicaps. The rest were in the set weight events, namely the Queensland Derby (1990), Doomben Cup (1991-1992-1993), GCTC Hollindale Cup (1991-1992), P.J O’Shea Stakes (1995) and the Sir Byrne Hart Stakes (1991).

The idol was also placed in the 1992 Doomben 10,000 and the 1990 Doomben Cup.

SCENIC SHOT, his Perth trainer Danny Morton and Brisbane rider jockey Shane Scriven, landed the 2009 and 2011 Doomben Cups, 2009 Brisbane Cup (2400m) and O’Shea Stakes.

Earlier the Scenic gelding and jockey Glenn Colless had won the 2008 Hollindale-O’Shea Stakes double.

In 1988, Lord Hybrow, a lodger at Neville McBurney’s Wyong yard claimed the Doomben Cup-O’Shea Stakes-Brisbane Cup (3200m) treble.

TAILS, the Dalray entire that coped with 9.2 (58kg) in the 1971 Cup when ridden by Geoff “Sammy” Howard, was a grand stayer. 

His credits include two AJC Metropolitans, two Rosehill Cups, Chelmsford Stakes, AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes, STC H. E. Tancred Cup, VRC Hotham Handicap and the QTC Derby. Tails was also placed in Melbourne and Brisbane Cups.

UNLIKELY was the word to describe King Keitel’s prospects for the 2001 Cup.

Although the standout competitors were Shogun Lodge and Sky Heights, Matamata (and now Sunshine Coast) trainer Paul Jenkins was confident that Maltese Beauty would set a cracking pace and that would play into the hands of the grandson of Sir Tristram.

The notion was spot on. Brian York grabbed a nice lead on King Keitel when the tearaway punctured. The challenges were repelled. 

Moreover, King Keitel was lucky to be born. When a truck driver was driving a mare to a knackery, he noticed that she was pregnant. The upshot was that Paula’s Glory’s foal by Keitel was a safe delivery. 

VERSATILITY was often displayed when runners that that sprinted in the Ten Thousand backed up well a week later over the middle distance of the Cup.

The glittering example was the champion Bernborough. After flying home to score with 10.5 (66kg) from an impossible position in the first leg in 1946, he sat up closer with 10.11 (68.5kg) over the trip that was four furlongs longer. The two feats have become legendary.

Winners of the 10,000 that were placed seven days later in the Cup include Bahtheon (1944), Winfreux (1965), Bourbon Beau (1967), Black Onyx (1969) and My Axeman (1983). 

Vice versa! Those placed in the 10,000 that prevailed in the Cup were Whittingham (1934), Verdun (1936) and Beaulivre (1940).

WINFREUX was a remarkable lightly raced three-year-old when he won a Welter, the Stradbroke, the 10,000 and ran second in the Doomben Cup in 1965.

In 1966, his tally included the Tattersall’s Cup, Doomben Cup and the QTC J.H.S. Barnes Stakes for Arthur Lister. Twelve months later, the pair picked up another Tatt’s Cup and Barnes Stakes plus the QTC Exhibition Handicap.

The stellar performer was also on top in 11 Melbourne and two Sydney principal features and was runner-up in two Cox Plates.

EX-EUROPEAN gallopers have collected six of the 10 most recent Cup trophies. The following list includes the year of the Cup and some homeland form. Zaaki’s details are shown below.

2012: Mawingo (Ger): Munich’s Bavarian Classic (Group 3, 2000m), fourth in Hamburg’s 2011 German Derby.

2013: Beaten Up (GB): William Haggas trained winner of Newbury’s St Simon (Group 3, 2400m) 

2015: Pornichet (Fr): Won three minor events in France.

2016: Our Ivanhowe (Ger): Group 1 victories at Baden Baden and Munich, sixth in the 2014 Japan Cup.  

2022: Huetor (Fr): Two minor wins at St Cloud and Longchamp. The Doomben Cup was the bay’s first and only open company success to date. 

Brian YORK, having combined with Might and Power to land such races as the 1997 AJC Franck Packer Plate, Show County Quality, the Mercedes Classic at Rosehill and the AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes, teamed again with the Jack Denham-trained superstar to take out the 1998 GCTC Hollindale Stakes and Doomben Cup at the smouldering odds of 11/2 on both times.

Although the Zabeel gelding’s name was of a religious link through his dam Benediction, physical prowess applied to the belligerent galloper that swept up the 1997 Caulfield-Melbourne Cups double and the 1998 Cox Plate.

ZAAKI’s first two outings down under resulted in an eye catching sixth at 60/1in the 2021 ATC Doncaster and a disqualification when runner-up in the JRA Plate. 

An excellent hat trick in Queensland ensued when James McDonald booted home the four times English winner in the Hollindale Stakes at odds of $3.60, the Doomben Cup ($2.25) and the rich Q 22 ($1.26).

The form was validated in the ATC Tramway Handicap, MRC Underwood Stakes, VRC Mackinnon Stakes and the All Star Mile.

Again for McDonald, the Leroidesanimaux (Brz) gelding was on song in the 2022 Hollindale ($1.45) but out of tune in the Doomben Cup when a weakening third at $1.24.