AJC Derby - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Australian Derby also known as AJC Derby, is a Group 1

Group One

Group One or Group 1 is the term used for the highest level of Thoroughbred and Standardbred stakes races in many countries. Group One races may be run under handicap conditions in Australia but in Europe weight-for-age conditions always apply. Races may be also restricted to age groups or a...

Thoroughbred horse race

Thoroughbred horse racing is a worldwide sport and industry involving the racing of Thoroughbred horses. It is governed by different national bodies. There are two forms of the sport: Flat racing and National Hunt racing...

run by the Australian Jockey Club

Australian Jockey Club

The Australian Jockey Club was founded in January 1842. It morphed from the former Australian Racing Committee set up in May 1840 to set the standards for racing in the colony...

(AJC) at Randwick Racecourse

Randwick Racecourse

Royal Randwick Racecourse is a racecourse for horseracing in the Eastern Suburbs in Sydney, New South Wales. Randwick Racecourse, is operated by the Australian Jockey Club and known to many Sydney racegoers as headquarters...

in Sydney

Sydney

Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...

, Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. Open to three year olds, the race is held annually in the latter part of March or early April. The AJC says it is known as the top ranked event for three-year-olds in Australian and New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

race classifications.

Contested over 2,400 metres on a right-handed turf

Grass

Grasses, or more technically graminoids, are monocotyledonous, usually herbaceous plants with narrow leaves growing from the base. They include the "true grasses", of the Poaceae family, as well as the sedges and the rushes . The true grasses include cereals, bamboo and the grasses of lawns ...

course, it has been won by some of the greats of the Australian turf, including Phar Lap

Phar Lap

Phar Lap was a champion Thoroughbred racehorse whose achievements captured the public's imagination during the early years of the Great Depression. Foaled in New Zealand, he was trained and raced in Australia. Phar Lap dominated Australian racing during a distinguished career, winning a Melbourne...

, Tulloch

Tulloch (horse)

Tulloch was a Thoroughbred racehorse, who is regarded as one of the three finest racehorses in Australian racing history...

, and Kingston Town

Kingston Town

Kingston Town was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982...

History

Inaugurated in 1861 as the AJC Randwick Derby Stakes, the first race was won by Kyogle, a grandson of the Touchstone

Touchstone (horse)

Touchstone was a good British bred Thoroughbred racehorse and a Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland on four occasions. He was owned and bred by Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster....

who was a four-time Champion sire in Great Britain & Ireland

Leading sire in Great Britain & Ireland

The list below shows the leading sire of racehorses in Great Britain and Ireland for each year since 1751. This is determined by the amount of prize money won by the sire's progeny during the season.----- References :* -See also:...

. In 1865 the name of the race was changed to the AJC Australia Derby Stakes then from 1873 through 1993 it was called the AJC Derby. Although the race officially became the AJC Australian Derby in 1994, it is still commonly referred to as the AJC Derby.

The official records show that Prince Humphrey won the 1928 Derby, but he wasn’t in the race. It was a horse called Cragsman, by the same sire but with a different dam. This substitution came to light when Dick Tate of Toowoomba saw a picture of the Derby winner and was aware that Prince Humphrey had different markings, and had photographs to prove it.

From 1932 to 1956, gelding

Gelding

A gelding is a castrated horse or other equine such as a donkey or a mule. Castration, and the elimination of hormonally driven behavior associated with a stallion, allows a male horse to be calmer and better-behaved, making the animal quieter, gentler and potentially more suitable as an everyday...

s were banned from competing in the Derby.

Originally run at a distance of 1½ miles, in 1972 the race was changed to 2,400 metres (11.93 furlongs) to conform to the metric system

Metric system

The metric system is an international decimalised system of measurement. France was first to adopt a metric system, in 1799, and a metric system is now the official system of measurement, used in almost every country in the world...

. In 1978 there was no race held and under a reorganisation, it was changed from a spring racing event to be run in the autumn beginning in 1979.

Records

Time record: (at current 2,400 metres distance)

2:28.41 - Octagonal
Octagonal
Octagonal is a retired champion New Zealand-bred, Australian raced Thoroughbred racehorse, also known as 'The Big O' or 'Occy'. He was by the champion sire Zabeel, out of the champion broodmare Eight Carat, who also produced Group One winners Mouawad, Kaapstad, Diamond Lover and Marquise.Trained...

(1996)

Largest winning margin:

10 lengths - Trident (1886)

Most wins by a jockey
Jockey
A jockey is an athlete who rides horses in horse racing or steeplechase racing, primarily as a profession. The word also applies to camel riders in camel racing.-Etymology:...

:

6 - Thomas Hales (1875, 1880, 1882, 1884, 1886, 1887)

Winners of the Australian Derby since 1979

Year	Winner	Jockey	Trainer	Time
2011	Shamrocker	Glen Boss Glen Boss Glen Boss is an Australian jockey, considered a champion, who is best known for riding Makybe Diva to victory in three consecutive Melbourne Cups - 2003, 2004, and 2005.-External links:***...	Danny O'Brien	2:29.46
2010	Shoot Out	Stathi Katsidis Stathi Katsidis - Death :Katsidis was found dead at his Brisbane home a fortnight before he was due to ride in the Melbourne Cup. A coroner's report had revealed that the Champion jockey had a cocktail of drugs and alcohol in his system when he was found dead....	John Wallace	2:27.58
2009	Roman Emperor	Jimmy Cassidy	Bart Cummings Bart Cummings James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....	2:31.09
2008	Nom Du Jeu Nom Du Jeu Nom Du Jeu is a New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse. He won the 2008 AJC Australian Derby, beating Red Ruler in a rare New Zealand quinella in an Australian Group One race...	Jeff Lloyd	Murray Baker	2:36.29
2007	Fiumicino	Darren Beadman	John Hawkes	2:36.04
2006	Headturner	Darren Beadman	John Hawkes	2:29.92
2005	Eremein Eremein Eremein was a notable Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. He was a chestnut gelding foaled in 2001 and bred by Bhima Stud in New South Wales. Eremein was by Timber Country from Marrego by Marscay....	Corey Brown Corey Brown Corey Allen Brown is a Major League Baseball center fielder for the Washington Nationals. He is 6'1" tall and he weighs 205 pounds....	Allan Denham	2:35.83
2004	Starcraft Starcraft (horse) Starcraft is an Australian-owned Thoroughbred racehorse who came to international attention when he won the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Stakes at Newmarket in England in September 2005...	Glen Boss Glen Boss Glen Boss is an Australian jockey, considered a champion, who is best known for riding Makybe Diva to victory in three consecutive Melbourne Cups - 2003, 2004, and 2005.-External links:***...	Garry Newham	2:34.81
2003	Clangalang	Scott Seamer Scott Seamer -External links:*http://www.rugbyleagueproject.org/players/Scott_Seamer/summary.html...	Gerald Ryan Gerald Ryan Gerald Patrick Ryan was an Australian rules footballer who played with South Melbourne in the VFL.A full-forward originally from Middle Park, Ryan spent just two seasons at South Melbourne...	2:32.31
2002	Don Eduardo	Damien Oliver	Lee Freedman Lee Freedman David Lee Freedman is a prominent Australian racehorse trainer. In partnership with brothers Anthony, Michael, and Richard, he has been a prolific winner of Australia's major races in past 20 years, with four Golden Slippers, four Caulfield Cups, two Cox Plates, and five Melbourne Cups,...	2:32.76
2001	Universal Prince	Justin Sheehan	Bede Murray	2:30.80
2000	Fairway Fairway (horse) Fairway was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Fairway was the best horse of his generation in Britain at two, three and four years old, winning the St Leger Stakes, the Champion Stakes and the Eclipse Stakes...	Brian York	Jack Denham Jack Denham Jack Denham was a leading Australian horse trainer and businessman.A member of a Sydney training dynasty, Denham first rode as a jockey for his brother, and then took out his own training licence in 1948....	2:34.02
1999	Sky Heights	Glen Boss Glen Boss Glen Boss is an Australian jockey, considered a champion, who is best known for riding Makybe Diva to victory in three consecutive Melbourne Cups - 2003, 2004, and 2005.-External links:***...	Colin Alderson	2:32.85
1998	Gold Guru	Greg Childs	Leon Macdonald Leon MacDonald Leon Raymond MacDonald is a retired New Zealand rugby union footballer, and now assistant coach for the Tasman Makos rugby team, who played 56 tests for the national team, All Blacks. He plays first five-eighths and fullback.-Biography:MacDonald was born in Blenheim, New Zealand, and attended...	2:33.49
1997	Ebony Grosve	Shane Dye Shane Dye Raymond Shane Dye, born , in the township of Matamata New Zealand and established himself as a champion apprentice jockey in New Zealand, and, moving to Australia in the late-1980s, he quickly established himself as one of the country's best riders...	Graeme Rogerson	2:28.83
1996	Octagonal Octagonal Octagonal is a retired champion New Zealand-bred, Australian raced Thoroughbred racehorse, also known as 'The Big O' or 'Occy'. He was by the champion sire Zabeel, out of the champion broodmare Eight Carat, who also produced Group One winners Mouawad, Kaapstad, Diamond Lover and Marquise.Trained...	Darren Beadman	John Hawkes	2:28.41
1995	Ivory's Irish	Larry Cassidy Larry Cassidy Lawrence John Cassidy was an English musician, known for being the singer and bassist of post-punk and electronic band Section 25....	Bart Cummings Bart Cummings James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....	2:33.84
1994	Mahogany Mahogany (horse) Mahogany was an Australian thoroughbred who raced in the mid-1990s. He was aimed at the three-year-old staying events, where he won the Victoria Derby and the Australian Derby. But as an older horse he usually was restricted to sprint races.The notable exception was the 1995 W.S. Cox Plate where...	Greg Hall	Lee Freedman Lee Freedman David Lee Freedman is a prominent Australian racehorse trainer. In partnership with brothers Anthony, Michael, and Richard, he has been a prolific winner of Australia's major races in past 20 years, with four Golden Slippers, four Caulfield Cups, two Cox Plates, and five Melbourne Cups,...	2:36.50
1993	Innocent King	Jimmy Cassidy	Kerry Jordan	2:33.60
1992	Naturalism Naturalism (horse) Naturalism Naturalism Naturalism (foaled 1988 in New Zealand was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse whose wins included three Group One races. Out of the mare Zephyr Souba, he was sired by the Kentucky-born Palace Music who also sired the great United States Hall Racing of Fame inductee, Cigar...	Mick Dittman	Lee Freedman Lee Freedman David Lee Freedman is a prominent Australian racehorse trainer. In partnership with brothers Anthony, Michael, and Richard, he has been a prolific winner of Australia's major races in past 20 years, with four Golden Slippers, four Caulfield Cups, two Cox Plates, and five Melbourne Cups,...	2:31.20
1991	Durbridge	Greg Hall	Brian Murphy	2:31.90
1990	Dr. Grace	Jimmy Cassidy	Geoff Chapman	2:31.70
1989	Research	Mick Dittman	Clarry Conners	2:34.00
1988	Beau Zam	John Marshall	Bart Cummings Bart Cummings James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....	2:34.60
1987	Myocard	Mark De Montfort	Geoff Chapman	2:32.60
1986	Bonecrusher Bonecrusher (horse) Bonecrusher Is a retired champion New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who was widely admired in both Australia and New Zealand. Bred by Bill Punch, his dam's sire was a son of a French champion, Tantieme. Bonecrusher was purchased by Peter Mitchell for just $3,250 at the Waikato Yearling Sales,...	Gary Stewart	Frank Ritchie	2:35.60
1985	Tristarc	Wayne Treloar	Ross S. McDonald	2:31.50
1984	Prolific	John Marshall	Bart Cummings Bart Cummings James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....	2:34.80
1983	Strawberry Road Strawberry Road Strawberry Road was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who went on to race in Germany, France, the United States, and Japan...	Mick Dittman	Doug Bougoure	2:41.80
1982	Rose of Kingston Rose Of Kingston Rose of Kingston was a Thoroughbred mare who raced with a great deal of success in Australia, particularly as a three-year-old. She was the Australian Horse of the Year and Australasian Champion Three-Year-Old Filly and Australasian Champion Older Mare in 1982, and after retiring from racing...	Gary Willetts	Robert E. Hoysted	2:31.00
1981	Our Paddy Boy	Mick Mallyon	Colin Hayes Colin Hayes Colin Sidney Hayes was a champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Adelaide, Australia.During his career he trained 5,333 winners including 524 individual Group or Listed winners. He won 28 Adelaide and 13 Melbourne Trainers' Premierships.-Early days:Colin was born in Semaphore, South...	2:31.20
1980	Kingston Town Kingston Town Kingston Town was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982...	Malcolm Johnston	T. J. Smith	2:34.30
1979	Dulcify Dulcify Dulcify was an New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse. His British-bred sire was the 1970 Irish 2,000 Guineas winner, Decies, a grandson of Pharis, the very important French sire whom Thoroughbred Heritage says is considered one of the greatest French-bred runners of the century...	Brent Thomson	Colin Hayes Colin Hayes Colin Sidney Hayes was a champion trainer of thoroughbred racehorses based in Adelaide, Australia.During his career he trained 5,333 winners including 524 individual Group or Listed winners. He won 28 Adelaide and 13 Melbourne Trainers' Premierships.-Early days:Colin was born in Semaphore, South...	2:30.70