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Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Horse Racing Down Under

Over time, the sport of horse racing has evolved in Australia; however, historically, this was started in the initial years of settlement. Today, it has developed into one of the top three prominent Thoroughbred racing nations throughout the globe.

In history, Australia has given the world some memorable horses. These horses are in various different arenas including Thoroughbred horse racing and harness racing.

Phar Lap is the most well-known and beloved Thoroughbred race horse that has graced the world. He was an active race horse from 1928 until 1932. Although he succumbed to an early and untimely death, he had found his way into the hearts of many people in Australia and throughout the world. Based on his racing career, he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame and the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame as well as holding the #22 spot of the Top 100 U.S. Racehorses of the 20th Century by Blood-Horse magazine. The story of Phar Lap was told in the 1983 film titled Phar Lap: Heart of a Nation.

Although Makybe Diva was foaled in Great Britain, she was trained as a Thoroughbred race horse in Australia. Her claim to fame was her three consecutive wins of the famous Melbourne Cup in 2003, 2004 and 2005. Also in 2005, Makybe Diva came out the winner of the W.S. Cox Plate. In Australian horse racing history, she was the highest stakes-earner with a winning amount in excess of AUD 14 million when she retired on November 1st, 2005.

Australia has been the home to some impressive harness racing horses as well. Cane Smoke had a noteworthy racing career with 120 wins of which 34 came from only one season. Cardigan Bay spent a considerable portion of his racing career, during the 1960s, in the United States where he became the first Standardbred horse to win a USD 1 million price. During the 1970s, Paleface Adios became a well-known name in many homes throughout Australia and particularly in Melbourne. He competed from the time he was 2-years-old until his retirement at the age of 11. In the recent past, Blacks A Fake won 4 Inter Dominion Championships in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010. This set him ahead of others as this is a prestigious harness race in Australia, and he became the only horse to achieve this amazing accomplishment.

If this brief look at the history of horse racing in Australia has raised further your passion, the virtual world brings it all to you especially through horse racing games. While we may not all get the opportunity to attend a horse race in-person, we get experience the thrilling action with online horse racing games.

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