Turf Heroes: Lonhro
As part of our excitement about the Sydney and especially Melbourne Spring Racing Carnivals and all that they entail, Making The Nut is pleased to bring you a ten-part ‘Turf Heroes’ series, where Cliff Bingham will look back fondly upon the great memories these champions thoroughbreds embedded in his mind. Part nine of the series recaps the career of the best of Octagonal’s progeny, 11-time Group 1 winner Lonhro.
Previous “Turf Heroes” Instalments
Part 1: Super Impose
Part 2: Better Loosen Up
Part 3: Let’s Elope
Part 4: Octagonal
Part 5: Saintly
Part 6: Might and Power
Part 7: Sunline
Part 8: Northerly
Score a $100 Free Bet from Luxbet!
The career
Lonhro kicked off his career in November 2000 as a two year-old with a second placing to Royal Courtship at Rosehill. After a brief let-up, he returned in January 2011 and won by two and a half lengths at Rosehill before heading south for the colts and geldings’ Group 3 Blue Diamond Prelude, winning that race by two lengths.
This win was sufficient to see him sent out as the favourite for the Group 1 Blue Diamond Stakes, where he settled near the tail of the field and ran on out wide to finish fourth behind True Jewels. After this run he was sent for a spell, missing out on the riches of the Sydney two year-old autumn carnival. Nonetheless, his time in the spotlight would come.
On July 28, just before the ‘horses’ birthday’ of August 1, he resumed as a two year-old in the Group 3 Missile Stakes at WFA level. On a heavy track he settled the last of nine runners and despite a strong late surge finished third behind Sportsbrat.
Two weeks later and now ‘officially’ a three year-old, he defeated Sportsbrat in winning the Group 2 Warwick Stakes at WFA level, before returning to his own age group and narrowly winning the Group 3 Ming Dynasty Quality as an odds-on favourite. Further wins followed in the Listed Heritage Stakes and Group 2 Stan Fox Stakes before he headed south to Melbourne once for a shot at the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas.
With the likes of Viscount, Ustinov, Viking Ruler, Magic Albert, Dash For Cash and Kiwi galloper Pure Theatre also engaged, it was a vintage Guineas field. This depth allowed Lonhro to sneak out to almost $6 (or 5-to-1 in the old) on the ACTTAB, a sufficient price to lure both myself and Making The Nut founder Nick Tedeschi into backing him.
From a wide barrier, Lonhro settled at the tail of the field before sweeping wide on the home turn and unleashing a devastating turn of foot, winning by a length and a half and ensuring high fives all around in our section near the big screen TV. A minor joint injury then saw him miss the remainder of the spring, including the Group 1 Cox Plate, as he was sent for a spell.
His three year-old autumn campaign was short-lived, winning the Group 2 Royal Sovereign Stakes and the Group 2 Hobartville Stakes before a virus saw him miss the Group 1 Doncaster Handicap (for which he was the pre-post favourite) and spelled until the spring.
His four year-old spring campaign began on August 3 in the Missile Stakes but unlike the previous year, this time around he was a commanding victor by a margin of four lengths. He was expected to make it back-to-back Warwick Stakes victories at his next start but was beaten a half head by Defier, before winning the Group 2 Chelmsford Stakes by three lengths.
The 2002 Group 1 George Main Stakes was dubbed a ‘mini Cox Plate’ – only six runners were entered, but they included Lonhro, Sunline, Defier, Shogun Lodge and Excellerator. After Sunline had set a moderate tempo in running, Lonhro was pocketed on the fence for much of the home straight, only spotting daylight in the final 50 metres and making a late surge to finish fourth in a luckless run.
Lonhro and Sunline clashed again at their next start, the Group 1 Yalumba Stakes at Caulfield. In a small field of seven, Sunline led in her customary manner, with Lonhro stalking the speed. Sunline pinched a break on the corner and led by three lengths with 300 metres to go, before Lonhro knuckled down and after a an epic final 50 metres, defeated the champion mare by a half neck in race record time. It was one of the bravest and toughest wins of his career.
This win seemingly franked his credentials over 2000 metres and saw him sent out equal favourite in the Cox Plate. However, he failed to fire a shot in the race, finishing in sixth place, more than seven lengths behind the winner Northerly. He headed to Flemington one week later to take out the Group 1 Mackinnon Stakes to round out his spring campaign on a winning note.
The early stages of his 2003 autumn campaign were utterly dominant. He won the Group 2 Expressway Stakes by two lengths, the Group 2 Apollo Stakes by three and a half lengths and the Group 1 Chipping Norton Stakes by a length and half eased up. The Group 1 George Ryder Stakes was perhaps his most emphatic victory though – against a quality field, he peeled off a 32-odd second sectional for the final 600 metres of the race to cruise past his opposition and win by two lengths. It was a comprehensive, nigh-on arrogant, victory and saw him the popular elect for the Doncaster Handicap.
Handicap races are very different beasts though. With the steadier of 57.5 kilos on a slow track, Lonhro was unable to match the finishing burst of up-and-coming star Grand Armee ( who only carried 51.5 kilos that day), finishing around five lengths behind the winner in fourth place. He would make amends in the Group 1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes two weeks later though, winning by one and a half lengths.
With his value as a stallion prospect already well assured, there was much speculation that he would be retired as a four year-old, much as his sire Octagonal was, to take up a career at stud. However, the Ingham brothers chose to race him as a five year-old with another tilt at the Cox Plate being the primary target.
His spring began in very promising fashion, with easy wins in the both the Warwick Stakes and Chelmsford Stakes. The George Main Stakes saw a rematch with his Doncaster Handicap adversary in Grand Armee but despite a slow speed, Lonhro was able to turn the tables with a comfortable three-length win. He then headed to Caulfield and had a much easier time in his second Yalumba Stakes victory than he had the year prior, becoming the first horse since Kingston Town in 1981-82 to win the race in consecutive years.
With only Lonhro, Defier and Fields Of Omagh returning from the 2002 Cox Plate field for the 2003 edition, Lonhro was sent out an odds-on favourite. However, it was Fields Of Omagh who took the lead at the home turn and held out Defier to win by a long neck, with Lonhro half a length away in third place. This was his final run of the spring and added fuel to the fire for naysayers who believed he couldn’t win the toughest Group 1 races on the Australian calendar.
In the autumn of 2004 he resumed in Melbourne, capturing the Group 1 Orr Stakes narrowly and Group 2 St George Stakes much more comfortably before taking on the Group 1 Australian Cup for the first time.
Against the likes of Makybe Diva, Mummify and Elvstroem, Lonhro’s hopes of victory appeared forlorn with 200 metres to go, as he had been unable to secure clear running to that point and was now spotting three year-old Delzao a seemingly insurmountable lead. However, he dug deep over the final furlong and with the crowd lifting as one, he nailed Delzao in the final stride. Along with his 2002 Yalumba Stakes win, it was his bravest victory.
Returning home to Sydney, he won a second George Ryder Stakes with another contemptuous performance, defeating Grand Armee and Private Steer easily. The occasion was magnified by his sire Octagonal leading the field out onto the track before the race.
His racing swansong came in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, where he was aiming for back-to-back victories. As he settled near the rear of the field, Grand Armee took the lead and slowed the pace in the middle stages, before opening up a significant gap to Lonhro approaching the home turn. This was a pivotal move, as Lonhro was unable to bridge the gap in the home straight and was defeated by six lengths.
Just as his sire had done, he ran second in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at his final race outing. Nonetheless, it was a rare defeat in a career where his winning strike rate of 74 per cent exceeded those of Phar Lap, Bernborough, Tulloch and Kingston Town, as well as every other member of this Turf Heroes series.
The memories
As a foal, Lonhro was given his name as deliberately misspelling of the stock exchange code LONRHO (London Rhodesian Mining and Land Company), whose CEO Roland “Tiny” Rowland was once labelled as “tiny but perfect”. As Lonhro grew and furnished out into the final article as a thoroughbred, the ‘tiny’ aspect disappeared but the ‘perfect’ bit remained intact. Much as with his sire, here was a thoroughbred who looked every part a racehorse, and who ran to type.
It’s extremely difficult to put a knock on a horse with a 74 per cent win strike rate, or who won 11 of his 17 starts at Group 1 level (a 64 per cent strike rate that eclipses no shortage of Hall Of Fame inductees, including Kingston Town). Yet the defeats in two Cox Plates and a Doncaster Handicap loom larger over his career than the defeats of many of his contemporaries do.
My past memories of him always left the question of whether he was slightly miscast as a miler-middle distance horse, and that his best performances came at distances shorter than a mile. To check this, I’ve split his career record into three groups, as per below:
(1) First 5 career runs (all run over less than 1600 metres as a two year-old): Five starts, two wins, one second, one third.
(2) Record at less than 1600 metres thereafter: 14 starts, 13 wins, one second (losing by a half head to Defier).
(3) Record at 1600 metres and beyond: 16 starts, 11 wins, one second, one third (fourth in each of a Doncaster Handicap and a George Main Stakes, and sixth in a Cox Plate).
To be fair, his record at 1600 metres and beyond remains outstanding by any measure. However, his record below a mile at ages three and above is simply astonishing – a half head shy of a perfect 14 for 14. Consider for a moment the current fanfare bestowed upon Black Caviar for putting up a comparable springing record to date and you get a sense of how rare an achievement Lonhro’s sprinting record was.
Which brings us to one of my favourite games, the ‘what if’ game. Obviously John Hawkes and the Ingham brothers were completely justified in have two cracks at the Cox Plate as well as numerous other Group 1 races at a mile and beyond, but what if he had been restricted to races at shorter trips? How short a favourite would he have been in say a Doomben 10,000 or Manikato Stakes?
However, neither of these makes the list of three races I wish he had run in. In reverse order of preference:
3. Stradbroke Handicap– He only had the one go at a handicap race over his career, and the Doncaster Handicap is one of the toughest mile races in the country. How would he have gone over 1400 metres in an elite handicap? We will never know.
2. Lightning Stakes– He never raced in an event over such a short distance, but when you consider that VRC and AJC Derby winner Mahogany also won this race, at WFA level who could have stopped him from ripping past the field over the final 200 metres? That would have been scintillating. But not as good as this….
1. Newmarket Handicap– A capacity field down the famous ‘straight six’ at Flemington, with Lonhro shouldering something in the vicinity of 60 kilos. No shortage of pace on over the first 800 metres as he gets a nice smother back in the field, but from there on, who knows? Could he get into clear running room? Would the 60 kilos or so prove too much of an anchor against some elite sprinters? Or would he have simply pulled out a performance reminiscent of his George Ryder wins and simply sailed past them?
After seeing Black Caviar demolish a quality Newmarket field with 58 kilos on her back, I’m convinced that a big weight wouldn’t have stopped Lonhro doing similar. They are the best two sprinters I’ve had the pleasure of watching regularly thus far in my life. It’s just a shame in some sense that one of them was outstanding enough over longer trips to only sprint on a part-time basis. Nonetheless, his career was one that will take some replicating, one worthy of a turf hero.
The stats
Overall record: 35 starts, 26 wins (11 x Group 1s, 10 x Group 2s, 3 x Group 3), three seconds, two thirds, $5,790,510 prize money
2YO summer/ autumn (2000-01): Four starts, two wins (1 x G3), one second
2YO*/3YO spring (2001-02): Six starts, five wins (1 x G1, 2 x G2, 1 x G3), one third
3YO autumn/ winter (2002): Two starts, two wins (2 x G2)
4YO spring/ summer (2002-03): Seven starts, four wins (2 x G1, 1 x G2, 1 x G3), one second
4YO autumn/ winter (2003): Six starts, five wins (3 x G1, 2 x G2)
5YO spring/ summer (2003-04): Five starts, four wins (2 x G1, 2 x G2), one third
5YO autumn: (2004): Five starts, four wins (3 x G1, 1 x G2), one second
