Turf Heroes – Makybe Diva
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 ten of the series looks back at Cox Plate and three-time Melbourne Cup winner, the mighty Makybe Diva.
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
Part 9: Lonhro
Still to come over the summer: A ten-part ‘Sprinting Stars’ series covering some of the short course kings and queens of the past two decades, from Schillaci through to Black Caviar.
Score a $100 Free Bet from Luxbet!
The career
On the 29th of July 2002, just shy of the horses’ birthday that would see her listed as a four year-old, Makybe Diva made her racing debut, finishing fourth in a 1200-metre maiden at Benalla. Two weeks later she was stepped up to 1600 metres in a Wangaratta maiden and duly saluted, giving an early sign that longer trips were right up her alley.
Wins at Class 1 and Class 3 level were to follow before she made it four on end with a victory at Flemington at her first metropolitan race. Her first test at ‘black type’ level then came in the Listed Mornington Cup where she saluted once again. But perhaps the first indications that a staying star was on the rise came in the Group 2 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington, where she unleashed a withering burst in the straight to round up a quality field and post her sixth straight win before heading out for a spell.
Importantly, a Group 2 win over 2500 metres meant she had met the qualification criteria for the 2003 Melbourne Cup, and thus trainer David Hall gave her a light autumn campaign of just two (unplaced) runs. Bred in the U.K. to the northern hemisphere calendar, she was around six months younger than Australian-bred horses in the same ‘age’ bracket as her, and thus patience was required. It would be repaid many times over in subsequent years.
She resumed in August 2003 with a fourth placing in a Welter handicap at Caulfield before running fourth to Sunday Joy in the Group 3 Stock Stakes and a fast-finishing fourth to Studebaker in the Group 2 (these days Group 1) Turnbull Stakes. Makybe Diva was now ready for an assault on the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups, with Glen Boss on board for the first time – the start of a wonderful affinity between horse and rider.
In the Caulfield Cup she settled near the rear of the field and despite picking her way past many a tired horse along the inside in the straight, finished fourth (beaten just over a length) behind Mummify. Nonetheless, it was a pleasing Melbourne Cup trial – the extra 800 metres and the wider expanses of Flemington were likely to suit her better.
This was in the forefront of my mind when debating a Melbourne Cup tip at Thoroughbred Park in Canberra with long-time friend and Making The Nut founder Nick Tedeschi on Cup day. Nick was extremely warm on her chances, citing the Queen Elizabeth Stakes win of the year prior as evidence that she was a Flemington horse. I liked her but followed the recent history (from 1995 to 2002, Jezabeel was the only exception) of last start winners taking out the Cup and backed the Bart Cummings-trained Frightening, throwing Makybe Diva in for the quinella.
The rest, as they say, is history. Makybe Diva once again settled towards the rear of the field, but this time she was able to start surging through the pack before the home turn and with 200 metres to go looked to have the race shot to bits. She’s Archie made a gallant late charge but Makybe Diva held her off comfortably in the end to record her first win in almost 12 months on the biggest Australian stage of them all. Much to the financial benefit of Nick and the ‘what could have been’ chagrin of yours truly.
In the autumn of 2004 she resumed with an unplaced run in the Listed Chester Manifold Stakes over 1400 metres before running third in the Group 3 Carlyon Cup. Her next assignment was the Group 1 Australian Cup, but she struggled to find clear running room when finishing sixth to Lonhro. A trip to Sydney for their autumn staying riches was in the offing.
Her Sydney debut came in the Group 1 Ranvet Stakes at Rosehill, where she finished strongly for third behind Sound Action. The step up to 2400 metres for the Group 1 BMW was expected to suit her, but she was convincingly defeated when third behind Grand Zulu in that race. However, the further step up to 3200 metres for the Group 1 Sydney Cup proved the tonic, as she produced her customary strong finish to defeat Manawa King by half a length and end her preparation on a winning note.
During her spelling period, trainer David Hall left Australia to take up his training in Hong Kong. Makybe Diva was transferred to the stables of Lee Freedman, who had previously trained Tawriffic, Subzero and Doriemus to Melbourne Cup victories.
Her spring 2004 campaign was mapped out with the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups the firm focus once again. She ran fourth to Regal Roller in the Group 2 Memsie Stakes and a narrow second to Delzao in the Group 2 Feehan (nowadays Dato Tan Chin Nam) Stakes before running seventh to Elvstroem in the Turnbull Stakes.
The 2004 Caulfield Cup was to provide a tremendous finish. Boom four year-old Elvstroem, winner of the 2003 VRC Derby the year prior, was sent out the favourite and looked to have the race in his keeping inside the final 200 metres. However Makybe Diva, who had drawn barrier 18 and settled right at the tail of the field, was flying home late in the piece and all but nabbed him on the line. Indeed, had the race been a mere one or two strides longer, she’d have gotten the nod.
For her Melbourne Cup prospects this was a blessing in disguise, avoiding a handicap penalty being added to her already imposing 55.5 kilo impost, more than any other mare had previously carried to victory. In driving rain she was sent out the popular elect and with an expert path steered by Glen Boss, defeated Vinnie Roe to become the first horse since Think Big to win consecutive Melbourne Cups. This was also a rare winning bet on the race for yours truly, sweetened by loading up on the quinella but soured slightly by not taking a trifecta with the field for third, only to see Zazzman bob up for third at cricket score odds and send the trifecta divided well into four digit country.
She resumed in February 2005 with a highly unusual statistical byline – of her past 18 races she had won only three, with all three victories coming over 3200 metres. Her reputation as a supreme stayer was firmly entrenched, but could it be replicated over shorter distances? 2005 was to provide an emphatic answer to this question.
Her 2005 campaign kicked off with a seventh (beaten less than two lengths) behind Elvstroem in the Group 1 Orr Stakes and was followed up by a very narrow second to the same galloper (proving to be a Caulfield nemesis to her) in the Group 2 St George Stakes.
Returning to Flemington for the Australian Cup, she stamped herself as a WFA star with a scintillating finish to break the track record. Thereafter she headed to Rosehill and a clash with Grand Armee in the BMW. Despite spotting an outstanding galloper (perhaps Sydney’s best at the time) a significant head start in the home straight, she simply flew over the final 200 metres to round him up with surprising ease. She had clearly added ‘outstanding WFA middle-distance horse’ to ‘outstanding stayer’ on her repertoire.
She then headed for Japan in April and May for what proved to be an unsuccessful campaign, running seventh at Nakayama over 2000 metres before her only ever 3200-metre defeat when seventh in the Group 1 Tenno Sho (Emperor’s Cup) at Kyoto before a spell. Her Melbourne Cup and autumn exploits secured her the 2004-05 title of Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.
Makybe Diva had taken a significant leap in the autumn and took yet another the spring of 2005, winning the Memsie Stakes first-up over some quality sprinter/ milers including Barely A Moment, who would go on to win the Group 1 Toorak Handicap. It was her first ever win at Caulfield and her first ever win over less than 1600 metres.
From there she was defeated by the barest of margins in the Feehan Stakes by Lad Of The Manor, only to turn the tables on him in winning the Turnbull Stakes. She was now the elite galloper in the country across a wide range of distances, and took on the Group 1 Cox Plate for the first time as the $2 (or even money in the old) favourite.
This Cox Plate brought about one of the more famous pieces of vision in the race’s history, as down the side of the track around 600 metres from the finish almost the entire field were line astern across the track. Makybe Diva was the third widest of the runners at this point in the race but had no problems in overcoming the longer-than-typical course plotted, defeating Lotteria and dual Cox Plate winner Fields Of Omagh comfortably.
Her final race would be the 2005 Melbourne Cup, as she attempted to win the race for a record third time. To do so she would have to carry a whopping 58 kilos, 2.5 kilos more than her own weight carrying record for a mare winning the Cup and the most weight of any winner since Think Big in 1975.
Having backed Eye Popper in both the Caulfield and Melbourne Cup at 66-1 before he all but won the Caulfield Cup (excuse me while I go and pour another scotch to repress that memory), I let the champion mare and favourite for the race go around without me. But as Punting 101 will tell you, underestimate an absolute champion at your own peril.
She settled back in the field as was her custom, but with 58 kilos likely to dull her late sprint, Glen Boss opted to start steadily working through the field earlier than in the previous two years, reaching the lead with around 300 metres to go. An outsider in On A Jeune was finishing on bravely down the middle of the track but the Diva’s win was never in doubt, with a final margin of one and a quarter lengths understating her dominance of the opposition.
Immediately after the race trainer Lee Freedman famously said: "Go find the smallest child on this course, and there will be the only example of a person who will live long enough to see that again." During the presentation of the Melbourne Cup, owner Tony Santic announced the retirement of the great mare, effective immediately. For her curtain call to happen at Flemington, the scene of her first victory at Group level, her first WFA victory and of course her three Cup wins, could not have been more poetic or fitting.
Despite not racing in the autumn, her spring heroics were sufficient to be named the 2005-06 Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year, becoming just the third horse to win that accolade on more than one occasion.
The memories
Makybe Diva’s racing career was in many senses, to drag up a well-worn cliché, one of two halves.
At the start of 2005, I thought I had this mare pegged. Pay her the utmost respect at distances of 2400 metres and beyond; take her on at any journeys shorter than this. In my personal pecking order of champion racehorses she was around the Doriemus/ Think Big mark – a fantastic stayer but somewhat one dimensional.
Over the course of that year though, she completely won me over as an out-and-out champion. The third Melbourne Cup win carrying 58 kilos was an astonishing performance no doubt, but it was her other five wins in 2005 that really sold me. Horses don’t win each of the Australian Cup, BMW, Turnbull Stakes and Cox Plate with something bordering on contempt unless they are unequivocal superstars.
Her win in the Memsie Stakes was the biggest shock of all to my eye – stayers rarely become more adaptable as they get older, but here was the exception that proved the rule. If anything, she was retired at the peak of her powers. Kudos to Tony Santic and his fellow owners for having the horse’s best interests at heart – they would have been forgiven for raiding the autumn WFA riches one more time before retiring her.
For her entire career, Makybe Diva was a champion stayer. In those final 12 months, she evolved into an all-encompassing champion, one worthy of the final place in this Turf Heroes series.
The stats
Overall record: 36 starts, 15 wins (7 x Group 1s, 3 x Group 2s), four seconds, three thirds, $14,526,685 prize money
3YO*/4YO spring (2002-03): Seven starts, six wins (1 x G2)
4YO autumn/ winter (2003): Two starts
5YO spring/ summer (2003-04): Five starts, one win (1 x G1)
5YO autumn/ winter (2004): Six starts, one win (1 x G1), three thirds
6YO spring/ summer (2004-05): Five starts, one win (1 x G1), two seconds
6YO autumn: (2005): Six starts, two wins (2 x G1), one second
7YO spring/ summer (2005-06): Five starts, four wins (2 x G1, 2 x G2), one second
