by W.P. Howey

Manfred

Manfred

Featured Image: Acknowledge Australian Turf Club and Bob Charley ‘Heroes and Champions’

By Valais ex Otford; Trainer H McCalman; Owner B Chaffey

Major wins: AJC Champagne Stakes, AJC Derby, VRC Victoria Derby, MVRC Cox Plate, VATC Caulfield Stakes, VATC Caulfield Cup, VRC Melbourne Stakes. 28 starts: 11wins, 5 seconds, two thirds.

Stakes: £27,828

As a two-year-old Manfred did not at first impress, winning only at his sixth start at Warwick Farm in the autumn of 1925. The next week he won the Easter Stakes at Randwick, but two days later refused to leave the barrier in the AJC Sires Produce Stakes. He finished the autumn with an eight lengths win in the AJC Champagne Stakes in race record time.

In the spring of 1925 he returned to Randwick for the supreme achievement of his career. Manfred refused to get under way in the AJC Derby until his six opponents had gone about 100 metres. In the capable hands of jockey Bill Duncan he gradually reduced the leeway, stormed down the straight and won by a length and a half. The Australasian racing reporter enthused:

“I can hardly find words sufficiently expressive to tell of Manfred’s great win. One could use all the superlatives and then be disappointed”.

Manfred was one of the greatest problems for a starter in Australian turf history. Said jockey Frank Dempsey:

”Only a stick of dynamite could have moved Manfred when he took it into his head to stay at the post”.

Manfred’s next performance when odds-on favourite in the Caulfield Guineas was to be an anti-climax, when he again refused to leave the barrier. He more than made amends with victories in his following two starts, the MVRC Cox Plate and the Victoria Derby, both in record times. In the spring of 1926 he confirmed his greatness by winning the VATC Caulfield Stakes and Caulfield Cup and the VRC Melbourne Stakes. However, his barrier refusals persisted, and in February 1927 he was retired to stud where he proved an outstanding success. His most notable progeny was The Trump, winner of the 1937 Caulfield and Melbourne Cups.