Tonight’s feature event, the Group 3 Typhoon Tracy Stakes, is named in honour of the champion race mare.
September 26, 2008. Many may remember it as the day before Hawthorn’s new generation announced themselves to the AFL world.
However, it was Race 2 on The Valley’s race program, in a race named after a football legend in Kevin Sheedy that a Red Ransom filly drifted from $5 to $7.50. The Peter Moody debutant would have none other than his trusted pilot Luke Nolen in the saddle and subsequently trotted in by 5½ lengths to the cries of Greg Miles… “hasn’t that been an impressive debut win” to sum up every punter’s thoughts.
They wouldn’t make the same mistake again, sending her out favorite in her next six outings, to which she won four of them, including her maiden Group 1 success in the 2009 Coolmore Classic.
It would be the first on a long list of honours for the mare, who claimed the Australian Racehorse of the Year title in 2009/10 and won $2.4 million in prizemoney across her 11 wins, including six at Group 1 level. She would go out on a high after winning the 2011 C.F. Orr Stakes at Caulfield.
"She was my first banner horse and she took the pressure off me with Black Caviar," said her trainer Peter Moody.
"I could afford not to push Black Caviar as I had Typhoon Tracy winning Group 1 races, and there's no doubt she reaped the benefits of this,” Moody said of his stable star.
However, despite the impressive CV, her master trainer does have one regret.
"I really regret her not running in the 2010 Cox Plate. That's one of my biggest regrets in racing, not giving her that chance."
"We aimed her at it and then we jigged at the last minute and ran into a heavy track on Derby Day and got beaten," Moody said of the race won by So You Think.
Sadly, Typhoon Tracy died after giving birth to her first foal in 2012.
She certainly had a whirlwind career, living up to her name and cementing her place in history.