W.S. Cox Plate Legend - Surround

Only one filly has ever won the Cox Plate in the entire history of the race. That filly was Surround.

When Surround was first up for sale in New Zealand, she was almost overlooked – trainer Bart Cummings inspected her and was not impressed. However, fellow trainer Geoff Murphy found her strangely appealing and arranged to lease her from breeder Patrick Hogan until the end of her four-year-old season.

The great grey Surround was one of the most brilliant fillies to have ever raced in Australia. In a short but spectacular career the New Zealand-bred filly won 17 of her 28 starts, 10 of them in succession, at distances from 1200 to 2500 metres.

Surround showed her quality as a two-year-old winning five of her nine starts. As a three-year-old she won the Oaks in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland – the only filly to achieve this treble. She also proved herself at weight-for-age and against the colts with wins in the Caulfield Guineas, Ascot Vale Stakes, Moonee Valley Stakes and QTC Grand Prix Stakes.

It was her three-length victory in the 1977 W.S. Cox Plate that put the stamp of greatness on her – no other three-year-old filly has been able to emulate this achievement, and it confirmed her as the Australian Horse of the Year.

Surround would have been a worthy favourite in the race, albeit classy mare How Now had just won the Caulfield Cup in a remarkable performance and hence started the popular elect at 7-4 favourite. Sadly for connections, How Now knuckled at the start and soon after was badly checked, meaning she was a non-factor in the race.

Surround jumped from barrier 10 and jockey Peter Cook pushed forward early and got her into a perfect position in fourth rounding the bend for the first time. Leader Unaware had set a solid pace throughout, and the race had set up perfectly for Surround if she was good enough, which she was. It was all over in the twinkling of an eye. She dashed clear in the straight to win by three lengths in a new race record, creating history at The Valley on two fronts.
It was also a memorable day as there was a total eclipse of the sun at 4.39 pm, which lasted for three minutes and 27 seconds. More remarkably, Cosmic won the last race.

Back in training as a four-year-old, her racing came to a premature end by a foreleg injury which necessitated her retirement. She had won $347,040 in prizemoney, a then-record for a mare in the Southern Hemisphere.

In her short but brilliant career, she had made an enormous impact, and no three-year-old filly since has matched her exploits. She was one of a kind.