At Doomben Racecourse in Brisbane late in May every year since 1933, the Doomben Double has been run and won. The double consists of the Group One 1350m WFA Doomben 10,000 and the Group One 2020m WFA Doomben Cup.
These races in recent years have swapped order with the Cup taking placing this year on 17 May and the 10,000 on 24 May. They are both spectacular races that during racing’s glory days were handicap races.
The Doomben 10,000 has been won by the likes of Apache Cat (twice), Takeover Target, Falvelon (twice), Manikato, Baguette and Lough Neagh. These are some of the greatest sprinting types Australia has ever seen. The Doomben Cup has been won over the years by all-time champions Might and Power and Rough Habit (three times) as well as Winfreux.
However, with all the champions that are mentioned when discussing the Doomben Double, one name will always rise above the rest. Bernborough. The immortal Queensland champion Bernborough remains the only horse to have ever won the Doomben double in one year and he did it when both races were handicaps. Bernborough’s two wins at Doomben in May 1946 remain two of the greatest wins in Australian racing history. The first leg of the double in 1946 (the race order is now reversed) was the Doomben 10,000 or the Ahern Memorial as it was known then. Bernborough was stone motherless last at the top of the very short Doomben straight and there were no fewer 26 horses in front of the champ. He was pulled out around the field and somehow won effortlessly by around two lengths. In recent years Bernborough’s final furlong in this race has been timed at 9.0 seconds; that still remains the fastest furlong ever run in Australian racing history. Black Caviar’s fastest 200m ever was 9.98 seconds; Black Caviar did it with 56.5kg, while Bernborough did it with 10.5 or 65.7kg!
Yes Bernborough came from last in the 1946 Doomben 10,000 to win after recording the fastest furlong in Australian racing history and he did it with 65.7kg. Remarkable.
The following Saturday in May 1946 Bernborough was backed up by his connections in the 2020m Doomben Cup. Remember this race was a handicap in 1946 and due to the ease of his Doomben 10,000 win the week before, Bernborough was given the full penalty for the Cup the week later. Compared to the 10,000 win, Bernborough’s win in the Doomben Cup was an anticlimax. He started the 7-4 on favourite and this is remarkable considering he was forced to carry 10.11 in this race which equates to 68.5kg. We also need to remember that back in these days the minimum weight in feature races was generally around 7.1 or 45kg.
Bernborough in winning the 1946 Doomben Cup with 68.5kg carried some 21 – 22kg more than the bottom weight in this race. Can you imagine now just 68 years later what would happen if a horse was handicapped with 68.5kg? Some trainers scratch horses if they have 58kg. If the minimum in the 2014 Doncaster is somewhere around 52kg, for a horse to win with a Bernborough like weight it will have to carry 74kg. Of course no horse will ever be handicapped like this again, but it does demonstrate exactly how good these two wins were by Bernborough in May 1946. No horse will ever win a Group One race in Australia again with 22kg above the minimum as Bernborough did in 1946.
T.J. Smith clearly had and eye and an ear for history because in 1969 he allowed his gun sprinter / miler Black Onyx to have a go at Bernborough’s record. Black Onyx won the Doomben 10,000 in 1969 and he won it in a then race record time by just under three lengths.
Black Onyx won this race with George Moore aboard in a time of 1.18.10 and he carried 8.8 which equates to around 54.5kg. Bernborough of course carried around 65.5kg and he won the race in 1.18.75 so 0.65 seconds slower for having carried 11kg more. When Black Onyx won the race in 1969 he did so in such an impressive fashion that T.J. felt he deserved his chance to win the Doomben Cup the following week. If Black Onyx was to win the Doomben Cup, he would join Bernborough as the only horse to ever win the double in the one year. In several interviews that live in the annals of Australian Racing history, T.J. on more than one occasion lists Bernborough as the greatest horse he ever saw race. This is indeed supreme praise from the man who basically lived with Kingston Town, Tulloch and Redcraze. There is little doubt that T.J. entered Black Onyx in the Doomben Cup the week after winning the Doomben 10,000 in an attempt to equal the greatest achievement of the greatest horse he ever saw. As luck would have it, Black Onyx ran out of his skin in the Cup but was just nabbed on the line and he finished a very brave 2nd in the field of 19.
The following year, T.J. and Black Onyx were back in Brisbane to defend their Doomben 10,000 crown. The year was 1970 and Black Onyx was the hot 5-2 favourite despite the fact that he was way up in the weight for having won the race the previous year. Black Onyx won again and he won very easily even with the 9.4 (59kg). Again the following week, T.J. backed his champ up in the Doomben Cup in an attempt to emulate the great Bernborough. With 9.4 (59kg) Black Onyx ran really well again but could only manage 9th.
Black Onyx is one of five horses to ever win the Doomben 10,000 twice while Bernborough is still the only horse to ever win the Doomben Double in one year. T.J Smith purchased Black Onyx for just $2940 at the 1967 Sydney Easter Sales. The gelding was impeccably bred but did not gather much attention in the sales ring due to his ‘awkward looks’ and lightly fleshed physic. But like so many times before this and after, T.J. saw something in the grey gelding and the son of the grand sire Pipe of Peace went on to win $133,000 on the track. This does not sound like much when compared to the prize money these days, but the $133,000 earned on the track by Black Onyx, equates to 45 times the gelding’s sale price. If a $300,000 yearling purchased in 2014 is to go on and make 45 times its sale price on the track it will have made $13.5 million on the track and be the second highest earning horse in Australian racing history behind Maykbe Diva.
The Doomben Double this year will be run and won on 17 May and 24 May and like all years, the races will be highly contested and full of great horses. Prior to 17 May, Doomben also hosts another Group One race, the BTC Cup on 10 May. These three back-to-back Saturdays will provide the usual thrills that Group One racing provides but also will again offer a horse a chance at emulating the great Bernborough in winning the 10,000 and the Cup in the one year. It will take a monumental effort for a horse to do it in 2014, but 62 years is enough, so let’s hope it happens soon.
*Contact www.brc.com.au for more information about the Brisbane Winter Carnival.
*For more information on Bernborough be sure to check out The Bernborough Phenomenon available as an e-book via Amazon.
By Zeb Armstrong
