Without horses such as these, there may not even be a sport there for gamblers to love in this present day. But, which horses have had this profound impact on the sport that we all love so dearly?
Red Rum
There aren’t many horses that come close to the impact that Red Rum had on the sport. In fact, there aren’t many figures that have had such an importance in the history of their respective sports.
Red Rum was able to have such an impact on horse racing that it helped lift the United Kingdom out of the gloom of a recession and capture the imagination of the whole country. He was able to do that by his performances on the track. Red Rum won back-to-back Grand Nationals in 1973 and 1974.
That impressive achievement was only equalled for the first time in 2019 as Tiger Roll won the race for the second time in a row. However, the success that stands out more than most was his one in 1977.
He returned from a second-place finish in the race the year prior to win the National in what is still regarded as one of the greatest moments in the history of the sport.
American Pharoah
When it comes to American horses that have achieved the success that Red Rum has it is hard to look past American Pharoah. By the time that the 2015 season got underway, it had been 40 years since there was a Triple Crown winner. No horse had been able to win the Preakness Stakes, Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby.
However, that changed with American Pharoah, as the Bob Baffert-trained horse captured the imagination of American fans and increased the popularity of racing in the country. Viewers tuned in to see if he could achieve what many considered to be impossible and Pharoah became as popular as a football star in the NFL odds spread.
It wasn’t just being able to capture the Triple Crown that caught the attention, but how dominant he was. He won the Belmont Stakes by an astonishing five and a half lengths. Further history awaited as he became the first horse to win a Grand Slam after success in the Breeder’s Cup Classic in his final race.
He retired in 2015 but has a race named after him, the American Pharoah Stakes, that serves as a preparatory race for the Kentucky Derby.
Winx
While Red Rum and American Pharoah both endured setbacks throughout their career, which made them beloved. Winx was a winning machine that gamblers and neutrals just tuned in to watch. Winx will remain the most dominant horse in the history of Australian racing, and he accumulated total winnings of AUD$ 26 million.
His dominance was honoured in 2017 as he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, in doing so, he became the first horse to achieve that honour while still in training.
Winx’s dominance was highlighted by the fact that he won 33 consecutive races, which also included 25 straight Group 1 successes. The last of those came in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes, which was the third time that he had won that race. He also won four W.S Cox Plate’s, three Apollo Stakes and four Chipping Norton Stakes throughout his illustrious career. There will never be a horse quite like Winx in Australia ever again.
Here you have it, 3 horses that made history. Which one did we miss?
