With a stunning start to his career, it all came to a tragic end in the 1979 Melbourne Cup

He was widely regarded as the "Horse that stopped a Nation" following one of the most heartbreaking and tragic incidents in Melbourne Cup history. Dulcify was a New Zealand bred racehorse that turned out to be one of the greatest thoroughbreds to have ever raced in Australia. His British-bred sire was the 1970 Irish 2000 Guineas winner, Decies (GB) by Pardal, a grandson of Pharis (FR), the very important French sire, whom Thoroughbred Heritage consider one of the greatest French-bred runners of the century. His dam was Sweet Candy via the exceptional galloper, Todman, who won 10 from 12, including the Golden Slipper, Champagne, Hobartville, Futurity and Lightning Stakes as well as the Canterbury Guineas in the mid 1950's.

Dulcify was owned and raced by Colin Hayes, who purchased him for Perth's Bill Rigg, along with his good mate Alan Maller. Born in the land of the long white cloud on October 14, 1975, Dulcify was no oil painting and Colin’s wife Betty had to take a share in the horse to complete the ownership with WA businessmen Rigg and Maller. It was Rigg's first ever racehorse and he bought a third share in the raw colt plucked from relative obscurity by Hayes. The parrot-mouthed youngster boasted a handy pedigree but was nothing much to look at according to Rigg.

He was a nightmare to float, missed trials and went into his first start at Morphettville an unknown proposition. A planned trip to Perth around Christmas for the Western Australian Derby ended in disaster when Dulcify went berserk in the plane on the way over and got himself banned by Ansett from any further air travel. He raced below his very best in the West and was floated back the 2700km to Hayes’ stables at Lindsay Park in the Barossa Valley. The float broke down on the Nullarbor Plain and the budding champion spent two days in the sauna like conditions at Ceduna only cooling down with morning and afternoon swims in the Great Australian Bight. Hayes reported he was the first horse he had seen literally dive into water.

A patient, come-from-behind runner, his most important career win came in the 1979 Cox Plate, which amazed all with his still-standing record of seven lengths. His first win was at the amazing odds of 350/1. He lost to Regal Jester in the SAJC Derby but regained his form in the VRC Australian Cup beating Manikato and Family Man. He was stone motherless last after copping a couple of checks but when he got out at the top of the straight he went past Manikato like he was glued to the Flemington turf. Colin Hayes had chucked $20 at Rigg and said put it on the nose - Dulcify was at odds of 80/1. This was followed by a win in the Rosehill Guineas, a second place in the Tancred Stakes, and also a major victory in the AJC Derby with young Kiwi rider Brent Thomson in the saddle.

In the spring of 1979 he finished unplaced over 1000m, but as s a four year old, Dulcify won the Craiglee Stakes and the Turnbull Stakes, and managed a third spot in the Underwood Stakes. He also won the prestigious LKS MacKinnon Stakes. The astounding runaway victory in the 1979 WS Cox Plate by a record seven lengths caught the eyes of the punters and is the stuff of legends. Bill Collins' call that, "Dulcify has won by a minute and that's the way he might win the Melbourne Cup" still serves as a haunting reminder to what could have been. Less then a fortnight later his career and life would come to a tragic end in the biggest race on the Australian calendar.

The Cup was considered to be at the mercy of the brilliant four-year-old who would begin the two mile handicap as one of the shortest priced favourites in the past 50 years - at 2/1 odds. A record winning seven length margin in the Cox Plate 10 days earlier had scribes mentioning the bay with some of the greats of the turf, including Tulloch, Kingston Town and the immortal Phar Lap. It had all begun so anonymously just over a year earlier for the horse bought in New Zealand for a paltry $NZ4000, and here he was poised to run as favourite in the greatest staying event in the world.

The Cup was slowly run early on, and Dulcify with Brent Thomson in the saddle settled easily in eighth until the mile mark. With a reputation for being mad, bad and dangerous, Hyperno, trained by Bart Cummings, was in behind the favourite and had not settled nearly as well.

He was still tearing and reefing in the hands of jockey Roy Higgins when he reared up and galloped on the hind of Dulcify, stripping his rival’s legs in the process. Thomson felt his mount stop dead in his tracks but soon steadied and rallied to charge back in to the race with 600m to go. It was at that point Dulcify stumbled, lost all impetus, and Thomson didn’t waste a second in pulling up the champion. As Hyperno went on to win the Cup, all eyes turned to the horse stranded at the top of the Flemington straight. In the mayhem that followed it was discovered Dulcify had courageously run a kilometre of the race with a broken pelvis. The horse was taken to his stables at the back of the track to be inspected by the Hayes’ vet. Sadly he rapidly came to same conclusion, as the broken bones of the shattered pelvis had damaged internal organs. Dulcify was put down at 5.40pm on November 6, 1979.

Regrettably, the horse had to be humanely euthanised, causing profound grief for attendees and organisers alike. Colin Hayes was deeply distressed by the unfortunate accident involving Dulcify, and the subsequent disposal of the horses' body generated significant controversy. Two individuals observed the strappers disposing of the body, which was reported on, and only added to to the agony, but they have declined to provide any details about the incident to this day. Dulcify was buried at Werribee a day later under a tree in a lush paddock. Dulcify's unfortunate and untimely passing was a deeply saddening event in the history of horse racing, leaving many Australian fans in a state of profound shock. In all, Dulcify won 10 races from 21 starts over a 14-month period. It's a sequence few have ever matched and one none in the modern era would even get the chance to attempt.

RACE RECORD - 21: 10–2-3

EARNINGS - A$568,775

Victoria Derby (1978)

Craiglee Stakes (1979)

Australian Derby (1979)

Rosehill Guineas (1979)

Australian Cup (1979)

Turnbull Stakes (1979)

LKS Mackinnon Stakes (1979)

W S Cox Plate (1979)