In an extraordinary golden six week period, Gold Guru amassed over $2 million in stakes

A homebred South Australian hero by Geiger Counter out of Proud Halo, Gold Guru won a few hearts on the racetrack with the bulk of his $2.45 million in earnings coming in an extraordinary period of just over six weeks in the autumn of 1998, heavily underscored not just by the stakes (about $2 million) won, but by the scalps taken. These included the new Kiwi star Zonda, the reigning Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner and the Horse of the Year in-waiting, Might And Power as well as the eventual 13-time Group one winner, Tie The Knot.

Gold Guru ran in five races over that six-week period, beginning with a Gr.2 Autumn Stakes (1400m) win at Caulfield before he met his first big test. That came next in the Australian Guineas in the shape of Kiwi three-year-old Zonda, who had taken all before him for trainer Roger James at home before making it to Australia.

It was off then for the famous Ranvet Stakes victory over Might And Power before the tables were turned in the Tancred. Gold Guru finished his autumn up against Tie The Knot in the AJC Derby, where the Guru once again proved the superior racehorse. Gold Guru’s time in the sun however was short with a seemingly innocuous bone chip halting his charge beyond his three-year-old days. Broken down geldings often just fade away, but Gold Guru’s impact on thoroughbred racing was only just beginning.

When he was just a handful of weeks’ old, he came to live at Mill Park Stud in South Australian along with most of the stock of his breeder, Harry Perks. He was born in NSW and he came to Mill Park at about two months of age and was raised on the farm from there. He came back to spell when he was racing so he was basically located there his whole life. Yet, for all his scalps and all his success that autumn, Gold Guru’s biggest chance at eternal fame may have passed him by when a raw, yet undiscovered spring three-year-old. He ran in the Vase over the same 2040-metre course the Cox Plate field would run over later that same day in a time that would have seen him finish some 10 lengths ahead of the Cox Plate winner Dane Ripper. He carried 55.5kgs in the Vase and would have carried just 48.5kgs under the weight-for-age conditions of the Cox Plate.

The Australian Guineas and the AJC Derby had been on Gold Guru’s radar since finishing just off the placings in the spring’s Victoria Derby, but his memorable Ranvet Stakes victory over Might And Power had never been seriously contemplated after he dealt with Zonda in the Australian Guineas. Might And Power was free-wheeling about five or six lengths in front - moments later, he moved up to Might And Power and then run by him, like he was just any other horse. It was his will to win that set him apart, says jockey Shane Dye, who rode him to win the Ranvet and then two weeks later when Might And Power turned the tables in spectacular style with his five-length Tancred Stakes waltz.

But Gold Guru’s time in the limelight was all but done. Just so there was no doubting who indeed was the king that season, Might And Power then went to the G1 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Randwick, where he ultimately enjoyed a 10.5 length winning margin. Mill Park Stud is hoping it gets the opportunity to throw Gold Guru a big 30th birthday party this August 1, but for the training legend Macdonald, he’s settled into retirement - for six of the seven days of the week at least. Such was Gold Guru’s placid nature off the racetrack, his temperament and experience were immediately put to use as a nanny for weaned foals, as an older horse that is nice and quiet keeps the group calm.


RACE RECORD - 43: 8-5-3
EARNINGS - $2,454,860

1997 AAMI Vase
1997 SAJC Breeders Stakes
1998 AJC Australian Derby
1998 Ranvet Stakes
1998 AAMI Classic (now Caulfield Autumn Classic)
1998 Australian Guineas