A second hand mirror is what it took to help Horlicks win the Japan Cup

Horlicks was by Three Legs (GB) from the unraced mare, Malt, by Moss Trooper (USA). Malt was later sold to the United States by Australian Bloodstock agent Brian King. Her owner, Graham W. de Gulthy of Hastings, sent Horlicks to train with Dave and Paul O'Sullivan in April of 1986. Upon her arrival at the O'Sullivan stable, it was evident that she lacked the desired speed, requiring over 15 seconds to complete a 200m run. Consequently, her trainer even contemplated the possibility of returning her to the ranch. Horlicks made her racing debut at a maiden race held at the Tauranga Racecourse on 30 December, 1986; where she came in 2nd place. The following month she won her first race. Contrary to the low expectations, she finished her 3yo season with 4 victories out of the 8 races she ran in, and started to run in group races the following year, coming in second place at her first group race (Air New Zealand Stakes). Horlicks then won her first group race in the Awapuni Gold Cup, and later her first Group 1 race in the 1988 TV New Zealand Stakes. She would also come in 2nd place that same year in the Australian WS Cox Plate. For the 1989 season, major preparations were made for her entering the Japan Cup at an early stage, with her trainer doing stamina training for the 2400 metre run as well as preparation for quarantine. Before coming to Japan that year, Horlicks ran the DB Draught Classic in March and won her second Group 1 title, and a third in the Australian LKS MacKinnon Stakes.

When New Zealand mare Horlicks arrived before the other overseas competitors for the 1989 Japan Cup, her handler had an ingenious solution to stop her from fretting due to loneliness. A second-hand mirror, smeared with another horse’s sweat turned out to be a key to Horlicks winning the world’s second richest race at the time. It was designed to break the tedium and ease the anxiety brought on by the strange, unfamiliar surroundings. Paul O'Sullivan tied it to the fence in the paddock she was in and allow her to smell her buddy from Melbourne on it. For the first few days in Tokyo she hardly left that mirror. Then when she gained a bit more confidence she would get up and walk around, but would still come back and stand by that mirror for security. Despite the initial skepticism, the outcome proved to be favourable, and her triumph in the Japan Cup was widely regarded as the pinnacle of Horlick's illustrious career and probably the greatest single accomplishment by the O'Sullivan stable. This achievement was duly recognised when she was inducted into the esteemed New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame in 2010.

When the local hero Oguri Cap battled Horlicks up the straight in the 1989 Japan Cup (2400m), 140,000 fans responded with a noise so loud jockey Lance O’Sullivan described it as “like a physical assault.” The race did not disappoint. Horlicks sat close to the speed as the field scorched through lung-straining sectionals on the fast ground. As she pulled clear of highly rated rivals that included the previous year’s Japan Cup winner, Pay The Butler, that year’s Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Carroll House and the world record holder Hawkster, it was the local hero, Oguri Cap that emerged from the pack as the clear challenger. The pair pulled clear in an absolute dogfight, met by the roars of the masses at Fuchu. In Lance O’Sullivan’s biography Tears in the Wind, he described feeling the crowd noise as “vibrations through my entire body.” Horlicks time of 2 minutes 22.5 seconds broke Hawkster’s record In a remarkable and emotionally charged triumph.

Horlicks would take an extended hiatus before returning to compete in the 1990 DB Draught Classic, which she ultimately won. Notably, she surpassed her own course record set the previous year by a mere 0.01 seconds. Subsequently, she experienced two consecutive defeats before securing victory in the Television New Zealand Stakes. Regrettably, this triumph proved to be her final success, as she was unable to replicate her winning form in future races. Her participation in the Cox Plate that year culminated in an eighth-place finish, prompting her retirement from active competition and a transition to breeding.

Horlicks became a broodmare at the Cambridge Stud, where she proved to be an outstanding broodmare, as the dam of the 2000 Melbourne Cup winner Brew, and the ill-fated stakes winner Bubble (both by Sir Tristram). Another daughter, Latte, was the dam of Gr.1 AJC Australian Derby winner, Fiumicino. In 2006 Horlicks delivered her 13th foal, a colt by One Cool Cat, at Cambridge Stud in New Zealand and was retired from stud duties at the age of 24 years. Horlicks died on 24 August 2011 at Cambridge Stud and is buried at her breeder and owner's (Graham de Gruchy) stud farm

RACE RECORD - 40: 17-10-2

EARNINGS - NZ$4,165,407

Awapuni Gold Cup

TVNZ Stakes

LKS Mackinnon Stakes

1989 Japan Cup

DB Draught Classic