A Kiwi-bred star became the iron horse of Victorian racing

In the summer of 2021, New Zealand trainer Ralph Manning was tasked with naming a horse with a modest breeding background that had been acquired for the relatively low price of NZ$10,000. The horse had demonstrated promising performance in trials and was nearing it's first official race. Manning drew inspiration from The Killers' song "Mr. Brightside," believing it to be a fitting name for the horse. He went from Karaoke to Stadium rock within a matter of years. A son of the former Highview Stud stallion Bullbars, Mr Brightside is out of the Tavistock (NZ) mare Lilahjay, who is also the dam of Will Power (NZ), an eight-time winner in Hong Kong. Mr Brightside was bred by Ray Johnson in partnership with his late wife Martha. He was sold as a yearling for $22,000 via Janine Dunlop’s Phoenix Park at the 2019 New Zealand Bloodstock May Sale, then failed to meet his $50,000 reserve when re-offered at the New Zealand Bloodstock Ready to Run Sale. Later an opportunity arose for Johnson to buy him back on gavelhouse.com for just AU$7,750, in conjunction with Cambridge trainer Ralph Manning and good friend Shaun Dromgool. He was subsequently sold privately to clients of the Hayes stable via Australian agent Wayne Ormond. The Kiwi-bred star has now won 16 of his 30 starts, with a further seven placings and boasts prizemoney in excess of A$12,000,000.

The Ben, Will and JD Hayes-trained gelding has a never say die quality that endeared him to racing fans and has been scarcely out of the money since crossing the Tasman from New Zealand. The non-descript son of Bullbars, a near certainty beaten in a Matamata maiden, has now gone on to bag six Group One victories plus a A$5 million All-Star Mile in his 16 victories since. The Johnson-bred Mr Brightside staked his place amongst Australia’s best when he led home a Kiwi-bred trifecta in the 2022 Gr.1 Doncaster Mile on the opening day of The Championships at Randwick, completing something of a rags to riches story, as the four-year-old was at one stage in his brief life, virtually unwanted. His defeat of fellow NZ-breds I’m Thunderstruck and Icebath provided Ben and JD Hayes, third-generation members of one of Australian racing’s iconic training families, with their first Group One victory in partnership.

Mr Brightside then emerged triumphant in March 2023 in a thrilling fifth edition of The All-Star Mile in front of a big crowd at The Valley. The gelding claimed the $5 million race by half-a-length over veteran Godolphin galloper Cascadian, with Tasmania's little champion, The Inevitable running a gutsy third. The lucky hoop to replace the injured Craig Williams in the saddle was the Hong Kong-based Luke Currie, who came back to Melbourne and stole the show with a perfectly-timed ride.

Mr Brightside went into the Gr.1 Memsie Stakes in Spring winning form, having scored an impressive first-up victory in the Gr.2 P B Lawrence Stakes (1400m) over the same course and distance in August. But the bar was raised by several notches for his second-up assignment, jumping from gate 14 of 14 against a field that featured elite performers such as Alligator Blood and freakish Kiwi-bred I Wish I Win. Mr Brightside had to be exceptional to earn his third Group One win of his career, and the 6yo was up to the task, confirming his place among the best of Melbourne’s weight-for-age ranks with a supreme performance over the 1400m at Caulfield. Mr Brightside dug deep and fought them all off, edging ahead to beat Princess Grace by a long neck.

Mr Brightside then notched his fourth Group One victory in comfortable fashion when landing the Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington in September 2023. In a small field of seven that always looked a tactical affair, winning jockey Craig Williams took luck out of the equation as he settled one-out one-back on the son of Bullbars. With his great rival Alligator Blood setting a sedate tempo and giving a strong kick turning for home, Mr Brightside ambled past his chief combatant to score by a length and a half, with the Waller horse Osipenko performing with credit in third. 

Mr Brightside lucked out in a deceptive finishing to the $5 million Cox Plate (2040m), nabbed on the line by the Danny Shum-trained Romantic Warrior, ridden by James McDonald. In one of the best finishes ever seen in the race, Williams kicked Mr Brightside along the rails to grab the lead just short of the post, but JMac amped up the HK champ and drove him hard to the line, with no one sure who had actually won. It was so close, the Moonee Valley Race Club even sprayed black and white streamers over the crowd for Mr Brightside’s colours. But the photo said a thousand words, handing Romantic Warrior the victory. There was only a short nose in it.

Mr Brightside commenced his autumn campaign in the Gr.1 C.F. Orr Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield in February 2024, and after looking beaten fresh up for much of the contest, called on all his fighting qualities to mow down bold front runner Pride Of Jenni  and Buffalo River in the shadows of the post. The incredible horse then became a six-time Group One winner with an ever-growing place in Australian racing folklore. The phenomenal gelding scored another brilliant victory in the A$750,000 Gr.1 Futurity Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, which was the 16th win of his 31-race career.

Returning in the spring of 2024, Mr Brightside would resume with a 2nd in the Memies Stakes (1400m) at Caulfield, then defeat the front running juggernaut Pride of Jenni in the Gr.1 Makybe Diva Stakes (1600m) at Flemington. The results would be reversed, with Mr Brightside finishing 2nd to Jenni in the Gr.2 Feehan Stakes (1600m) at Moonee Valley and he would also finish runner up to Deny Knowledge in the Gr.1 Might and Power (2000m) at Caulfield with a return to the Cox Plate the connections main target.

RACE RECORD - 38-17-9-3

EARNINGS - $14,196,327

G1 Doncaster Mile

G1 All-Star Mile

G1 Memsie Stakes

G1 Maykbe Diva Stakes x2

G1 C.F ORR Stakes

G1 Futurity Stakes