From Bendigo to International glory, Sailor's Guide journeyed the world

Sailor’s Guide enjoyed success on the world stage, winning races in his native Australia as well as the United States of America and Canada. Trained for most of his career by retired Bendigo schoolteacher George Daniel, Sailor’s Guide had a calm temperament which belied his gallant racing efforts and frequent close finishes. During his Australian career, Sailor’s Guide scored 18 wins from 58 starts including a three-way photo finish defeat of Prince Darius and Tulloch in the 1958 Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Flemington, where the Queen Mother was guest of honour. He would win a further five times from 12 starts in America. The most memorable of those victories, the 1958 Washington D.C. International Stakes was won on protest.

He was a brown stallion that was foaled in 1952 at Sledmere Stud Scone and was sired by the good racehorse Lighthouse II. His dam was the imported mare Jehane (GB) by Legend of France (FR) imported by Maurice Point, owner of Sledmere Stud. Jehane was also the dam of several other winners including Far Away Places (by Royal Empire) who won the Adelaide Cup.

Many of Sailor's Guide’s wins were by margins of a neck or less and in the Sydney Cup his winning margin was a half head. In the Pentathlon Stakes (a VATC Olympic Games commemorative event) Sailor's Guide showed his class by defeating the New Zealand champion horse, Rising Fast and then another NZ horse in Redcraze in the C B Fisher Plate. During the spring Sailor's Guide again won the Craiglee Stakes, was third in the Caulfield Cup and won the LKS MacKinnon Stakes.

He won many other major races in Australia in the late 1950s, including the VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (defeating Prince Darius and Tulloch) and the VRC Derby and was one of the highest stake winners of the period. He also won the Sky Classic Stakes in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He ended up winning more than £100,000, with Tulloch and the Standardbred harness horse Caduceus as the only horses bred in Australia or New Zealand to have achieved this distinction at that time in North America. Tulloch was his main rival, and they defeated each other on a number of occasions.

The most important race he won was the 1958 Washington, D.C. International (now replaced by the Breeders' Cup Turf), a major horse race in the United States. It was contested on turf over 2400 metres and drew the best horses from North America and Europe. In winning the race, Sailor's Guide defeated the top performer Ballymoss who had a Timeform rating of 136. Soon after, Ballymoss won the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and was also voted as 1958 European Horse of the Year. Sailor's Guide was retired to stud in America, but was a poor foal-getter. He did have eight of his progeny race without any great success. In 2021 he was inducted into the Australian Hall Of Fame.

RACE RECORD - 70: 23-17-8

Australia 58: 18-13-8

USA 10: 4-4-0

Canada 2: 1-0-0 

EARNINGS - £66,494 - US$116,586

VRC Derby (1955)

VRC St Leger Stakes (1956)

Sydney Cup (1956)

VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1956, 1958)

C.B.Fisher Plate (1956)

AJC St Leger (1956)

Craiglee Stakes (1956, 1957)

Sandown Classic (1957)

LKS MacKinnon Stakes (1957)

Blamey Stakes (1957, 1958)

P J O'Shea Stakes (1958)

Washington, D.C. International Stakes (1958)

Jockey Club Cup Handicap (1959)