Subzero was the people's grey champion that continued to impress and bring joy after racing

Subzero may have won the Melbourne Cup way back in 1992, but his popularity today is still as strong as it was some 30 years ago. 'Subbie' as he was affectionately known, ploughed through the soft going to write himself into racing folklore with victory over the favourite, and noted mudlark Veandercross in the 1992 Cup. Bred by Wakefield Stud in NSW he was a graduate of the Magic Millions on the Gold Coast. Subzero, a son of Kala Dancer, by the mare Wiley Trade, he was purchased for $100,000 by trainer Lee Freedman with the Golden Slipper in mind. His half-sister, Confederate Lady, had won a Gr.3 Blue Diamond Prelude, and he hailed from the family of Slipper hero Marscay.

Subzero made it to the track at age two, winning a couple at Flemington toward the end of the season. His first start was in an 1100m 2YO Handicap at Flemington on New Year’s Day 1991, in which he finished a 5.7-lengths eighth with Wayne Treloar in the saddle. The first time he saw 1600m, and a Heavy track was when he had the chance to showcase his true ability. At start number five he won a 2YO Handicap over that trip on a damp surface at Flemington on July 6, 1991, with Damien Oliver aboard, before backing up the following week to win over 2000m, again at Flemington and again on a Heavy track. That convinced Freedman to set his sights on capitalising on his strengths as a three-year-old and he gave Subzero six weeks between runs before working his way up to a maiden Stakes win in the Listed Dulcify Quality (2000m) at Randwick. That performance had him the 2/1 second favourite for his first crack at Group one level, the Spring Champion Stakes (2000m) at Randwick, in which he finished fourth.

AJC Derby plans were abandoned after failures in the Canterbury (now Randwick) Guineas and Rosehill Guineas, returning home to finish second over 2400m at Caulfield and again in the then-Group 3 VRC St Leger (2800m). Freedman then sent Subzero to Adelaide, where he announced his staying prowess with victory in the Group 1 South Australian Derby (2500m). The win followed a victory in the Adelaide Cup (3200m) during the winter, and placings in traditional Cup lead-up races the Gr.2 Craiglee Stakes (1600m) and the Gr.1 Underwood Stakes (2000m). Attention, naturally, then turned to the Caulfield and Melbourne Cups. A sixth placing, at 33/1 in the 1400m Liston (now Lawrence) Stakes won by Jim’s Mate was a more than adequate start to the campaign, while the second placings in the Craiglee Stakes and Underwood Stakes were proof that he was ticking along beautifully. Perhaps even better was his fifth placing, also beaten 2.2 lengths, in a star-studded Mackinnon Stakes (won by Veandercross) three days out from the Melbourne Cup.

The continuation of a wet spring played right into his hands on the biggest day of all and, as the 4/1 second favourite, defeated Kiwi favourite Veandercross by 1.8 lengths, with Castletown a further 1.3 lengths back in third. It was the second Melbourne Cup success for Freedman, who won three years earlier with Tawrrific, and first for jockey Greg Hall. His Melbourne Cup victory proved to be Subzero's sixth and final triumph of his 48-start racing career. In 20 subsequent starts, his best efforts were third placings in the 1993 St George (Peter Young) Stakes, 1993 Sydney Cup and in a 1417m Welter at Flemington in April 1994. He was retired after finishing last of 15 in the 1994 Brisbane Cup, which brought his racing record to 48 starts for six wins, as many second placings and five thirds for $2,008,450 in stakes. As only the fifth grey horse to win one of racing's most prestigious races, the first since WWII, Subzero was an instant hit, so he was far from lost to the industry.

Following his retirement from racing, the former Lee Freedman-trained gelding spent 15 years as a clerk of the course at race meetings across Victoria and delighted thousands of children with over 300 school visits. As a grey, he was a natural candidate to join Graham Salisbury as a clerk of the course. And it was through that work that he became Australia's most famous retired Thoroughbred, becoming a fixture at Melbourne race meetings from 1994 until 2008. Salisbury, a Clerk Of The Course for almost 50 years, passed away just some two months before his mate in 2020, the universally loved Cup hero, Subzero

RACE RECORD - 48: 6-6-5
EARNINGS- $2,008,100

South Australian Derby (1992)
Adelaide Cup (1992)
Melbourne Cup (1992)