The “Mare of the World” could very well be the greatest Kiwi racehorse to have ever graced the turf

I was fortunate enough to see the mighty New Zealand mare Sunline race just once, in February 2002. It was at Te Rapa in the Waikato Draught Sprint (1400m) quite late in her career, but it was an awe-inspiring moment and a race to remember. It was a stinking hot 30° day, but we made the two hour trek down State Highway one from Auckland to Hamilton. She would go on to win the Gr.1 Coolmore and All Aged Stakes prior to retirement, but here was our amazing Kiwi champion, at home showing off her astounding abilities. Regular jockey, Greg Child's sat her outside the leader then pushed her to the front going into the final turn before opening up the mare, who cruised away effortlessly to win by 6L. Child's then cantered the horse down the straight and paraded Sunline up close the full length of the public grandstand, with the big crowd cheering and applauding their champion, knowing they had just witnessed one of New Zealand's greatest ever racehorses run, and win - and sadly this might be the last time she ever races in NZ. It was an emotionally charged and heart warming time for everyone present, as Sunline had the attitude of a winner and seemed to know the adoring crowd was there just to see her - the great mare of the world.

Sunline was the public's champion

Sunline was bred by Susan Archer and Michael Martin through their mare, Songline, who traced in her pedigree to a sister of the legendary champion, Phar Lap. Songline was bred to the imported sire Desert Sun, and Sunline was the result. Sunline was born at Pleasanton Farm in Cambridge and reared by the highly respected horsewoman, Ngarie Fraser. She was leased by Archer and Martin to trainer, Trevor McKee, Thayne Green and Helen Lusty, who exercised a $40,000 right of purchase.

Having served his apprenticeship with Gary Stewart, Bonecrusher’s winning jockey in the storied 1986 classic, Childs was surprised to gain the mount on the NZ superstar. In partnership with Thayne Green and Helen Lusty, McKee raced Sunline as a two-year-old. She was unbeaten in all three starts.

After a first-up win at three, in August 1998, the McKee's took Sunline to Australia for the first of an eventual nine visits. Racing in the second, third, and fourth legs of Sydney's Princess Series, (for three-year-old fillies) she powered through the slop on her Australian debut in the Furious Stakes, won the Tea Rose Stakes on a dry track two weeks later, and then took out the Gr.1 Flight Stakes - her first of 13 Group One wins. Sunline was then spelled, rather than continuing on to the feature races in Melbourne and never competed with the reigning Australian Horse of the Year, the stunning Might And Power.

Sunline resumed in February 1999. She won first up but was narrowly beaten for the first time by Rose O'War, second-up, in Melbourne's Angus Armanasco Stakes, her 9th career start. At her next start, Sunline defeated Rose O'War in the Kewney Stakes, and in her first look at the Cox Plate course, defeated the VRC winner Grand Archway by 4+1⁄2 lengths in the Moonee Valley Oaks (2040m). Sunline then ventured north to Sydney to tackle the Doncaster Handicap (1600m). Despite taking on older horses for the first time, and starting from a wide gate, Sunline was sent out one of the shortest-priced favourites in the race's long history ($2.10). Sunline went straight to the front and never looked back to score by one-and-three-quarter lengths. She became just the fourth filly to win in the modern history of the race. A fortnight later, Sunline was again a favourite in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m), and led the field over the rise but faded badly. She was then sent home to New Zealand for a well deserved break.

Unlike many three-year-old champions, Sunline made the transition to WFA racing as four-year-old. First up, she scored a win over the multiple Group One winner Tie the Knot in the Warwick Stakes and was installed ante-post favourite for the $3 million W. S. Cox Plate at Moonee Valley. At her next two starts, Stephen and Trevor McKee then tried to get the mare to settle in her races, but she was narrowly defeated in the Theo Marks Quality, by Adam, and in the George Main Stakes, by the wonderful Shogun Lodge. Her final lead-up to the Cox Plate was a close fourth under 56.5 kgs in the Epsom Handicap. Sunline held off a late challenge from Tie the Knot, with Caulfield Cup winner Sky Heights in third place. Sunline became only the fifth mare to win the race since its inception in 1922 and the second of four mares to win the race since Dane Ripper in 1997 (the others being Makybe Diva in 2005 and Pinker Pinker in 2011). After a brief let-up, Sunline came back in distance and defeated other mares in the Auckland Breeders' Stakes (1400m) in preparation for the International Cup (2000m) in Hong Kong. Sunline led in the G1 at Sha Tin, and her jockey, Greg Childs, explained that she travelled well to the turn, but the mare tired badly in the home straight and finished seventh.

Back in Sydney for the autumn of 2000, Sunline powered through the rain-affected going to win the Apollo Stakes (1400m) first-up. In her entire career, she was never beaten over the distance. She then carried the maximum topweight (60 kilograms) to win the first of two Coolmore Classics - at the time, Australia's only Group One race for fillies and mares. At her next start, she carried 57.5 kgs in the Doncaster Handicap and was narrowly defeated by the lightly weighted three-year-old Over. Meeting again a week later, in the All-Aged Stakes, Sunline relished the return to weight for age conditions - accounting for Georgie Boy, with Over in third place to make it three wins from four starts this campaign.

After a spell, Sunline started her five-year-old campaign in Melbourne against the sprinters - streaking away in the Manikato Stakes (1200m) at Moonee Valley. She then had wins in the Memsie (1400m) and Feehan Stakes (1600m), but was narrowly beaten by Fairway in the Turnbull Stakes (2000m). A natural frontrunner like Sunline, Fairway refused to hand up the lead to Sunline, who was forced to chase, and held her at bay down the straight. It was Sunline's third defeat over the distance from as many starts, but Fairway was a multiple Group One winning three-year-old the previous season.

Sunline fans regard her next run as one of her greatest.On the last Saturday of October, Sunline took control in the rain-affected going to win the Cox Plate by 7L from Caulfield Cup winner Diatribe, with Referral in third place. In winning, Sunline became the first Australasian horse to pass $6 million in career earnings.

Returning to New Zealand after the Cox Plate, the mare's owners revealed that Sunline had been part of a bidding war from five different countries, including the powerful Godolphin stables in the United Arab Emirates. All bids were rejected, and the mare was prepared for another trip to the rich, pre-Christmas international meeting in Hong Kong. In her final lead-up, Sunline raced away with the Auckland Breeders' Stakes at Pukekohe. In Hong Kong, she led all the way to win the International Mile (1600m), narrowly holding off local icon Fairy King Prawn, with five lengths back to Adam in third place. While the victory in Hong Kong neither confirmed nor denied the oft-made claim of her fans that Sunline was world's best racemare, her Cox Plate victory saw the Australian and New Zealand Horse of the Year receive an invitation to compete in the world's richest raceday, the Dubai World Cup meeting in the United Arab Emirates.

In early February, Sunline recorded her eighth win in New Zealand when she was too good for seven other Group One winners in the Waikato Sprint. The victory kept alive Sunline's wonderful record in her home country, which at career end would stand at 11 wins from as many starts. Sunline's next step came with a hit-and-run trip to Sydney for the Apollo Stakes at Warwick Farm. For the second year in a row, the race was run on a rain-affected track, and Sunline accounted for Celestial Choir. In Dubai, Sunline showed her customary pace to lead the field in the Duty Free (1800m), but her breakaway tactics were not aided by a home straight of 600 metres. Jim And Tonic and Fairy King Prawn loomed up to Sunline with 200 metres to run, and after a tough run, Sunline did well to hold on for third. She returned to Australia to contest the All Aged Stakes against a sub-standard field on a wet track at Randwick. Starting a hot favourite, Sunline was narrowly defeated by El Mirada and Final Fantasy, and then given time off from racing.

The now six year old Sunline returned with a close second to Piavonic in the Manikato Stakes. She then won the Memsie Stakes for the second year in a row, but was defeated by the great Northerly in the Feehan Stakes, however she rebounded to win the Turnbull Stakes in her fourth start of the season. Sunline was defeated by Northerly again in the Cox Plate, where a third victory would have equalled the record set by Kingston Town. The race featured three controversial protests: Sunline (second) against first (Northerly), and third (Viscount) against first and second. The protests arose from heavy contact between the three horses in the straight, with Northerly on the outside, Sunline closest to the rails, and Viscount in between. All three protests were eventually dismissed.

Following her spring defeats by Northerly, she returned in the autumn of 2002 to race four times for as many wins - all in Group One races. Each of her nine starts for the season came in races she had also contested in the last two seasons, and returned six wins from nine starts. The first of these was a win by four lengths in Waikato Sprint at Te Rapa, defeating Ethereal, who was out-paced in her first run since her Melbourne Cup victory. She then won the Coolmore Classic for a second time - again carrying the race's maximum handicap of 60 kilograms - and became the first horse in Australasia to win A$9 million in prize money.

At her next start, she carried the number one saddlecloth to victory in Doncaster Handicap. With 58 kilos, she defeated Shogun Lodge and Defier. She closed her campaign with a six length victory in the All-Aged Stakes. By winning these races, she became the first horse in Australasia to pass the $11 million mark in career earnings and with 13 Group One wins, she was within one of Kingston Town's record of 14 Group One races.

In the next spring, Sunline notched her fifth consecutive win when taking the Mudgway Stakes first-up in New Zealand, and returned to Sydney for the George Main Stakes. Sunline led but was run down by Defier and Excellerator. In her next start in the Caulfield Guineas, Sunline led, and, to a huge roar from the crowd, skipped away by more than three lengths at the top of the straight, but "the black flash" Lonhro loomed up strongly close to home to score in race record time, with a margin of six lengths back to third. The clash may have flattened Sunline and Lonhro, who appeared to race below their best when fourth and sixth, respectively, behind Northerly in the Cox Plate. As planned, Sunline was retired after this, her fourth and final Cox Plate, and her record of two wins, a second, and a fourth is one of the best in the history of the race. She retired with 27 stakes wins, more than any other horse in Australasian history, and was the highest grossing Australasian racehorse at that time. She was Australian Horse of the Year a record 3 times, and inducted into Australia’s Racing Hall of Fame – the only horse to receive that honour while still racing. She was New Zealand Horse of the Year 4 times, and inducted into the New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame. Sunline was, arguably New Zealand's greatest ever racehorse and was, for a time, the mare of the World. It is more then fair to mention the great mares name in the same context as Black Caviar and Winx and it is highly unlikely New Zealand will ever see one as good as the incredible Sunline.

RACE RECORD - 48: 32-9-3

EARNINGS - NZ$14,200,000

Flight Stakes (1998)

W. S. Cox Plate (1999 & 2000)

Doncaster Handicap (1999 & 2002)

All Aged Stakes (2000 & 2002)

Coolmore Classic (2000 & 2002)

Waikato Sprint (2001 & 2002)

Hong Kong Mile (2000)

Manikato Stakes (2000)

New Zealand Horse of the Year (1999–2002)

Australian Middle Distance Champion (2000, 2001)

Australian Horse of the Year (2000, 2001, 2002)

Australian Champion Filly or Mare (2000, 2001, 2002) Timeform rating: 129 Timeforms World Champion turf mare of 1999. Timeforms World Champion female mare