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Tulloch
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| From an interview with Peter Haley. By Christopher Evans, Coonabarabran, New South Wales, Australia. |
Peter Haley with Tulloch's Silks. Photo by Chris Evans. | | Some Facts
Breeding: Foaled 1st October 1954 at L. S. Otway's Trelawney Stud, Cambridge, New Zealand
Height: 15.2 hands
Trainer: T.J. "Tommy" Smith, Sydney, Australia
Owner: Mr E. A. F. Haley and later his son Peter
Race Record: 53 starts: 36 wins, 12 seconds, 4 thirds, unplaced once
Nicknamed: "Haley's Comet" by the media
Died: 30th June 1969 at Peter Haley's property "Old Gowang" near Coonabarabran, aged 15
years
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His Sire, Khorassan
Khorassan, a handsome black horse bred by the Aga Khan, was by Big Game and out of Naishapur (by Nearco). He won two races in England -- Kempton Park's Classic Trial Stakes and Chester's 1-1/4 mile Dee Stakes at age three, placing second in Kempton's Coventry Foal Stakes in seven starts at ages two and three. He was purchased by Australian Lennard S. Otway, and he was shipped to New Zealand, where he stood at Otway's Trelawney Stud until 1960 - 61. Tulloch was by far his best offspring and sent him to the top of the leading sires list in Australia in 1957-58 (and fifth in the New Zealand sires list). In 1961, the year he was sold to the U.S.A., he was fourth on the sires list in Australia. He was purchased by a California syndicate, headed by George Jamieson, and was sent to stud at Rancho del Charro in Pleasanton, where he died in 1965, the year his first California crop were three-year-olds.
Khorassan's winners included the good sprinter-miler Coleridge (Wellington Guineas, Great Northern Guineas, ARC Easter Handicap, etc.), 1962 Perth Cup winner Royal Khora, Great Northern Oaks and Waikato Gold Cup winner Alluring, Waikato Guineas winner Melanion, and a number of long-running handicappers. In the U.S. his best was Dardanus (1962), who won 17 of his 57 starts, including Bay Meadow's Redwood City Handicap and set a track record over 5-1/2 furlongs at Golden Gate Fields.
Tulloch's dam, Florida, won four races in sixty starts, including the Avondale Cup over 11 furlongs in 1950. She bred only three foals; Tulloch, her first, was her only stakes winner. Her dam was a non-winner, although her grandam, Unawed, did produce the good sprinter Meadow Lark, twice winner of the 6 furlong WRC Telegraph Handicap in 1929 and 1930.
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| Tulloch and jockey George Moore |
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| Tulloch and his owner E.A.F. Haley |
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| Tulloch on the turf |
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| Dahma Star |
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Trainer Tommy Smith bought the yearling (lot 178) for 750 guineas in 1956 at the Trentham Yearling Sales. In all Smith bought 17 colts and fillies at the sales, which he sold in Sydney quite quickly. He offered the last colt to Mr E.A.F Haley who was impressed by his breeding, sense of presence and intelligence, despite his "swampy" back. Haley and his son Peter bought the '"tiny
pony" (as Peter called him) for 750 guineas. Tulloch's final price, after freight to Sydney, vet bills, stud papers, feed etc., was 1069 pounds 9 shillings and 8 pence. This investment returned them 110,123 Australian pounds in winnings by the time Tulloch's career was done. "Haley's Comet," as he was called in the press, was the first Australian horse ever past 100,000 pounds. Winning the same races today, 2006, Tulloch would have returned 5.6 million Australian dollars for his owners.
Haley Snr. named the colt Tulloch, after the Scottish town where his mother was born. Because of impressive barrier trials, Tulloch was sent out favourite in his first start as a two year old at Randwick in the AJC Breeders Plate, but finished second. A week later jockey George Moore rode him to his
first of his 36 victories, the Canonbury Stakes. Considered to be the equal, if not better, than Phar Lap, the 1960 Melbourne Cup (in which he was carrying 10 stone 1 pound ( 64 kgs )) was the only race in Tulloch's career when he finished out of a place, and this loss was considered the result of a bad ride by jockey Neville Sellwood.
As a 3 year old his career remains unmatched in Australasian racing history. He was the fastest three year old in the world at the time. In 1957, Tulloch beat Phar Lap's record time in the AJC Derby by more than 2 seconds, and as a 3 year old he won 14 of his 16 starts, including the 1957 Caulfield Cup in
world record time.
With Warwick Stakes in August 1957 Tulloch (aged 3 years) began his amazing victories, beating the best horses in Australasia and smashing numerous records. Mr. E.A.F Haley scratched Tulloch from the 1957 Melbourne Cup, despite him being favourite. Although many rumours implied Mr. Haley never intended to run his 3 year old in the Cup, Haley himself always said that two miles ( 3200 meters) was far too far for any young horse, and that it was trainer Tommy Smith who entered
Tulloch in the race. Mr. Haley said he would rather retire the horse than see him run in the Cup, especially with 8 stone 2 pounds on his back.
Sydney, Brisbane, or Melbourne... he conquered all rivals with ease and arrogance. During his short spell in Brisbane he contracted a skin problem due to the hot weather and returned south.
A mysterious life threatening scouring illness in April 1958 kept him out of racing for nearly two years, he suffered from recurring infections and resulting weight loss. The final treatment, the one that cured him, was an incredible concoction of Port Wine and Brandy made into a porridge with Rolled Oats. This remedy worked on cattle, but it had never tried on horses until Tulloch came along.
Returning to racing on the 12th March 1960 as a 5 year old, he amazingly won his first race, the VRC Queen's Plate by a short head, and won a further 14 races, with his final victory in the 1961 Brisbane Cup, winning by 1-3/4 lengths and carrying 9 stone 12 pounds.
His silks, the racing colours of Mr. E.A.F.Haley, and other memories adorn the walls of the Imperial Hotel in Coonabarabram, NSW, Australia.
Mr. E.A.F. Haley passed away in March 1963, having realized every owner's dream. By this time Tulloch had gone to stud and his first crop of foals were six months old.
What a great way it would be to conclude this story by saying that Tulloch was an outstanding sire, but it was not to be. He retired to Haley's Te Koona Stud near Bathurst in New South Wales at a fee of 500 guineas, the highest fee ever to that time for a New Zealand or Australian bred stallion. But he managed to sire only a small lot of Sydney winners, the best of the bunch were Dahma Star and Valide. Many knowledgable people felt that Tulloch's tremendous two-year-long struggle for survival may have had some dire effect on his genetic structure.
DAHMA STAR (1964, from Beauty Star) won six races, her most important the Sydney Turf Club's 10 furlong Christmas Cup handicap in 1967 and the Canterbury Handicap. She was also second in the STC Cup, and the STC Autumn Cup. In the stud she bred five youngsters, her best the filly La Biscayne, a winner of two handicaps as a juvenile and later the dam of Baron Cayne, a winning handicapper.
Mr. Peter Haley, now in his mid-eighties, lives a quite life with a house full of wonderful memories in his much-loved town of Coonabarabran.
"He was a champion racehorse and arguably one of the best the world has ever seen, or ever will, his record says it all." -- Mr. Peter Haley, 2006
Photos courtesy Mr. Peter Haley
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Tulloch's Race Record
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Tulloch's greatest triumph: the Caulfield Cup in record time
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| 1956 - 57 (Age 2) |
| Place | Race | Dist |
| 2 | AJC Breeders' Plate | 5 f. |
| 1 | AJC Canonbury Stakes | 5 f. |
| 2 | VRC Maribyrnong Plate | 5 f. |
| 1 | VRC Byron Moore Stakes | 5 f. | |
| 2 | STC 2 YO Handicap | 6 f. | |
| 2 | VATC Merson Cooper Stks. | 6 f. | |
| 1 | VRC Sires' Produce Stakes | 7 f. | |
| 2 | VRC Ascot Vale Stakes | 6 f. | |
| 1 | AJC Fairfield Handicap | 6 f. | |
| 1 | AJC Sires' Produce Stakes | 7 f. | |
| 2 | AJC Champagne Stakes | 6 f. | |
| 1 | QTC Sires' Produce Stakes | 7 f. |
| 1957 - 58 (Age 3) |
| Place | Race | Dist |
| 1 | AJC Warwick Stakes | 7 f. |
| 1 | STC Rosehill Guineas | 10 f. |
| 1 | AJC Derby | 12 f. |
| 1 | VATC Caulfield Guineas | 1 m. | |
| 1 | VATC Caulfield Cup | 12 f. | |
| 1 | VRC Derby | 12 f. | |
| 1 | VRC C.B. Fisher Plate | 12 f. | |
| 1 | QTC Derby | 12 f. | |
| 2 | VATC St. George Stakes | 9 f. | |
| 3 | VRC Queen Elizabeth Stks. | 13 f. | |
| 1 | VRC St. Leger | 14 f. | |
| 1 | STC Rawson Stakes | 9 f. |
| 1 | AJC Chipping Norton Stakes | 10 f. |
| 1 | AJC St. Leger Stakes | 14 f. |
| 1 | AJC All aged Stakes | 1 m. |
| 1 | AJC Queen Elizabeth Stks. | 14 f. |
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| 1958 - 59 (Age 4) |
| Did Not Race |
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| 1959 - 60 (Age 5) |
| Place | Race | Dist |
| 1 | VRC Queen's Plate | 10 f. |
| 1 | AJC Chipping Norton Stakes | 10 f. |
| 1 | AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes | 14 f. |
| 1 | AJC Autumn Stakes | 12 f. |
| 1 | QTC P.J. O'Shea Stakes | 10-1/2 f. |
| 1960 - 61 (Age 6) |
| Place | Race | Dist |
| 1 | Tatts Club Chelmsford Stakes | 9 f. |
| 2 | AJC Colin Stephen Stakes | 12 f. |
| 2 | AJC George Main Stakes | 1 m. |
| 1 | AJC Craven Plate | 10 f. |
| 1 | MVRC W.S. Cox Plate | 10 f. |
| 1 | VRC L.K.S. Mackinnon Stakes | 10 f. |
| Unpl | VRC Melbourne Cup | 2 m. |
| 1 | VRC C.B. Fisher Plate | 12 f. |
| 3 | VATC St. George Stakes | 9 f. |
| 3 | VRC Queen's Plate | 10 f. |
| 3 | VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes | 12 f. |
| 2 | AJC Sunday Telegraph Inv Stks. | 12 f. |
| 1 | AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes | 14 f. |
| 1 | AJC Autumn Stakes | 12 f. |
| 2 | AJC Sydney Cup | 2 m. |
| 2 | STC Caltex Quality Handicap | 12 f. |
| 1 | PARC S.J. Pullman Select Stks. | 12 f. |
| 1 | QTC P.J. O'Shea Stakes | 10-1/2 f. |
| 1 | QTC Brisbane Cup | 2 m. |
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