Eurythmic (1916–1925) was a versatile

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

n-bred

Thoroughbred The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word ''thoroughbred'' is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed. Thoroughbreds are c ...

racehorse who had the ability to produce a brilliant finishing run in staying races and he also won important sprint races, too. At four he won 12 of his 13 starts including the

Caulfield Cup The Caulfield Cup is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under handicap conditions, although the Melbourne Racing Club is in the process of turning the race into weight for age (WFA) conditions. This is for all horses ...

and

Sydney Cup The Sydney Cup is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Thoroughbred handicap horse race, for horses three years old and older, run over 3200 metres at Randwick Racecourse in Sydney, Australia in the autumn during the ATC Championships series and it is ...

. When Eurythmic finished racing he was the greatest stake-winner in Australia. He was later inducted into the

Australian Racing Hall of Fame The Australian Racing Hall of Fame is part of the Australian Racing Museum which documents and honours the horseracing legends of Australia. The museum officially opened in 1981 and created the Hall of Fame in 2000. The numbers in brackets afte ...

Eurythmic 1921 AJC Sydney Cup Randwick Racecourse Trainer Jack Holt

Breeding

He was bred by the young breeder, Noel Thompson at the Yarraman Stud, west of

Scone, New South Wales Scone is a town in the Upper Hunter Shire in the Hunter Region of New South Wales, Australia. At the 2006 census, Scone had a population of 5,624 people. It is on the New England Highway north of Muswellbrook about 270 kilometres north of Sydney ...

. Eurythmic was by the good racehorse, Eudoris (GB), (won VATC Futurity Stakes and VRC All-Aged Stakes and sired 10 stakes-winners, which had 47 stakes-wins), his dam was the good racemare and useful broodmare, Bob Cherry by the good sire, Bobadil (won 12 stakes-races and was the sire of 39 stakeswinners with 69 stakeswins) from Ardea by Wallace (by

Carbine A carbine ( or ) is a long gun that has a barrel shortened from its original length. Most modern carbines are rifles that are compact versions of a longer rifle or are rifles chambered for less powerful cartridges. The smaller size and lighter ...

).Barrie, Douglas M., ''Valley of Champions'', Halstead Press, Sydney, 1960 He was

inbred Inbreeding is the production of offspring from the mating or breeding of individuals or organisms that are closely related genetically. By analogy, the term is used in human reproduction, but more commonly refers to the genetic disorders and o ...

to St Simon in the fourth generation of his pedigree (4m x 4f).Morris, Simon; ''Tesio Power 2000 - Stallions of the World'', Syntax Software Eurythmic was offered at the 1918 Sydney yearling sales and sold to E. Lee Steere (later Sir Ernest Lee Steere) of Perth. He was then taken to Western Australia and trained by John Kelly for his two- and three-year-old racing in that state.

1922 racebook

File:1922 VATC Caulfield Guineas Racebook P1.jpg, Front cover 1922 VATC Caulfield Stakes Racebook File:1922 VATC Caulfield Guineas Racebook P2.jpg, Inside cover showing Raceday Officials & Visitor Notices. File:1922 VATC Caulfield Stakes Racebook P1.jpg, 1922 VATC Caulfield Stakes showing the winner, Eurythmic. File:1922 VATC Caulfield Guineas Racebook P4.jpg, Back cover showing Railway Arrangements and Admission Fares.

Racing record

Two-year-old: 1918-1919

His first start was in the WATC Initial Stakes, but he was unplaced to the two-year-old Eragoon, to whom he finished third at his next start. At their next meeting in the WATC Nursery Handicap Eurythmic was in receipt of two stone in weight and defeated his former victor by five lengths. This pair met again in the Karrakatta Plate over five furlongs, at equal weights, and Eurythmic won by 1½ lengths. Eurythmic was then unplaced in the Claremont Handicap and concluded his first season of racing by winning the

WATC Sires Produce The Sires' Produce Stakes is a Perth Racing Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race for two-year-olds, run at set weights, over a distance of 1400 metres at Ascot Racecourse, Perth, Western Australia in April. Total prizemoney is A$200,000. History ...

Stakes by 3½ lengths.Pring, Peter; ''Analysis of Champion Racehorses'', The Thoroughbred Press, Sydney, 1977,

Three-year-old: 1919-1920

Eurythmic won seven of his eight starts as a three-year-old, including the WATC Grove Handicap from a big field, the

WATC Derby The WATC Derby, also known as the Western Australia Derby is a Perth Racing Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds, at set weights, over a distance of 2400 metres at Ascot Racecourse in Perth, Western Australia in April. Total prizemo ...

, and three days later dead-heated with the outsider Rivose (conceding her 10 pounds) in the

Perth Cup The Perth Cup is a Perth Racing Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race run under quality handicap conditions over a distance of at Ascot Racecourse in Perth, Western Australia in January, usually on New Year's Day. The total prize money is $400,000. ...

. The pair covered the distance in 3:25 which was then a record for the 2 miles (3,200 metres). He then won the

weight for age {{use dmy dates, date=October 2022 Weight for Age (WFA) is a term in thoroughbred horse racing which is one of the conditions for a race. History The principle of WFA was developed by Admiral Rous, a handicapper with the English Jockey Club. Rou ...

(wfa)

C B Cox Stakes The Ted Van Heemst Stakes is a Perth Racing Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions, for horses aged three years old and upwards, over a distance of 2100 metres at Ascot Racecourse, Perth, Western Australia in December ...

, WATC Osborne Stakes (the latter in course record time) and then finished the season with a win in the WATC St Leger. He had finished his three-year-old season as the undisputed champion of Western Australia.Barrie, Douglas M., ''The Australian Bloodhorse'', Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1956

Four-year-old: 1920-1921

He was taken east at the beginning of his four-year-old career to be trained by Jack Holt in Melbourne. Eurythmic won the VATC

Memsie Stakes The Memsie Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions, for horses aged three years old and upwards, over a distance of 1400 metres. It is held at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Australi ...

, starting at 20 to 1, and was then installed as favourite for the VRC October Stakes, in which he beat Ethiopian (GB) by 1¼ lengths. During October he won the

Caulfield Stakes The Might and Power, registered as the Caulfield Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group One, Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race run under weight-for-age conditions, for three-year-olds and upwards, run over a distance of 2,000 metres at Caulfield R ...

, the

(defeating a big field and giving each of the place-getters a stone in weight), and the Melbourne Stakes which was his eleventh consecutive victory. The following week he suffered his only defeat for the season, running fourth to Poitrel in the

Melbourne Cup The Melbourne Cup is a Thoroughbred horse race held in Melbourne, Australia. It is a 3200-metre race for three-year-olds and over, conducted by the Victoria Racing Club on the Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Victoria as part of the Melbou ...

. Eurythmic won his next eight races: the

CB Fisher Plate The VRC C.B. Fisher Plate was a weight-for-age thoroughbred horse race over 2400 metres (a mile and a half). It was run at Flemington Racecourse, Melbourne Australia on the Saturday after the Melbourne Cup in early November from 1870 till 1978. I ...

(defeating Poitrel), Essendon Stakes, VRC Governor's Plate and King's Plate, AJC Autumn Stakes,

(carrying ) and the Cumberland Stakes. He finished the season with a tally of 12 wins from 13 starts.

Five-year-old: 1921-1922

Eurythmic won his first five-year-old race, the Memsie Stakes, a race which he would win for three consecutive years. In the October Stakes Tangalooma defeated Eurythmic by a short half-head. Next Eurythmic won the

(in race record time),

Herbert Power Stakes The Herbert Power Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held under quality handicap conditions, for horses aged three years old and older, over a distance of 2400 metres. It is held at Caulfield Racecourse in Melb ...

and the VRC Melbourne Stakes. In the

he suffered interference and was pulled up. In the VATC

St George Stakes The Peter Young Stakes, registered as the St George Stakes, is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions over a distance of 1800 metres at Caulfield racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in late Febru ...

he conceded the second place-getter, Harvest King, more than 2 stone, and was penalised 20-pounds for his win when the weights were issued for the VATC Futurity Stakes, which he duly won carrying . Eurythmic's prize money for this race led to him overtaking

as the greatest Australian stake winner to that time. He was unplaced in the Newmarket Handicap field, won the C. M. Lloyd Stakes at (wfa), and ran third in the (wfa) AJC Autumn Stakes (to Beauford and Sister Olive) and in the (wfa) Cumberland Stakes, (to David and Furious).

Six-year-old: 1922-1923

In his last season of racing Eurythmic won both the Memsie Stakes and Caulfield Stakes for the third year in succession, ran second in the Herbert Power Stakes, and third in the Melbourne Stakes. In his final four starts he finished second in the VATC St George Stakes, VATC Futurity Stakes (carrying ), VRC Essendon Stakes, and C. M. Lloyd Stakes. By the time he had finished racing as a six-year-old he was the greatest stake-winner in Australia, with winnings of more than £36,000.

Stud record

Eurythmic stood his first season in Victoria and was then relocated to Western Australia. He died there before the end of the spring in 1925, after spending less than two full seasons at stud. It was discovered that he had an enlarged heart which was attributed to heart strain caused from exertion during his racing. His skeleton was mounted and displayed in the

Western Australian Museum The Western Australian Museum is a statutory authority within the Culture and the Arts Portfolio, established under the ''Museum Act 1969''. The museum has six main sites. The state museum, now known as WA Museum Boola Bardip, officially re-ope ...

. Eurythmic was an indifferent sire that failed to produce any winners of principal races. Two of his daughters were successful broodmares though: *Eumilia, 1924, by (alternative sire Comedy King) or Eurythmic was the dam of two stakes-winners, King's Knave and Tapestry *Soaring, 1924, was the dam of Ethyia (dam of The Orb won VATC Futurity Stakes) and The Darter (third dam of Sharply (won

, Ipswich Cup,

Chelmsford Stakes The Chelmsford Stakes is a Tattersalls Club Group 2 Thoroughbred horse race run over 1600 metres at Weight for Age at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, Australia in September. Prize money is A$250,000. History The race was first run in 1895. ...

etc.)) Eurythmic was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2005. He was also inducted into the West Australian Racing Industry Hall of Fame.West Australian Racing Industry Hall of Fame
Retrieved 2010-9-4

References

{{reflist

External links

Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame
Australian Racing Hall of Fame horses Racehorses bred in Australia Racehorses trained in Australia 1916 racehorse births 1925 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 5 Caulfield Cup winners Sydney Cup winners