Il Tempo was a champion

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

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, by Time and Again out of Timing. He is probably

's greatest ever stayer, having won the

Auckland Cup The Auckland Cup is an annual race held by the Auckland Racing Club (ARC). It is an Open Handicap for thoroughbred racehorses competed on the flat turf over 3200 metres (two miles) at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, New Zealand. The race was ...

two times, and also the

Wellington Cup The Wellington Cup is a Group 3 Thoroughbred horse race in New Zealand held annually in late January at Trentham Racecourse in Trentham by the Wellington Racing Club. History Inaugurated in 1874, the Wellington Cup has been raced over various ...

once. The Wellington Cup was over 2 miles and he won it in a ''world-record time of 3:16.2'', a record which still stands today. Il Tempo also won the Chalmers Handicap over two miles, plus being placed over the two-mile distance several times. He was trained by Mr Bruce Priscott, a butcher by trade. Normally he was ridden by jockey Noel D Riordan. He had a fantastic fresh up record. Il Tempo also won a weight for age over one and a half miles. Normally a powerful finishing back runner, in a very small field he eventually took up the running and then was passed by the whole field and then came again to mow them down. Il Tempo was top-weight and hot pre-post favorite for the 1970

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 ...

, but did not race. In his preparation for the cup, he broke down after running a 1 min. 39.0 sec. mile in a training gallop. He never raced again.

World record

The

was over 2 miles and he won it in a world-record time of 3:16.2. To do this he beat a top class field including Highland Rebel, who finished second and also broke the previous world record, and champion race mare Honour Me, who finished third. This world record still stands as an imperial world record today. To put this into perspective, the record holder of the two-mile

Rain Lover Rain Lover (1964-1989) was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse best remembered for his back-to-back wins in the 1968 and 1969 VRC Melbourne Cup. Background Rain Lover was sired by the good racehorse, Latin Lover (GB) (a son of the un ...

, with a time of 3.19.1, set in 1968. The Melbourne Cup distance was changed to 3200 meters (about 20 metres shorter) in 1972, and the record is held by Kingston Rule at 3.16.3. The equivalent metric time for Il Tempo's run would be about 1.2 secs quicker than for two miles, or 3.15.00. In April 2006 the Japanese champion Deep Impact won the 3200m Tenno Sho (Spring) in 3.13.4, smashing the world record for that distance.

References

Il Tempo's pedigree and partial racing stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Il Tempo (Horse) 1962 racehorse births Thoroughbred family 22-b Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in New Zealand Auckland Cup winners Wellington Cup winners

World record

See also

References