Rough Habit (2 December 1986 – 7 November 2014) was a

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-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 ...

racehorse who won 11 Group One (G1) races on both sides of the Tasman, and won New Zealand's Horse of the Year Award in 1992 and 1995.

Background

Rough Habit, a bay gelding with a distinctive white blaze trailing over his near-side nostril, was foaled on 2 December 1986. He was sired by Roughcast (USA) out of Certain Habit (NZ) by Ashabit (GB). Certain Habit was the dam of 11 named foals that were produced in Australia and New Zealand, producing 2 stakes winners in Rough Habit and Citi Habit.

Racing record

Rough Habit was trained by John Wheeler, and had nine campaigns in Australia, from three to eight years of age. He won Group One races in Sydney and

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and won six of his 11 Group One races at the

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winter carnivals, where his wins included the

Queensland Derby The Queensland Derby is a Brisbane Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for three-year-olds at, set weights, run over a distance of 2400 metres at Eagle Farm Racecourse, Brisbane, Australia in June during the Queensland Winter Racing Carn ...

, two Stradbroke Handicaps, and a record three Doomben Cups. Rough Habit won 21 feature racesRough Habit's career
/ref> from 1,400 to 2,400 metres, on wet tracks and dry, and was narrowly beaten by fellow New Zealander Solvit in the 1994

Cox Plate The W. S. Cox Plate is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over under Weight for age conditions, over a distance of 2040 metres (approximately 1m 2f), that is held by the Moonee Valley Racing Club at Moo ...

. Later in the season, Rough Habit won the O'Shea Stakes, in Brisbane, at his final start in Australia.

Honours

In retirement, Rough Habit appeared in a set of stamps issued by New Zealand Post in 1996 with fellow champion thoroughbreds

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Bonecrusher Bonecrusher may refer to: * Bone crusher, a machine used to crush animal bones * Bonecrusher (horse), a New Zealand racehorse * Bonecrusher (Transformers), a fictional robot supervillain character in the Transformers robot superhero franchise. * ...

, and

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, and the harness racing champions Blossom Lady and Il Vicolo. In 2012, Rough Habit was inducted into the

New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame The New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame recognises and honours those whose achievements have enriched the New Zealand thoroughbred horse racing industry. History The Hall of Fame's first group of honorees were inducted in 2006, and inductions are he ...

at a special awards ceremony in Auckland. The Brisbane Racing Club holds the Group 3 Rough Habit Plate for three-year-olds, which is run at set weights, and named in his honour.

Death

Rough Habit died on 7 November 2014, aged 28.

Pedigree

References

{{Reflist

External links

"It's Rough Habit Time Again"
''Just Racing'' article 1986 racehorse births 2014 racehorse deaths Thoroughbred family 1-h Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in New Zealand New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame horses