Let's Elope (20 November 1987 – 11 September 2016) was a

Champion A champion (from the late Latin ''campio'') is the victor in a challenge, contest or competition. There can be a territorial pyramid of championships, e.g. local, regional / provincial, state, national, continental and world championships, ...

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 Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic ...

in Australia.

Background

Bred by

Highview Stud Highview or High View may refer to: Places *Highview, Louisville, Kentucky, U.S. *High View, West Virginia, U.S. Other uses *Highview Power, a company specialized in cryogenic energy storage *Highview Productions South Australian Film Corporati ...

Hamilton, New Zealand Hamilton ( mi, Kirikiriroa) is an inland city in the North Island of New Zealand. Located on the banks of the Waikato River, it is the seat and most populous city of the Waikato, Waikato region. With a territorial population of , it is the count ...

, Let's Elope was a giant

chestnut The chestnuts are the deciduous trees and shrubs in the genus ''Castanea'', in the beech family Fagaceae. They are native to temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere. The name also refers to the edible nuts they produce. The unrelate ...

mare A mare is an adult female horse or other equine. In most cases, a mare is a female horse over the age of three, and a filly is a female horse three and younger. In Thoroughbred horse racing, a mare is defined as a female horse more than f ...

who in 1991 became the first mare in more than 50 years to complete Australia's famed

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 ...

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 Me ...

double (the "Cups double"). The last mare to complete the double had been Rivette in 1939. By the

Blushing Groom Blushing Groom (8 April 1974 – 6 May 1992) was a French champion Thoroughbred racehorse and sire. Background He was bred by American businessman John McNamee Sullivan and was raced by HH Aga Khan IV. A descendant of Nearco, Blushing Groom wa ...

stallion Nassipour, out of Sharon Jane, she was a NZ$16,000 purchase at the 1989 New Zealand

Magic Millions Magic Millions Sales Pty Ltd is an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse auction house which holds auctions around Australia each year including its world famous Gold Coast Yearling Sale at Surfers Paradise in Queensland. Seven days of auctions are jo ...

sale. Originally trained by Dave O'Sullivan for the Fleiter family, she was un-raced as a two-year-old but won her first start as a three-year-old in 1990. Despite showing above-average ability, her record in New Zealand was underwhelming, and, on the advice of her trainer, the owners accepted a NZ$150,000 offer for her. Her new owners, Dennis Marks and Kevin White, transferred her to the Australian stables of the "Cups King", Bart Cummings.

Racing career

Let's Elope was close-up in her first two starts for Cummings, and, while down the track in the wet at Caulfield, was a different horse on top of the ground. In a superb season, Let's Elope began a seven-race winning streak in the Turnbull Stakes, on the first weekend of October, took the Mackinnon Stakes and both the Cups, and returned in the new year for the Orr Stakes, the St George Stakes, and the Australian Cup, in course record time, on Labour Day in March. A

fetlock Fetlock is the common name in horses, large animals, and sometimes dogs for the metacarpophalangeal and metatarsophalangeal joints (MCPJ and MTPJ). Although it somewhat resembles the human ankle in appearance, the joint is homologous to the ...

injury then cut short her season, but Let's Elope had the 1992 Horse of the Year Award in her keeping. She returned at five, and, while thwarted by wet tracks for much of the spring, won a match race with

Better Loosen Up Better Loosen Up (foaled 29 August 1985 – died 15 March 2016) was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse that won the Japan Cup in 1990 and was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1991. He campaigned from two to seven years of age, and won ...

at Caulfield and was narrowly defeated by

Super Impose Super Impose (5 October 1984 – 23 March 2007) was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. In a career spanning 74 starts, he won eight Group One races and a then Australasian recor ...

in a classic

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 ...

(after the race, she was relegated from second to fifth for cutting off the unlucky Better Loosen Up). Ten days later, Let's Elope was one of three scratchings from the Melbourne Cup. After a bleeding attack in the

Japan Cup The is one of the most prestigious horse races in Japan. It is contested on the last Sunday of November, post time of 15:40 at Tokyo Racecourse in Fuchu, Tokyo at a distance of 2400 meters (about miles) run under weight for age conditions wi ...

, Let's Elope continued her career in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

. Conditioned in the U.S. by U.S. Racing Hall of Fame inductee

Ron McAnally Ronald L. McAnally (born July 11, 1932, in Covington, Kentucky) is an American Hall of Fame trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. Called "one of the most honored and respected of North American trainers" by Thoroughbred Times Co., Inc, as a chi ...

, Let's Elope won a minor race on debut, and was first past the post in the

Grade I In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Beverly D. Stakes The Beverly D. Stakes is a Grade 1 flat horse race in the United States for thoroughbred fillies and mares aged three years and upward. It was originally raced at the now-closed Arlington Park in Arlington Heights, Illinois over a distance of mil ...

in front of Flawlessly before being relegated to third - under American rules, she was relegated for simply causing interference, not because the third horse would have beaten her home. The recurrence of a bleeding attack and a fractured cannon bone forced her retirement at the close of 1993. At stud, Let's Elope had visited some of the world's greatest stallions, including

Storm Cat Storm Cat (February 27, 1983 – April 24, 2013) was an American Thoroughbred stallion whose breeding fee during the peak of his stud career was $500,000, the highest in North America at the time. He was the leading sire in North America in 1999 ...

, and, while considered slightly disappointing, has produced the stakeswinner Ustinov (by

Seeking The Gold Seeking The Gold (April 7, 1985 – July 28, 2016) was an American thoroughbred racehorse and a successful sire. Background and Family Seeking The Gold, a bay colt, was bred in Kentucky by Ogden Phipps, who also owned him. One of numerous t ...

), who was placed in a number of Group One races and Outback Joe (by Elvstroem) winner of the 2014 Adelaide Cup.

Death

Let's Elope died in her sleep on 12 September 2016 at Lauriston Park,

Euroa Euroa is a town in the Shire of Strathbogie in the north-east of Victoria, Australia. At the 2016 census, Euroa's population was 3,275. The name Euroa comes from an Aboriginal word in the old local dialect meaning 'joyful'. History Major ...

, Victoria, Australia.

Group 1 wins

Group 2 wins

Group 3 wins

References

{{Reflist
Let's Elope's pedigree and partial racing stats
1987 racehorse births 2016 racehorse deaths Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year Caulfield Cup winners Melbourne Cup winners Racehorses bred in New Zealand Racehorses trained in Australia Australian Racing Hall of Fame horses Thoroughbred family 10