Tulloch

 

In 2010, we celebrate the remarkable career of racing legend, Tulloch, marking 50 years since his 1960 victory in the greatest Australasian Weight For Age championship, the Cox Plate. Trained by the masterful Tommy Smith, who bought the small, sway-backed stallion for 750 guineas in 1956, Tulloch was sold to E.A Haley, who admired the horse’s breeding and intelligence, and named him after the Scottish town from where his mother hailed.  

 

Despite his small stature, Tulloch showed remarkable strength, winning races at distances from 5 furlongs (1,000m) to 2 miles (3,200m) and established records in the 1960 Cox Plate and the 1957 Caulfield Cup. Dubbed ‘Haley’s Comet’ by the Australian press, 3-year-old Tulloch showed beginnings of a champion, winning 14 of his 15 starts and beating Phar Lap’s 28-year record by more than 2 seconds in the AJC Derby.  His 3-year-old record remains unmatched in Australian racing history. Tulloch was named favourite for the 1957 Melbourne Cup, but was scratched from the race by Haley, who deemed the race too arduous for the diminutive horse. In 1958, Tulloch suffered a serious illness that kept him off the racing scene for nearly two years and almost resulted in his death. 

 

His unlikely but triumphant return to the track was as a 5 year old in 1960. In what seemed an impossible challenge, Tulloch won the prestigious Cox Plate. It was the return of a champion in one of the toughest races in the world, and arguably the greatest win in his impeccable career. Following his Cox Plate victory, Tulloch won the VRC Queen’s Plate, Chipping Norton Stakes, Craven Plate and the PJ O’Shea Stakes in the same season.  After his return, Tulloch had a record of 24:15-5-3 with 1 unplaced run,13 of these wins were at weight for age in stakes races. Tulloch served at Haley’s Te Koona Stud, siring two stakes winners, Dahma Star and Valide.

 

He died at Old Gowang stud in 1969. In 2001, Tulloch was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame, alongside other turf immortals Carbine, Phar Lap, Bernborough and Kingston Town.  Throughout his career, Tulloch’s enduring spirit showed strength and tenacity to become a true racing legend.