Ajax II
| Ajax | |
|---|---|
Ajax in 1938
|
|
| Sire | Heroic |
| Grandsire | Valais (GB) |
| Dam | Medmenham (IRE) |
| Damsire | Prince Galahad (GB) |
| Sex | Stallion |
| Foaled | 1934 |
| Country | Australia |
| Colour | Chestnut |
| Breeder | Alfred W. Thompson, E.L. Balllieu |
| Owner | 1. E.L. Balllieu, A.W. Thompson and "Mr Constable" 2. Mr W.J. Smith 3. Bing Crosby & Lin Howard |
| Trainer | Frank Musgrave |
| Record | 46: 36-7-2 |
| Earnings | ₤40,275 |
| Major wins | |
|
AJC Sires Produce Stakes (1937) Caulfield Guineas (1937) Champagne Stakes (1937) Rosehill Guineas (1937) Linlithgow Stakes (1937, 1938) All Aged Stakes (1938, 1939, 1940) Caulfield Stakes (1938) Cox Plate (1938) Futurity Stakes (1938, 1939, 1940) C.B.Fisher Plate (1938) Newmarket Handicap (1938) LKS MacKinnon Stakes (1938) Memsie Stakes (1938, 1939, 1940) Underwood Stakes (1938, 1939, 1940) VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1938) St George Stakes (1939) |
|
| Honours | |
|
Australian Racing Hall of Fame (2004) STC Ajax Stakes |
|
| Last updated on 16 August 2010 | |
Ajax was a champion Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse and sire, who won 18 consecutive races before he was defeated at the odds of 40/1 on, causing a huge racing sensation. He had wins from 5 furlongs (1,000 metres) to 1½ miles (2,400 metres), equalled the Australasian record for a mile (1,600 metres), and created three new race records. At stud in Australia, Ajax proved to be a good sire. He was then sold as a 14-year-old horse and exported to the United States before he was later sold to Bing Crosby and Lin Howard. Ajax was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2004.
Ajax was a chestnut colt bred by Alfred Thompson and E.L. Balllieu that was foaled in 1934 at the Widden Stud in the Denman, New South Wales area. He was by the racehorse and sire Heroic, and his dam, Medmenham (IRE), was by Prince Galahad (GB), who won the Dewhurst Stakes. Medmenham was a race winner in Australia after her importation and was the dam of two other winners in Humorist and Hesione (won AJC Gimcrack Stakes, Maribyrnong Plate and VRC Ascot Vale (2yo) Stakes). Ajax was inbred to Cyllene (4m x 4m x 4f) and also to Martagon (4m x 4f) in the fourth generation of his pedigree.
The front cover of the 1938 W S Cox Plate racebook.
The inside cover showing raceday officials.
Starters and results of the 1938 W S Cox Plate showing the winner, Ajax.
Starters and results of the 1938 W S Cox Plate .
The back cover showing Railway & Entrance charges.
Ajax was ridden by Victoria’s leading jockey and Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee, the diminutive Harold Badger, in 37 races for 30 wins, five seconds, and two thirds.
In his first two starts, Ajax won the Holiday Stakes (5½ furlongs) and the Federal Stakes. He was then unplaced for the only time in his career, in the VRC Sires Produce Stakes. Ajax next finished second to Caesar in the Ascot Vale Stakes before he returned to New South Wales for wins in the AJC Sires Produce Stakes (defeating Caesar by five lengths and setting a new race record) and the AJC Champagne Stakes from Hua by two lengths.
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Wikipedia