Makybe Diva

Makybe Diva
Makybe Diva in 2010.
Sire	Desert King
Grandsire	Danehill
Dam	Tugela
Damsire	Riverman
Sex	Mare
Foaled	1999
Country	Great Britain
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Emily Krstina Pty Ltd
Owner	Tony Šantić
Trainer	David Hall, Lee Freedman
Record	36: 15- 4-3
Earnings	A$14,526,685
Major wins
VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2002) Melbourne Cup (2003, 2004, 2005) Sydney Cup (2004) Australian Cup (2005) The BMW Stakes (2005) Memsie Stakes (2005) Turnbull Stakes (2005) Cox Plate (2005)
Awards
Australian Racehorse of the Year (2005, 2006) Australian Champion Stayer (2004, 2005, 2006) Australian Champion Filly and Mare (2005) Australian Middle Distance Champion (2006) Timeform rating: 129 SA Thoroughbred Breeders Horse of the Year (2004, 2005)
Honours
Australian Racing Hall of Fame (2006)
Last updated on 24 July 2007

Makybe Diva is a British-bred, Australian-trained Thoroughbred racehorse who became the first horse to win the Melbourne Cup on three occasions (2003, 2004, and 2005). In 2005, she also won the Cox Plate. Makybe Diva is the highest stakes-earner in Australasian horse racing history, finishing with winnings of more than A$14 million upon her retirement in November 2005. She is one of only five horses to have won the Cup more than once, and the only mare among the list of multiple winners. She is also one of only 14 female horses (11 mares and three fillies) to have won the Cup.

She is by Desert King (a winner of the Irish Derby and Irish 2,000 Guineas) out of Tugela by Riverman (USA). Tugela was also the dam of the Australian stakes-winners, Musket and Valkyrie Diva. Makybe Diva is owned by South Australian tuna fisherman Tony Šantić, who named her after five of his employees - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane, and Vanessa - by taking the first two letters from each of their names.

Tony Šantić's bloodstock agent John Foote purchased Tugela in foal to Desert King for 60,000 guineas at the December 1998 Tattersall's Sale. As normally happens with Santic's British-purchased horses, she was taken to Dick Fowlston's Britton House Stud in Somerset to board before being sent on to Australia. Tugela gave birth to a filly at five minutes past midnight on 21 March 1999. The filly was offered for sale at the 1999 Tatts Newmarket foal sale, but did not make the reserve. Named Makybe Diva, the filly remained at Britton House Stud until August 2000, when she and Tugela were shipped to Australia.

Originally trained by David Hall, Makybe Diva made her racetrack debut in late July 2002, as a three-year-old, in a maiden at Benalla, Victoria, and finished fourth. At her next start, two weeks later - and now classed as a four-year-old - Makybe Diva began a six-race winning sequence in a maiden at Wangaratta, which culminated in stakes wins, three months later, in the Werribee Cup (2,000 m) and the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2,500 m). The last win was significant in that it qualified the mare for the following year's Melbourne Cup, and allowed her trainer to give her a light autumn campaign, which consisted of just two starts in relatively short races.