7 MAHOGANY Arguably the most versatile elite racehorse of the last 50 years, Lee Freedman’s incredible eight-time Group 1 winner Mahogany will join his trainer as a member of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame this year. Purchased for $85,000 from the 1992 Magic Millions Gold Coast yearling sale by agent Henry Plumptre on behalf of business titans Lloyd Williams and Kerry Packer, Mahogany was by the incredibly influential Northern Dancer line stallion Last Tycoon, whose influence is still felt in Australasia via sire son O’Reilly and grandson Written Tycoon along with a host of daughters and granddaughters at stud. From the Alydar mare Alshandegha, Mahogany was line-bred to influential mares Mumtaz Mahal and Nogara; his pedigree suggested a balanced mix of speed and strength. A racehorse as talented as he was admired, Mahogany was a horse that seemed capable of anything. “He was by Last Tycoon, who was a fantastic stallion, but they didn’t really train on, and a lot of his progeny didn’t handle a lot of work,” said trainer Lee Freedman “As a two-year-old, he had a couple of runs as an entire in Victoria. Then we gelded him and took him to Queensland, and he really got going from there.” A 1000-metre winner at Moonee Valley at his second start, Mahogany claimed the first of his eight Group 1 wins at Eagle Farm in the Sires’ Produce Stakes five runs later, before winning the Group1 Castlemaine Stakes – now the JJ Atkins Stakes – to round off a busy but impressive juvenile season. Mahogany’s three-year-old season epitomised the horse’s versatility and class. An easy first-up winner of the Group 3 Roman Consul Stakes over 1200m at Randwick, Mahogany put the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas and the Group 1 Victoria Derby in the trophy cabinet in the same preparation, winning the Flemington classic by a whopping five lengths. It was a similar story in the autumn: a slick winner over 1000m first-up proving his immense speed, with the Australian Guineas and AJC Derby in his keeping come the end of the campaign. OPPOSITE: Painting of Mahogany by Alister Simpson from 1994. To be fair, he was so far above those other three-year-olds; his form just carried him through Mahogany’s former trainer Lee Freedman
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