Sunline was tough.
She beat the major group one Australasian racehorses through four gruelling years at the elite racetrack level.
But she couldn't beat laminitis.
Yesterday the debilitating illness that causes chronic foot pain claimed the life of one of the greatest racehorses we'll ever see.
Sunline's greatness extended beyond her 32 wins from 48 starts and $13,700,607 in stakemoney.
Way beyond.
Every racing fan has their own Sunline moment.
One that will stick in this writer's mind forever was the minutes after she ran her final race with her fourth in Northerly's 2002 Cox Plate.
It was the proudest moment in the lifetime of Northerly's part-owner and trainer Fred Kersley, a legend in Western Australian harness circles and equally revered in galloping.
Yet Kersley didn't walk over to Northerly as Paddy Payne unsaddled him, he walked three stalls down to where Trevor McKee stood behind Sunline.
He put his arms around him and said simply: "She was a great mare, Trevor."
Trevor McKee hasn't said so, but those six words will stay with the New Zealand horseman forever.
Kersley is as tough as teak. Sentimentality is a foreign word.
McKee knew how much the words were meant by the Australian.
It's perhaps an example of how Australians revere their sporting and racing more than we do in New Zealand.
Kiwis loved Sunline. Sadly, Australians loved her more.
For an hour or two before the 2000 and 2001 Cox Plates I relayed racebooks for autographs by Trevor and Stephen McKee and Sunline's strapper Claire Bird from the 10-deep throng the other side of the rail in front of Sunline's tie-up stall.
Many had stood there for hours.
One young bloke, a concreting contractor from Innesfail, just south of Cairns, had been so taken with Sunline's 1999 Cox Plate victory on television he drove his wife and two young children to Melbourne for the successful 2000 attempt.
" I couldn't let my kids grow up without seeing her live, this is such a thrill for us all," he said.
Twelve months later they were back again.
Sunline was three times named Australian Horse Of The Year.
Sunline's fighting spirit is what we'll remember her for.
Many of her races were won by the width of your hand.
She should have been beaten in two of her three greatest group one victories - the 2002 Doncaster Handicap in Sydney and the International Mile in Hong Kong.
Sunline wasn't entitled to carry a hefty 58kg to victory in the Doncaster, but she refused to yield to Shogun Lodge, who had looked certain to win.
Just as she refused to yield to local hero Fairy King Prawn in the Hong Kong International Mile.
There was one exception - her second Cox Plate victory.
The McKees keep themselves to themselves, but it stung when it had been suggested Sunline had fluked her 1999 Cox Plate win because of a soft lead.
She hit that over the fence for six, 12 months later.
It's doubtful 34,000 people anywhere in the world have made a louder noise than when Greg Childs cut Sunline loose 600m out at Moonee Valley that day.
The seven-length margin made Sunline's point and she jogged it.
She not only carried 60kg in the group one Coolmore Classic in Sydney, she made the others look like pit ponies.
It hasn't been given the recognition it deserves, but one of the truly great aspects of Sunline was the superb job Trevor and Stephen McKee did of managing the mare's career.
Make no mistake, it has never been done better.
They never over-matched her, never went one race more than was sensible in any of her campaigns and when the flame flickered momentarily at the end, Sunline was retired immediately.
Also often overlooked is the mare's remarkable constitution.
She spent four full years racing the best in the world and never flinched.
It's a tragedy - and almost ironic - that a physical problem in retirement could prematurely end Sunline's life.
Elton John wrote: "The candle burned out long before the legend ever did," about Marilyn Munroe.
He won't mind if it's borrowed for Sunline.
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