Racing: Life of legend ends in appropriate style

By MICHAEL GUERIN

McGinty died the way we will all remember him - in full flight.

The wonder horse of the early 1980s had a heart attack at Progressive Farms in Karaka yesterday at the age of 21.

"A close friend of ours who lives next door was looking out the window and saw him take off into a gallop and then halfway across his paddock he just hit the ground," said Progressive Farms owner Brian Mollett.

"There had never been any signs there was anything wrong with him, so it is a very sad day for us. But at least I know he died doing what he was good at - galloping.

"I would rather he had a heart attack doing that than die in pain from colic or have to be put down because of a broken bone."

Writing obituaries, even for a horse, is never easy. But in this case, McGinty had already done the hard yards.

The sensational racehorse wrote his own tribute nearly every time he stepped onto the turf.

He was more than successful as a stallion, leaving outstanding stayers such as Miltak, The Gentry and The Hind among his six group-one winners.

But no matter what he did at stud, McGinty will always be remembered for what he did on the track. And for the one thing he never got the chance to do.

At his best, the fine-boned son of One Pound Sterling was arguably as talented as any galloper of the 1980s.

He may not have won the Cox Plates and Japan Cups that carried Bonecrusher and Horlicks into the realm of household names. But while they ground their way into the history books, McGinty simply flew in.

As a juvenile, he was the best in Australasia - maybe the first and last time we have been able to boast that from this side of the Tasman.

After sweeping through his domestic juvenile season, he took Sydney by storm, downing the mighty Marscay in a Todman Slipper Trial.

It is a race that will never be forgotten by those who saw the tiny New Zealand David slay the favoured Australian Goliath. But this great chapter of racing penned on the track quickly developed into a legend off it when the scars of battle were revealed.

McGinty, or Mr McGinty as he was known in Australia, had beaten the best Aussie had to offer with a cracked cannon-bone and two missing front shoes.

"We found out afterwards that he had lost his two front shoes when he jumped out of the gate," said trainer Colin Jillings yesterday, the admiration still fresh in his voice 19 years after the event.

"But what was really amazing was when you watch the video of the race you can see on the home turn, it must be at least 500m from the finish, where he breaks his cannon-bone. But he just kept going."

Even the Aussies admitted the Slipper would have been McGinty's. Instead, all he got was a steel pin for the fracture.



If that had been the end of the McGinty story he would have retired a great racehorse. But it was just the beginning.

Jillings bided his time and then launched the budding champion on a stunning three-year-old campaign.

A dazzling Wellington Stakes win was followed by a George Adams performance that saw the 1:33 mile mark broken for the first time in New Zealand.

Then followed the first of his two Air New Zealand Stakes wins, before Australia's best racing machines were again left in McGinty's jetstream in the Canterbury Guineas.

The Sydney autumn rains arrived on cue to save local pride as wet tracks and Strawberry Road combined to ruin the rest of McGinty's three-year-old season. Gallant placings were his lot, but his point had been made.

It was reiterated the next season when he added the Caulfield Stakes, his second Air New Zealand Stakes and the Rawson Stakes in Sydney.

In between, he was a gutsy fifth in the Japan Cup at 2400m, which was further than even his turbo-powered hooves could competitively carry him.

"He was at his best at 2000m," remembers Jillings. "I think when he was at peak, on a dry track, he would have been unbeatable at 2000m."

McGinty entered the stallion paddock with 14 wins from 27 starts but unbelievably his stake earnings were under $500,000. A horse of his calibre today, with better luck, drier tracks - and one less pin in his cannon-bone - could earn $10 million.

But don't waste your time looking for a horse of McGinty's calibre. They don't come along that often.