Doomben 10,000 Winners
Doomben 10,000 Winners
The Doomben 10,000 is one of the most eagerly anticipated races in the Brisbane Winter Carnival. Australia’s finest sprinters gather at Doomben Racecourse each year to battle it out for a $1 million prize purse in this prestigious Group 1 race.
It began life all the way back in 1933, when it was known as the Doomben Newmarket Handicap. It was renamed after the prize money shot up to £10,000 in 1946, making it Australia’s richest sprint race.
The Doomben 10,000 is now Queensland’s highest-rated race, and it always attracts a strong field. We have seen many talented Doomben 10,000 winners over the years, from Bernborough in 1946 to superstar sprinter Redzel in 2017. This article delves into the most famous Doomben 10,000 winners of all time and explores some key winner trends in this weight for age race.
Doomben 10,000 2021 Winner
Eduardo delivered a magnificent performance to emerge as the Doomben 10,000 winner in 2021. Joe Pride’s sprinter stormed to the front of the 11-horse field in the early stages of the race and remained the front-runner throughout proceedings.
He looked in danger of being overwhelmed by the chasing pack 200 metres out, but he showed grit and determination under some rigorous riding from Nash Rawiller to hold off his rivals and win by a long neck from Wild Planet.
Eduardo went into the race as the odds-on favourite after winning The Galaxy, a Group1 race, at Rosehill earlier in the year. Pride said he was relieved to see the seven-year-old gelding justify that status and join the elite ranks of Doomben 10,000 winners.
“He’s a great horse,” said Pride in his post-race interview. “He got the job done today. It’s not often you see a horse show that much speed and have that much fight. He’s a bulldog and he kept fighting.”
Eduardo went on to finish third in The Everest – Australia’s richest race – on his return to action, and he also finished third in the Black Caviar Lightning Stakes.
Previous Doomben 10,000 Winners
| Year | Horse | Jockey | Trainer | Barrier | Weight |
| 2021 | Eduardo | Nash Rawiller | Joseph Pride | 6 | 58.5kg |
| 2020 | Race Not Held | ||||
| 2019 | The Bostonian | Michael Cahill | Tony Pike | 3 | 58.5kg |
| 2018 | English | Tim Clark | Gai Waterhouse & Adrian Bott | 1 | 56.5kg |
| 2017 | Redzel | Jim Byrne | Peter & Paul Snowden | 3 | 58.5kg |
| 2016 | Music Magnate | Kerrin McEvoy | Bjorn Baker | 7 | 59kg |
| 2015 | Boban | Glyn Schofield | Chris Waller | 7 | 59kg |
| 2014 | Spirit Of Boom | Michael Rodd | Tony Gollan | 2 | 59kg |
| 2013 | Epaulette | Kerrin McEvoy | Peter Snowden | 4 | 57kg |
| 2012 | Sea Siren | Jim Cassidy | John O’Shea | 7 | 55kg |
| 2011 | Beaded | Corey Brown | Peter Snowden | 5 | 57kg |
Notable Doomben 10,000 Winners
Lough Neagh (1934)
Lough Neagh was a superstar during the golden age of Australian turf racing. He was dubbed “the iron horse of the 1930s” after making 127 starts over the course of the decade. Lough Neagh won at least one feature race during each of his eight seasons. He won the Doomben Newmarket Handicap in its second year, and he is the only horse to have won that race and the Brisbane Cup. He also won the Chipping Norton Stakes three times and the Rawson Stakes three times, and some consider him to be the best all-round horse that Queensland has ever produced.
Bernborough (1946)
Berborough won this race in 1946, the year in which it was rebranded after the prize purse shot up to £10,000. He was famous for carrying heavy weights during a 15-race winning streak, which included the Doomben 10,000, the Doomben Cup, the Melbourne Stakes, the Caulfield Stakes, the Melbourne Stakes, the Chipping Norton Stakes and the Futurity Stakes. He was immortalised via the Listed Bernborough Stakes, which is held at Eagle Farm each December.
Black Onyx (1969 and 1970)
Black Onyx will go down as one of the greatest Doomben 10,000 winners of all time. He was the first back-to-back champion of this famous race, and he went on to win the Newmarket Handicap and the Lightning Stakes. Black Onyx was trained by the legendary T.J Smith, who turned him into a powerful and remarkably consistent sprinter.
Baguette (1971)
Baguette shot to nationwide fame after becoming the first winner of the Two Year Old Triple Crown in 1970. He won the Golden Slipper Stakes, the AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes and the Champagne Stakes that year. There have only been five subsequent winners over the following 52 years. Baguette went on to win the Newmarket Handicap in 1971. He arrived in Brisbane with a formidable reputation, and he lived up to the billing by destroying the field, becoming one of the most impressive Doomben 10,000 winners in history. His success is perhaps unsurprising when you consider he was by the broodmare Dark Jewel and his grandsire was the famous Star Kingdom. Baguette won 15 out of 31 starts in his career.
Manikato (1979)
Manikato matched Baguette’s record by winning the Doomben 10,000 despite carrying 58kg as a three-year-old in 1979. He arrived in Brisbane with a great deal of hype, as he had recently won the Blue Diamond Stakes, Golden Slipper Stakes, Caulfield Guineas, Invitation Stakes and George Ryder Stakes. He was named Australian Horse of the Year in 1979. Manikato went on to win the William Reid Stakes five times and the Futurity Stakes four times. He saluted in 20 races that hold Group 1 status by today’s standards, and he was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2002. The Group 1 Manikato Stakes is held at Moonee Valley each year in his honour.
Prince Trialia (1990 and 1991)
Prince Trialia became just the second sprinter to successfully defend his Doomben 10,000 crown in 1991. His dam was Trialia and his sire was Nordic Prince. He secured 10 wins and 10 more placings from 51 starts throughout his career.
Chief De Beers (1995 and 1998)
Chief De Beers always saved his best performances for Doomben Racecourse. He won 20 of his 51 career starts, and all of those victories came at Doomben. The Bill Caldwell-trained sprinter, known in Queensland as The Chief, won the 1995 Doomben 10,000, and he repeated the feat three years later. Chief De Beers retired in 1999 and then spent more than a decade in the Queensland Police Service.
Falvelon (2001 and 2002)
Local hero Falvelon is one of the most popular Doomben 10,000 winners in history. He was born in 1996 and trained at Eagle Farm in Brisbane by Danny Bougoure. Falvelon was winless when he contested the Doomben 10,000 in 2001, but he defied the odds to secure a maiden triumph on the big stage. He returned the following year to successfully defend his crown, following in the footsteps of Black Onyx and Prince Trialia.
Takeover Target (2007)
The legendary Takeover Target won leading sprints in each of the five major cities and went on to triumph in the United Kingdom, Japan and Singapore. He was the world’s highest rated turf sprinter, when he won the Lightning Stakes and the Newmarket Handicap, plus the Sprinters Stakes in Japan and the King’s Stand Stakes at Ascot in the UK. He was expected to obliterate his rivals in the 2007 Doomben 10,000 Stakes, and he duly delivered. Takeover Target is a former Australian Champion Sprinter and an Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductee.
Apache Cat (2008 and 2009)
Apache Cat secured eight Group 1 victories throughout his stellar sprinting career. He was on fire in 2008, winning the Lightning Stakes and the Australia Stakes before rocking up at Doomben. He became one of the most noteworthy Doomben 10,000 winners ever when he carried 59kgs during his triumph that year. The following season, Apache Cat won the Australia Stakes again, followed by the TJ Smith Stakes, and he then won another Doomben 10,000 to cap a remarkable career.
Redzel (2017)
Redzel became one of the world’s most famous horses when he became the inaugural winner of the world’s richest turf race, The Everest, in 2017. He saluted again the following year. Redzel retired in 2020 after securing career earnings of $16.4 million, making him one of the most successful horses ever. Yet his maiden Group 1 victory, which kickstarted his career, came in the 2017 Doomben 10,000.
Doomben 10,000 Winner Trends
Four-year-olds and five-year-olds have enjoyed the most success in this race since the turn of the century. Horses aged four have secured six wins since 2000, while six Doomben 10,000 winners in that time have been aged five. There have been four wins for six-year-olds, three wins for two-year-olds and two wins for seven-year-olds, including Eduardo in 2021.
The race starts with a short run before the first turn, which tends to hand the inside barriers a significant advantage. Established weight for age performers have a strong record, but we have also seen a few younger horses with light weights emerge as Doomben 10,000 winners, including 2012 champion Sea Siren, the last female sprinter to win the race. The Victory Stakes is seen as a key form reference for anyone trying to predict Doomben 10,000 winners.
