A STORY FROM THE VAULT
DO THREE DERBY WINS AND AN OAKS MAKE A CHAMPION?
By Andrew Lemon
One hundred and fifty years ago, in 1870, the bay filly Florence won the Oaks at Flemington. She holds a unique record, never equalled. Florence is one of only eight fillies who have won the VRC Oaks in the same season as winning the Victoria Derby against the colts. Of these, she is the only one ever to have also won the AJC, or Australian, Derby in Sydney. She went on to win the 1871 Queensland Derby at Eagle Farm. Yet the question has been asked: was Florence really a champion? What does a filly have to do to prove her quality? Who did she beat, they sometimes ask? But it is an old saying in racing – as Winx can attest – that you can only beat who turns up on the day. Like Winx, Florence often scared off her opposition. Her Oaks win at Flemington ended up a two-horse race. She won as she pleased. Her breeding was fashionable, sired by Boiardo at Thomas Austin’s Barwon Park. Her dam Rose of Denmark was in the record books with third placings in the 1863 and 1864 Melbourne Cups. At two years, Florence won the AJC Champagne Stakes. At three, in the spring of 1870, she imperiously won the AJC Derby at Randwick against a good field before coming to Melbourne. That year the Victoria Derby opened the spring carnival on Saturday, with the Melbourne Cup following on Thursday and the Oaks on Friday. And that Derby turned out to be the most extraordinary Victoria Derby ever.
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