Delta
Blues racehorse Melbourne Cup winner
Racehorse
Delta Blues was foaled in 2001 and was by Dance In The Dark out of
the mare Dixie Splash (by Dixieland Band)
In
his career he had 29 starts for 6 wins, 2 seconds and 3 thirds for
a total prize money haul of ¥376,562,000 yen (About $A8.5M)
His
main wins were in the 2006
Melbourne Cup and Japanese St Leger. He also ran third in the
Japan Cup and Caulfield
Cup. In the 2006 Melbourne Cup, Delta Blues was ridden by Japanese
jockey Yasunari Iwata who was the winner of the 2005 19th World Super
Jockey Series and beat another Japanese trained horse Pop Rock in
to second.
It
was the third time a foreign owned and raced horse had won the Melbourne
Cup, following Vintage
Crop (1993) and Media
Puzzle (2002) but significantly it was the first time the Cup
had been won by a horse from Asia.
Delta
Blues enjoyed the run of the race in second and third place throughout
as Zabeat set the pace with Irish topweight Yeats moving up to challenge
on the turn. Yeats momentarily hit the front but Delta Blues soon
raced past him and then held off the determined challenge of Pop Rock
who tried valiantly but just missed.
| Dance
In The Dark |
Sunday
Silence |
Halo |
| Wishing
Well |
| Dancing
Key |
Nijinsky |
| Key
Partner |
| Dixie
Splash |
Dixieland
Band |
Northern
Dancer |
| Mississippi
Mud |
| Ocean
Jewel |
Alleged |
| Lady
Offshore |
First Race: 12 June 2003
Last Race: 29 December 2007
Major Wins:
2006 Group 1 Melbourne
Cup (3200m
hcp at Flemington)
2004 Group 1
Japanese St Ledger (3000m
SW at Koyoto)
2005 Group 2
Nippon Sho Stayers Stakes (3600m WFA at Nakayama)
Best Minor Performances:
3rd 2006 Group
1 Caulfield Cup (2400m
hcp at Caulfield)
3rd 2004
Group 1 Japan Cup (2400m
WFA at Tokyo)
3rd 2006
Group 1 Hanshin Daishoten Stakes (3000m
WFA at Tokyo)
Horse
racing systems and research
