Delta Blues - racehorse - Melbourne Cup winner

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 24 starts for 6 wins, 2 seconds and 3 thirds for a total prize money haul of ¥376,562,000 yen

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.

To view a video of him winning the 2006 Melbourne Cup click here