Arwon racehorse Melbourne Cup winner 1978

Arwon, winner of the 1978 Melbourne Cup, was not always Arwon. In fact, he started his career as Flash Guy in New Zealand before being syndicated to a group of punters who lived in Nowra in New South Wales.

They changed Flash Guy's name to Arwon, which, of course, is Nowra spelt backwards. the first Melbourne Cup winner, Archer, was also Nowra owned.

He was bred in New Zealand being by Aritzo from the mare Fair Flash.

Arwon was first trained by John Morrissey in Canberra before being sent to George Hanlon, the Victorian trainer, who set him up for his Melbourne Cup victory, where he was ridden by Harry White. In that 1978 event he defeated Dandeleith and Karu.

White said Arwon was underrated. "He was a great horse. I said to George before the Melbourne Cup he was the closest thing I've seen to a good thing in a major race."

In his lead up form to the event, he'd won the Geelong August Handicap of 1700 metres, the Seymour Cup with 52kgs, ran second in the Heatherlie Handicap over 2100 metres with 52.5 kgs and run second in the Metropolitan Handicap with 49 kgs.

Immediately prior to the Cup he'd won the Herbert Power Handicap over 2400 metres and run second in the Caulfield Cup with the postage stamp weight of just 49 kgs. beaten in that race by Taksan. Almost the entire crowd of 45,000 at Caulfield on October 21, 1978, believed that Arwon had edged past Taksan to win the cup, only for Taksan to be declared the winner. (In the Melbourne Cup, Taksan finished 16th.)

Arwon also won the Sandown Classic which, in those days, was known as the Sandown Cup, a Group II event.

He contested the 1980 Melbourne Cup finishing ninth to Beldale Ball and fifth to Just A Dash in 1981.

In all, Arwon raced 67 times for 16 wins, 13 seconds and five thirds and died at the grand old age of 33 in May 2007. Still lively in retirement, he took part in the annual Melbourne Cup Parade of Champions down Swanston Street in Melbourne, all the way up to the age of 31.

Arwon was well accustomed to street work as he spent a number of years as a NSW Police Horse until the age of 15.

In all he won $339,527 in prize money

   Career Record

	Age 2
30-Dec-75	5th	9 ran	Bay Of Plenty	1200m	Holiday Hcp
17-Jan-76	2nd	9 ran	Franklin	1200m	Karaka Stakes	Lavender Hill	49	1:13.2
5-Jun-76	3rd	16 ran	Auckland	1200m	June Hcp	Ghidiro	52	1:17.2
30-Jun-76	Won	18 ran	Cambridge	1200m	Batchelor Hcp	Creole King	53	1:17.9
10-Jul-76	4th	17 ran	Avondale	1400m	Futurity Hcp
	Age 3
21-Aug-76	2nd	8 ran	Waikato	1200m	Glenvale Hcp	Pennyshima	52	1:18.7
4-Sep-76	4th	15 ran	Avondale	1200m	Glendene Hcp
18-Sep-76	2nd	13 ran	Cambridge	1200m	Breeders Stakes	Vice Regal	55.5	1:14.8
29-Jan-77	Won	13 ran	Canberra	1200m	Improvers Hcp	Hotfoot	57.5	1:11.8
19-Feb-77	Won	12 ran	Canberra	1400m	Progressive Hcp	Hotfoot	55	1:24.7
6-Mar-77	Won	8 ran	Canberra	1600m	Progressive Hcp	Nimmity Lad	55.51	1:37.0
11-Apr-77	Won	14 ran	Canberra	1400m	Intemediate Hcp	Musette	51	1:24.9
20-Apr-77	3rd	19 ran	Rosehill	1400m	Graduation Stakes	Hafez	55.5	1:25.0
	Age 4
11-Aug-77	2nd	10 ran	Hawkesbury	1200m	Intermediate Hcp	Silk Cloud	51	1:11.9
7-Sep-77	Won	15 ran	Rosehill	1500m	Clyburn Stakes	Ebony Flash	55.5	1:35.4
22-Sep-77	2nd	14 ran	Randwick	1600m	Heritage Hcp	Rock 'n Roll	48.5	1:36.7
5-Oct-77	Won	12 ran	Randwick	2000m	Randwick Stakes	Dance Hussar	55.5	2:00.4
22-Oct-77	Won	11 ran	Rosehill	2000m	Colyton Hcp	Dance Hussar	55	2:03.1
5-Nov-77	Won	6 ran	Warwick Farm	2200m	Milperra Welter	Gold Disc	51	2:16.8
26-Nov-77	5th	9 ran	Rosehill	2000m	Baulkham Hills Hcp
10-Dec-77	5th	9 ran	Rosehill	1900m	Deniston Hcp
25-Apr-78	11th	20 ran	Flemington	1000m	Matapan Hcp
6-May-78	4th	17 ran	Caulfield	1200m	Coral Sea Hcp
27-May-78	2nd	17 ran	Caulfield	160m	Counsel Welter	Kanawina	52.5	1:38.9
5-Jun-78	7th	12 ran	Flemington	1400m	Midyear Hcp
8-Jul-78	2nd	15 ran	Flemington	1400m	Fujisan Welter
	Age 5
2-Aug-78	Won	14 ran	Geelong	1700m	August Hcp	Park Glenn	51.5	1:46.3
2-Sep-78	4th	14 ran	Caulfield		Malua Hcp
13-Sep-78	Won	14 ran	Seymour	2200m	Seymour Cup	Brett's Honour	55	2:21.0
23-Sep-78	2nd	16 ran	Sandown	2100m	Heatherlie Hcp	Boldness	51.5	2:18.0
2-Oct-78	2nd	23 ran	Randwick	2600m	Metropolitan Hcp	Ming Dynasty	59.5	2:45.2
14-Oct-78	Won	16 ran	Caulfield	2500m	Herbert Power Hcp	Big Skipper	54	2:28.6
21-Oct-78	2nd	18 ran	Caulfield	2400m	Caulfield Cup	Taksan	52	2:27.5
4-Nov-78	5th	12 ran	Flemington	2000m	LKS Mackinnon	Family Of Man	58.5	2:04.4
7-Nov-78	Won	22 ran	Flemington	3200m	Melbourne Cup	Dandeleith	50.5	3:24.3
16-Dec-78	2nd	13 ran	Ascot	2200m	December Hcp	Meliador	53.5	2:15.8
26-Dec-78	2nd	14 ran	Ascot	2400m	Cox Stakes	Meliador	57	2:30.5
1-Jan-79	2nd	20 ran	Ascot	3200m	Perth Cup	Meliador	51	3:18.9
24-Feb-79	3rd	11 ran	Caulfield	1600m	Booran Hcp	Rooney	53	1:41.0
12-Mar-79	11th	14 ran	Flemington	2000m	Australian Cup	Dulcify	52.5	2:01.1
24-Mar-79	7th	8 ran	Moonee Valley	1600m	Alister Clark Stakes	Family Of Man	57.5	1:38.6
7-Apr-79	6th	13 ran	Rosehill	2400m	Tancred Stakes	Shivaree	57	2:27.7
16-Apr-79	3rd	8 ran	Randwick	2000m	Queen Elizabeth	Shivaree	57	2:03.5
21-Apr-79	3rd	22 ran	Randwick	3200m	Sydney Cup	Double Century	50	3:20.8
	Age 6
11-Aug-79	12th	14 ran	Caulfield	1200m	St. Aubin Hcp
25-Aug-79	11th	17 ran	Caulfeld	1400m	Liston Stakes	Waitangirua	58.5	1:26.4
8-Sep-79	13th	15 ran	Flemington	1400m	Craiglee Stakes	Dulcify	57	1:37.6
15-Sep-79	11th	11 ran	Moonee Valley	1600m	Feehan Stakes	Gondolier	57	1:37.8
27-Sep-79	5th	8 ran	Caulfield	2000m	Underwood Stakes	Valley Of Georgia	54.5	2:07.4
	Age 7
23-Aug-80	11th	12 ran	Moonee Valley	1200m	Freeway Stakes	Grey Sapphire	58	1:12.1
3-Sep-80	9th	14 ran	Caulfield	1400m	Herald Cup
13-Sep-80	Won	17 ran	Flemington	1600m	Riverside Welter
25-Sep-80	9th	13 ran	Caulfield	2000m	Underwood Stakes	Waitangirua	59	2:02.2
11-Oct-80	6th	9 ran	Caulfield	2000m	Caulfeld Stakes	Hyperno	59	2:03.3
22-Oct-80	6th	13 ran	Geelong	2400m	Geelong Cup	Summer Fleur	51	2:28.2
1-Nov-80	10th	13 ran	Flemington	2000m	LKS Mackinnon	Belmura Lad	58.5	2:03.8
4-Nov-80	9th	22 ran	Flemington	3200m	Melbourne Cup	Beldale Ball	49.5	3:19.8
15-Nov-80	Won	18 ran	Sandown	2400m	Sandown Cup	My Blue Denim	55.5	2:27.4
	Age 8
26-Aug-81	13th	20 ran	Flemington	1100m	Aurie's Star Hcp
5-Sep-81	12th	12 ran	Caulfield	1200m	Whittier Hcp
19-Sep-81	10th	12 ran	Moonee Valley	1200m	Tolana Wines Hcp
26-Sep-81	Won	13 ran	Moonee Valley	2050m	R V Moon Hcp
10-Oct-81	4th	6 ran	Caulfield	2000m	Caulfield Stakes	Kingston Town	59	2:02.9
21-Oct-81	4th	17 ran	Geelong	2400m	Geelong Cup	Allez Bijou	54	2:33.1
31-Oct-81	7th	9 ran	Flemington	2000m	LKS Mackinnon	Belmura Lad	59	2:02.2
3-Nov-81	5th	22 ran	Flemington	3200m	Melbourne Cup	Just A Dash	53.5	3:21.2

 

 

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	Caronia	Petition
		Ocean Lore
Fair Flash	Resurgent	The Phoenix
		Gainsborough Lass
	Christmas Fair	Fairs Fair
		Revelate