The Kingsford Smith Cup's high flyers
By Ross Stanley
Brisbane’s three Group 1 sprints, namely the Doomben 10,000, the Kingsford Smith Cup and the Stradbroke Handicap, are perfectly scheduled with a fortnight between each offering. Conveniently, the distances are increased progressively from 1200 to 1400 metres.
The middle leg, the Kingsford Smith Cup, kicked off in 1964 as a handicap named in honour of J.T. (Jack) Delaney, a Brisbane Amateur Turf Club committeeman when Doomben opened in 1933. He was briefly the Chairman in 1954.
The upcoming edition of this Cup will be the eighth with the current name. The event could well be suffering from an identity crisis because of the numerous title prefixes that applied during the earlier decades.
They include Robins Kitchen, Tourist Minister’s, Carlton, Fosters, Wyndham Estate, Powers Hotels, Stefan and Jacob’s Creek. When the champion mare Black Caviar delighted the massive crowd by trouncing an outstanding pair in Hay List and Buffering in 2011, it was simply the BTC (Brisbane Turf Club) Cup.
That mega-occasion had a home state touch. Her jockey Luke Nolen hailed from the Darling Downs and trainer Peter Moody had cut his teeth at Wyandra near Charleville.
The Cup and its predecessors have involved many stellar performers. It is not generally appreciated that 16 of the 21 winners between 1964 and 1984 were victorious at the equivalent of Group 1 level during their time on the turf.
The horses that comprised the inaugural Delaney trifecta all prevailed at the top tier. Rashlore had already secured the 1964 VRC Newmarket. Ripa took out the 1965 VRC Newmarket while Cele’s Image claimed the 1966 QTC Stradbroke.
The Queensland based thoroughbreds that saluted at the elite level during their career and accounted for their rivals in early Cup versions were Todwana in 1965,Eye Liner (1967), Prince Gauntlet (1968), Dual Control (1969), Charlton Boy (1972), Innisfree (1977) and the international star Strawberry Road (1983).
The visitors in that category, with their successful Cup year shown in parentheses, were Cabochon (1970), Ricochet (1971), Triton (1973), Tontonan (1974), March Legend (1978) and Mr Illusion (1984).
Falvelon (2000 and 2003) and Sea Siren (2012) were winners that enjoyed international glory. Second-placed horses to be acclaimed at Royal Ascot were Scenic Blast (2012) and Takeover Target (2007).
Ortensia, the mare that could only manage fifth behind Brisbane’s Albert The Fat in 2010, progressed in 2012 to wear the laurels after the prestigious Gunthorpe Stakes at York and the UAE Al Quoz Sprint at Meydan.
The depth of quality of the Cup is illustrated further by the fact that 16 of the 23 individuals to pick up a Cup or its counterpart this century ended up with at least two Group 1 credits on their resume.
A side note is that Duporth, in 2009, emulated his dam Staging’s victory a decade earlier. The pair chalked up a combined tally of eleven black type wins for Queenslanders Peter and Wendy Moran.
CUP POINTERS FROM DOOMBEN 10,000
The survey below covers the period when both the Doomben 10,000 and the Kingsford Smith Cup were decided at weight for age.
Last year, the Doomben 10,000 exacta was filled by the top flight gallopers Bella Nipotina and I Wish I Win. The order was reversed in the Cup.
In 2022, Paulele was runner up in both races while The Bostonian lifted both trophies in 2019.
Other placegetters in both legs were Impending (2018, second then first); Counter Attack (2017, second, third); Buffering (2014, third in both); Sea Siren (2012, won both); Apache Cat (2009, first and third plus 2008, won both); Takeover Target (first, second); Falvelon (2002, first and second plus 2000, third, first); Mr Innocent (2000, first, second); General Nediym (1998, third, first) and Accomplice (won both).
STRADBROKE POINTERS FROM THE CUP
Although the Kingsford Smith Cup is run under weight for age conditions, numerous placegetters in that contest have performed well in Queensland’s signature handicap event. The constant in the references below is the set weight aspect. The host venues and race distances were varied.
Last year, Bella Nipotina was runner up in both legs. In 2023, Think About It scored the double while Rothfire was placed in both races.
Other positive examples in the Eagle Farm double include: Vega One (2021, first then second); Trekking (2019, third, second); Melito (2010, second in both); St Basil (2005, second, first); Thorn Park (2004,won both); Falvelon (second in both); Mr Innocent (2000, second in both); Staging (1999, first, third); Monopolize (1996, second, third); Schillaci (1995, third, second); All Our Mob (1994, third, first) and Barossa Boy (1992, first, second).
Because the Cup switched from handicap to set weight structure in 1991, the final case of relevance is St Jude’s effort that year. The local followed up his hit in the BATC Robins Kitchen Cup with a second in the Stradbroke.
AN UNHERALDED ACHIEVEMENT
Tucked away in the annals is the Sourris family, a name particularly synonymous since the 1950s with their string of cinemas and drive-ins.
The motion picture industry has never been given the flick. The third generation, the brothers Peter and Stephen Sourris, are owner-operators of the present day Five Star Cinema chain and the time honoured survivor, the Yatala Drive In near Beenleigh.
Despite the juggernauts that have targeted the various renditions of the Cup, the Sourris kinfolk sit quietly at the top of the ownership list with three victories and a second. Next are the connections of Falvelon (two firsts and a second) and Buck’s Pride with wins in 1993 and 1994.
James (Jim) Sourris owned and trained Grand Rocky (1981 Delaney Quality, second to Strawberry Road in 1983).The chestnut entire that had won the 1980 BATC XXXX Stakes was housed near Brisbane’s Aspley Drive In.
Jim’s entrepreneurial endeavours and generosity is well known. He was awarded the Order of Australia (AM) in 2011 for his service to the arts and to the community through the development of the motion picture industry and through philanthropic contributions, particularly to the Queensland Art Gallery and the State Library of Queensland.
Jim and his wife Irene along with his brother Chris (Junior) and his wife Georgia part owned the 1986 and 1990 Tourist Minister’s Cup heroes Goldorme and Gypsy Rogue.
There was a Chris Sourris (Senior) who first saw light of day in 1903 in Kythera in Greece.He made Queensland home in 1925 and banked on a gamble with hand-operated theatre equipment that formed the foundation for his cinematic businesses that kicked on at Stanthorpe where he apparently had a stint as the Jockey Club President. Brisbane in the 1950s was the genesis for monumental expansion of his movie interests.
Chris and his brother Peter, along with their respective wives Effie and Mary, relished the deeds of Grand Garry.
It was no surprise that Dalray’s son gelding showed staying prowess in earning Queensland’s red riband, the St Leger and downing all bar Earlwood in the Derby.He was closely related to the 1951 Caulfield Cup winner Basha Felika.
The brown gelding had some absorbing tussles with Macdougal.He was beaten a lip by Dick Roden’s charge in the 1959 Brisbane Cup. He won the Hotham Handicap before finishing a fine fourth to the same rival in that year’s Melbourne Cup.Revenge came in the 1960 Sydney Cup when the Tommy Smith-Neville Sellwood combination and Grand Garry’s talent outshone the fourth placed Macdougal.
The Sourris bloodstock sported blue and white silks that matched the Greek ancestry.
THE KINGSFORD SMITH CONNECTION
Charles Smith was born on 9 February 1897 at the home of his parents William and Catherine Smith. The residence was on the corner of Riverview Terrace and the busy Drive that was named for him in 1953. The spot is close to the Hamilton Hotel.
Although Charles and his siblings were christened with his mother’s surname of Kingsford, that name was added when the family lived in Vancouver during Charles’ boyhood. It was done to help the postman as multiple Smiths lived in their street.
In 1915 Kingsford Smith, as a member of the Australian Imperial Force, served at Gallipoli, Egypt and France. He switched to the Australian Flying Corps the following year, later becoming a flying officer with the Royal Flying Corps. He was awarded the Military Cross after being shot down in 1917.
On 19 June 1928, Kingsford Smith and his crew members Charles Ulm, Harry Lyon and James Warner finished the first flight across the Pacific from California to Brisbane’s Eagle Farm Aerodrome with stops at Hawaii and Fiji.
Young Smith was mechanically inquisitive and armed with a sense of daring.
Sydney’s Sun (4 April 1937) reported that during the clipper bow steamer Aorangi voyage across the Pacific “young Charles had dared another boy to hang from the anchor-hole in the bow of the ship. He was discovered demonstrating how it could be done. Captain Phillips had the six-year-old brought before him, and to purely emphasise his lecture, threatened to clap the boy in irons.
Thirty-two years later, in 1935, Captain Phillips met Sir Charles Kingsford Smith in the street in Sydney - it was just before Smithy left for England to begin the flight to his death.\
"You've done enough flying. I'd like to put those irons on you now and keep you here,” the old skipper smilingly said to him then.
On 8 November 1935, Kingsford Smith and his co-pilot Tommy Pethybridge in the Lady Southern Cross vanished over the Andaman Sea near Burma while trying to set a new record for an Australia–England air trip.
MORE AVIATION
Hinkler flew the first solo flight from England and Australia. It took 16 days. After reaching Darwin on 22 February 1928, he went back to his home in Bundaberg before landing on the course proper at Eagle Farm a few days later in front of a huge, adoring audience.
Hinkler lost his life in the mountains of Tuscany on 7 January 1933.His body was recovered, and the annual Listed Hinkler Handicap will be decided at Eagle Farm on Stradbroke Day on June 14.
Flying Queen, the dam of the 1966 Delaney heroine Flying Fancy, ties in with the British aviatrix Amy Johnson.
After she had become the first woman to fly solo from London to Australia when she touched down at Darwin on 24 May 1930, she had a rough and damaging landing a few days later at Eagle Farm Aerodrome and repairs were necessary.
Helen Coughlan, in Queensland Turf Club A Place In History, wrote that Johnson was logically a popular guest at the QTC’s St Leger meeting.
“Committeemen Patrick O’Shea and James Clark backed every horse in the King’s Plate for Miss Johnson so as she would experience the thrill of winning at her first ever visit to the races.”
On 5 January 1941, she died following a crash into the Thames Estuary while working on civilian assignments for the R.A.F.
A RACING LINK
In the 1830s, the Moreton Bay penal colony's Commandant, Captain Foster Fyans, was frustrated by the lustful shenanigans revolving around the Women’s Prison Factory on the site of the current General Post Office in Queen Street.
He opted to relocate the set up to an uncharted location. The Turrbal people, in order to access Maiwar (Brisbane River), had a narrow track (now Kingsford Smith Drive) that was bordered to the west by very thick scrub.
Convict labour was used to clear the remote land and establish a farm as a work venue and goal for women. Eagles were known to soar above the area.
The venture was relatively short-lived with transporting of convicts officially ending in 1840 and free settlement permitted in 1842.
Today, the TradeCoast Central Heritage Park and Information Centre on the historical site is bounded by Amy Johnson Place and Schneider Road. It lies close to Kingsford Smith Drive, the Gateway Motorway and the eastern boundary of the Old Eagle Farm Airport. Doomben and Eagle Farm racecourses are a working gallop away.
THE 2025 FIELD
The scratching of Rothfire means that five rather than six Group 1 achievers are in the line up with the aggregate prize money banked by Giga Kick and Private Eye nearing $25,000,000.
Breeding pundits looking for omens in the race named for an aviator will observe that Flying Melody appears in the pedigree of Giga Kick and it is likewise for Democracy Manifest with Flying Artie, Flying Ruby and Parkhill’s Flyer. “Smithy’s” outlook on life might be reflected in the ancestry of Benedetta with Hellbent and I Am Invincible.The mare might sprout wings over the final part.
