In Commemoration of the 103rd anniversary of the Redleap’s death, a famous jumps horse that trained in Mill Park, the City of Whittlesea will be exhibiting a small display of his remains from Museum Victoria’s collection at the Council Offices in late 2011. This will be an opportunity for the community to learn about the equine history that contributed to the development of the municipality.
Redleap, winner of four Grand Nationals, was a legend in his lifetime. Regarded as Australia’s finest jumps horse, he was one of only three racehorses to be paid the great tribute of having their skeletons placed in the Melbourne Museum. The other two were Trenton and Carbine, both champion racehorses and sires, whose skeletons were returned to Australia from England. Exhibiting the remains of great racehorses in museums was a way the public could view and connect with their equine heroes in an era before film, television or video.
Bred in 1884 by Albert Miller at the family’s Broadlands Stud at Bacchus Marsh, Redleap was the son of Dante and Pandora. Dante’s sire was Fireworks, a champion racehorse conceived at the Bournefield Stud at Wollert, but foaled in 1864 at the Maribyrnong Stud, his dam Gaslight having been sold shortly before his birth. Pandora, sired by the champion Panic, was a daughter of Flying Roe, a mare bred at Bournefield in 1860. So although Redleap first saw the light of day elsewhere, he was in large measure a product of the City of Whittlesea’s early thoroughbred breeding industry.
Septimus Miller named Redleap after a house he once saw during a visit to Sydney. He noted the name, thinking it a good one for a jumper, particularly a horse whose owner’s racing colours were crimson. He could not have dreamt how famous that name would become in Australian horse racing history and the City of Whittlesea’s suburb of Mill Park.
Redleap was a strongly built, bright bay gelding with black points, of 16.3 hands. A natural stayer, he was trained at Alphington and Mill Park by the Millers’ private trainer Humphrey Bellamy, with assistance at times from Harry Tibballs. Although famous for his success as a jumper, Redleap’s trials at Mill Park were such that the Millers considered him fast enough to win a Melbourne Cup. However, his one weakness was laminitis, his feet always giving trouble, limiting his career to only seven races over five seasons.
In his first race in January 1889, Redleap started favourite at 6 to 4 in a steeplechase at Caulfield, but while holding a long lead he jumped a fence awkwardly and dislodged his jockey, W. Olds. In his next race, the 1889 VRC Grand National Hurdle at Flemington in July, he won easily by two lengths. His jockey for that race and the remainder of his career was W. S. (Willie) Cox Jun., son of the founder of the Moonee Valley racecourse. From then on, Redleap suffered foot problems until he raced again in the 1891 VRC Grand National Hurdle, but finished well back.
1892 was Redleap’s year. In the space of one month he won three Grand Nationals and each time he raced he carried more weight. In the VRC Grand National Hurdle in July he carried 11 st 11 lb (75 kg) and in the VRC Grand National Steeplechase he carried a record 13 st 3 lb (83.6 kg). The following month he won the VATC Australian Steeplechase at Caulfield over four miles with 13 st 12 lb (87.7 kg). As Cox weighed only 8 st 12 lb (56.5 kg), he carried five-stone (31.8 kg) dead weight in an especially heavy saddle in that race.
The Millers won £5,049 plus much more in wagers from Redleap’s Grand National victories. Their winnings were enough to pay for a magnificent stable block and training track at Mill Park. The red brick stables were named after their champion horse, Redleap’s name being painted in white on the red double doors at each end of the building.
As a result of the increasingly prohibitive weights, the Millers decided to train Redleap for flat races, but he was unplaced in the VRC Maiden Plate in October 1892. He was then sent to Caulfield to prepare for the 1893 VRC Australian Cup, but again suffered foot problems, so was spelled at Bacchus Marsh. After recovering, he was taken back to Mill Park to prepare for the winter jumping season, but pulled up lame early in July 1893 and was scratched. Over the next few years, Bellamy tried several times to prepare Redleap for Grand Nationals, but he always went lame, so was finally retired. He was sometimes ridden around the district as a hunter with the Findon Harriers and in 1897 was entered for the Findon Harriers’ Cup, but he was given the crushing weight of 16 st 4 lbs (103.8 kg) and did not run.
Redleap was eventually sent to Bacchus Marsh, where he died on 22 June 1908, aged 23. The Millers donated his remains to the Natural History Museum in Melbourne and in 1925 his skeleton and part of his hide were placed on display there. They were later removed from the exhibition area and now only a tooth and small bone remain.
By Robert Wuchatsch (Local Historian)
Photo: Redleap Stables. Yarra Plenty Regional Library
