Cox Plate immortal Bonecrusher was put down on Thursday morning after battling laminitis. He was 32.
Bonecrusher (Pag Asa – Imitation by Oakville) raced 44 times for 18 wins and 17 placings. He won over distances ranging from 880 metres to 2400 metres, and his 8 Group 1 victories included the Cox Plate, Australian Derby and New Zealand Derby.
The champion galloper was buried at Ellerslie Racecourse in Auckland, where a memorial will be erected in his honour. “We decided a week ago this needed to be done and we planned how we wanted to do it,” trainer Frank Ritchie told AAP. “We wanted to get him to Ellerslie and interred in his permanent spot without too many people around.
“We have struggled through this week and we have all shed a tear. He was so well cared for, especially by Shirley Mitchell with no expense spared.”
Bonecrusher came to Sydney in the autumn of 1986 when he beat the older horses in the Tancred Stakes before winning the AJC Derby.
But it was the following spring that heralded him as a true champion. Bonecrusher won the Caulfield and Underwood Stakes before heading to the Cox Plate and his famous duel with fellow Kiwi Our Waverley Star.
His win has become a defining moment in the history of the Cox Plate, a battle that cemented the race as Australia’s weight-for-age championship. The two horses went stride for stride down the straight with no indication of the outcome until the final couple of metres.
Bonecrusher prevailed and the words of race caller Bill Collins are replayed over and over – “Bonecrusher races into equine immortality”.
The following autumn he staged another epic battle to beat the Melbourne Cup winner At Talaq by a whisker in the Australian Cup. “That was the race that stopped Bonecrusher,” Ritchie said. “He was never the same after he beat At Talaq, but he kept trying.”
Ritchie firmly believes the key to his racing record and longevity in retirement was simple. “With the great horses it is their physiology – their hearts,” he said. “His heart won him races, his heart gave him a long life.”
KIWI ICON
Bonecrusher (outer) defeats Our Waverley Star in the 1986 Cox Plate