Surround ;the champion filly

hope you enjoy a small video of my favorite, it's a bit hard to find stuff that's old.
well were do i start , lets have a look at some of the races she won
she won from 1000m to 2500m and at one stage won 10 on the trot
Ascot Vale stk
Moonee Valley stk
Caufield Guineas
W.S.Cox Plate
VRC Oaks
C.F.Orr stk
Blamey stk
Alister Clark stk
AJC Oaks
QTC Oaks
QTC Grand Prix stk
her run of ten wins ended when she ran second in the Futurity stk and then a 4th in the Australian Cup
her back was found to be out and and once strait'en she won 4 out her next 5 runs,
now i'll take this moment to remind everyone that she is a 3yo filly when achieving these feats
she pulled up sore after her win in the QTC Grand Prix stk so she missed running in the QTC Derby ,but instead of going for a spell [don't forget shes done spring autumn and winter carnivals } Murphy decides to run her in the Brisbane Cup over 3200m, the straw that breaks the camels back, her leg problems she had as a 2yo return and after 3 disappointing runs as a 4yo shes retired.
chapter 2 / horse that she beat will commence after dinner

Thanks for the introduction :) was a bit before my time. I can't wait for the next instalment...

some say when a 3yo filly is the best of the season then the colts & gelding aren't much good, but that was far from the truth this season.
Family of Man
Unaware
Salamander
Great Lover
Ming Dynasty
Hyperno
most of these horses were great 3yo that went on to win any thing worth winning.
their 3yo record stood up and a good example was that Unaware,Salamander& Family of Man ran 1,2,3 in the VRC Derby and then ran 2,3,4 in the same order behind Ming Dynasty in the Caulfield cup the very next spring
they won most of the good wfa races including the Cox Plate and a Quinella in the Melbourne cup
there was also a couple of handy fillies as well, Savoir the winner of the Wakeful & Manifold stk while Surround was off beating the males or when they meet she was running 2nd behind her in the Moonee Valley stk and VRC Oaks another was In Pursuit who ran 4th behind the boys in the VRC Derby and 2nd in the AJC Oaks
So You Think got a high rating after winning the Cox Plate, imagine what she would of rated after winning the Caulfield Guineas ,Cox Plate {in record time} VRC Oaks and the other races. she would of rated of the map.

You would have been in nappies while she was doing this?. You don't look very old

Great vid, she actually better than I thought.

that's my youngest foal ,i'll tell you a tale or two of me and Surround in chapter 3 after dinner

Cool vid, thanks for sharing.

awesome story...a little before my time but :)

started following Horses when Think Big won his 2nd cup, remembered listening to the race on the radio in the kitchen,started doing the form and keeping records of my selections.
then along came Surround ,being of a young age {13] it was hard to get to the track ,mum took me to the VRC Oaks .i've got some photos that i took on the day of different horses and of Bart grinning as i hide behind my mum taking his photo.
the next time i got to see her was in the Blamey stk in the March of 77 , i set off to flemington on my own by train and tram, went to go in at the gate in the car park near the track and they wouldn't let me in without a parent, i sat out side near the gate on the home turn until i saw her run past , i just gathered by the roar of the crowed that she had won, so i went home.
the day Bonfield beat her in the futurity stk ,a tear swelled up in the eyes and i turned off the radio and went sooking in my room.
anyway i'd been bitten by the bug and me and a good friend done some work experience at Murphy's in the spring of 78, first thing i did when i got to Murphy's stables was to go and see Surrounds carpeted stall only problem was now there was a wart nose ugly gelding in there. anyway we were there on the week ends and that meant the back door was open to Caulfield for Guineas and Cup day .
what a great guineas it was with Manikato giving Karaman the best hip and shoulder of all time and going on to win ,protest was dismissed and Willetts copped 3 months
the cup was won by Taksan in a head bober with Arwon
it was also the first time i got to listen to Neil Young. it was the Comes a Time album ,have a listen if you're never heard it.
one last thing too , it was the first time i'd been physically bitten by a horse,and i had been pre warned about the low down pig rouge of a thing . if i could only remember it's name. ah yes it's come to me .HYPERNO you bastrad of a thing

Great story mate. You started following horses the year after I was born. And there are a lot of similarities how we both started, but maybe later. I'm waiting to read the next chapter :)

Geoff Murphy ran Surround into the ground as a 3YO. As a result her career finished with a string of non-wins as a 4YO. Geoff didn't learn from his mistakes and did exactly the same thing with Grosvenor about 6 years later.

Grosvenor won as an October 2Yo and contested all the big 2YO races (incl 3rd in the Slipper). Came back as a 3YO and ran three times before the Sydney Triple Crown (Peter Pan, Gloaming, Champion), then the Caulfield Guineas, Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate, Vic Derby. Not content with that, off to WA for at least three more runs including 2 Derbies and a stakes race. Grosvenor should have been a WFA/Cups horse at 4+ but was just a tad leg weary and never won again.

Thankfully modern trainers have a bit more patience and discretion.

a legendary horse. one of australia's best ever :-)

hey, any reason why murphy didnt back her up in the ajc derby rather than push her through another campaign in qld ?

i know she didn't run in the VRC Derby because she wasn't nominated , and injured for the QTC Derby, but i don't know about the AJC Derby , but i know one thing he wasn't scared to. he would take on anything with her and as Amigo said he ran her into the ground . should of stop after the Autumn , but he was a very hard man.

the ajc derby use to be run in the springtime but i cant remember which year they switched it to the autumn. therefore i'm going to assume that surround was down in mlb for the spring while the ajc derby was being run up in syd.

to be fair, in the old days trainer did just ran their horses. my favourite "old time" horse is rising fast & he ran every weekend during his campaigns. if there is a professional horse trainer on this site then maybe they could explain to us why that was & why that has changed.

anyway, surround winning the cox plate as a filly is unique. that feat, alone, makes her great :-)