Jockey George Moore becomes a legend

Thursday 21 May 2015, 10:51pm

Champion jockey George Moore has officially become a legend of Australian racing.

An inaugural inductee to the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame in 2001, Moore was further honoured on Thursday at this year's ceremony in Brisbane.

He joins six other legends - champion horses Phar Lap, Carbine and Makybe Diva, trainers Bart Cummings and TJ Smith and fellow jockey Arthur "Scobie" Breasley.

Moore, who died in 2008, holds the Australian record of 119 Group One wins, claiming his first in the 1946 Metropolitan Handicap in Sydney.

A native of Queensland, Moore also won 10 NSW premierships and took his talents to Europe where his wins included the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe and the Epsom Derby.

"George Moore was more than simply a great jockey, he was an international sports star, the likes of which are rarely seen," Bob Charley, chairman of the selection panel, said.

"He was a true legend of racing and tonight his name rightfully stands alongside the sport's greatest names."

Seven people and four horses became the latest to be honoured by the ARHF.

Three-time Melbourne Cup winner Glen Boss and Robert Thompson, who holds the Australian riding record, were the inducted.

Brian Mayfield-Smith, Jim Moloney and the man who prepared Phar Lap, Harry Telford were added to the trainers.

Racehorse owner and breeder Eduardo Cojuangco and journalist Bert Lillye were inducted as associates while Dalray, Choisir, Briseis and Danehill represent the equine stars.

AUSTRALIAN RACING HALL OF FAME INDUCTEES:

HORSES:

Briseis: Possibly the greatest filly ever to race in Australia. In the spring of 1876 she completed a magnificent career by winning the Victoria Derby, the Melbourne Cup and the VRC Oaks, a treble never achieved by any other horse.

Choisir: In 2003, the Paul Perry-trained Group One winner Choisir blazed the trail for Australian sprinters by winning the two major sprints at Royal Ascot. He then became a successful dual hemisphere sire.

Dalray: A great New Zealand stayer who excelled on Australian tracks. In the spring of 1952 he won the Mackinnon Stakes, Melbourne Cup and Queens Plate.

Danehill: One of the biggest influences on modern Australian racing. The dual hemisphere stallion was the leading sire in Australia nine times and also champion sire in France twice and three times in Great Britain and Ireland.

JOCKEYS:

Glen Boss: The winner of 85 Group One races including three Melbourne Cups on Makybe Diva. He has also won three Cox Plate, six Doncasters and two Golden Slippers.

Robert Thompson: The Australian record holder with more than 4000 wins. The 52-year-old Thompson is also an accomplished Group One rider who prefers to ply his trade on the country tracks he loves and lives in Cessnock where he grew up.

TRAINERS:

Brian Mayfield-Smith: Came from Queensland to Sydney in 1976. In the 1980s he won three Sydney premierships, breaking TJ Smith's stranglehold of 33 successive titles.

Harry Telford: He selected a colt at the 1927 NZ yearling sale on behalf of David Davis. When Davis saw the horse he wasn't interested and Telford became the owner and trainer of Phar Lap, the equine hero of the years of the Great Depression.

Jim Moloney: Part of a racing dynasty which continues today, Moloney began his career in 1946. His biggest victories came with mighty sprinter Vain, winner of 121 of 14 starts including the 1969 Golden Slipper.

ASSOCIATES:

Eduardo Cojuangco: The Filipino businessman has made a major investment in Australia as an owner/breeder and proprietor of Gooree Stud.

Bert Lillye: One of Australia's foremost racing journalists who began his career in 1934 and retired 50 years later.

Lillye was known for finding the human angle and writing about the battlers of racing.

Legend:

George Moore: Born in Queensland, George Moore moved to NSW in the 1940s, winning his first feature race, the Metropolitan Handicap in 1946.

The first of his 10 NSW premierships came in 1956-57. He won 119 Group One races, a record that still stands.

Moore was elected to the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1986, and was an inaugural inductee to the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2001.

– AAP

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