Windbag: The 1925 Cup

The sire was Magpie. They called the bay colt, his son, Windbag – a humorous name, if unkind. But when a horse becomes a champion, any name sounds musical. Windbag was a champion.

His Melbourne Cup victory in 1925, exactly one hundred years ago this year, was his crowning achievement. To win the Cup, he had to carry the weight of 9 stone 2 pounds, or just over 58 kilograms. Few horses have won the race carrying more. Windbag was ridden by Jim Munro, aged 19 at the time. He crossed the finishing line just ahead of Manfred, one of the most renowned racehorses of that era. And Windbag also set a new race record.

Windbag won in front of a Flemington crowd exceeding 105,000, and, for the first time, a live commentary of the Melbourne Cup was broadcast over the pioneering radio station 3AR. Few families owned this new piece of technology at the time, but people crowded into Victorian radio stores hoping to listen. Radio enthusiasts as far away as Tasmania and Adelaide were able to increase the Cup Day audience.

Like many Melbourne Cup winners, Windbag came from New South Wales. His story has been retold many times, fitting into the rags-to-riches category. Percy Miller had started his career as
a wholesale butcher in Sydney before venturing into the world of racehorses. He bred Windbag early in his ownership of Kia-Ora Stud at Scone, and offered him for sale at the 1923 Inglis Yearling Sales.

Few buyers were interested. New Zealand breeder Ian Duncan bid 150 guineas at the fall of the hammer, but, upon inspecting the yearling more closely the next day, experienced buyer’s remorse. Robert Miller, Percy’s brother, was present and offered to buy the yearling himself for the same sum. Ugly ducklings and swans come to mind. Robert Miller relished the successes that followed.

Windbag did all his early races in Sydney, trained by the former New Zealand jockey-turned-trainer, George Price. Unplaced in six of his first seven starts as a two-year-old, he finally found his form. From then on, he was unplaced only twice. His career statistics eventually stood at 18 wins and 10 minor placings. He won ten weight-for-age races in Sydney over two years and was hailed by turf reporters as the best racehorse in Australia since Carbine.

Windbag’s success helped elevate his imported sire, Magpie, into one of Australia’s most sought-after stallions. Magpie himself had been a top-class racehorse. In England, he had won at Newmarket and finished second in the classic Two Thousand Guineas before being imported to Australia. He raced seven more times, securing three wins, including the Caulfield and Melbourne Stakes (a precursor to the VRC Champion Stakes).

Many of Magpie’s outstanding offspring carried more flattering names than Windbag. There was Talking, Loquacious, Jacko, and Amounis. But it was Windbag who got the reputation going. By the early 1930s, Percy Miller was sending over 100 yearlings annually to the Sydney sales. After Magpie, Miller built on Kia-Ora’s success with stallions like Pantheon and Midstream, until his death in 1948.

Windbag, in turn, achieved great success at stud, this time in Victoria. A.G. Hunter acquired him from Robert Miller at the end of his racing career. Alec Hunter had established Northwood Park on the Goulburn River as a breeding ground for top-quality trotters. Years later, after the Second World War, he became the first
chairman of Victoria’s Trotting Control Board, and his name is honoured in harness racing with the prestigious A.G. Hunter Cup. He also served as president of the Royal Agricultural Society and was a committee member of the Victoria Racing Club.

Just as Magpie helped make Kia-Ora famous, Windbag established Northwood Park’s reputation as a thoroughbred stud. Windbag’s numerous progeny included Bragger, who launched trainer T.J. Smith
on his legendary career; Chatham, the weight-for-age star of the early 1930s; Liberal, who (for Hunter) won the 1932 Caulfield Guineas and Victoria Derby; Northwind, the winner of the 1936 Caulfield Cup; Topical, victorious in the 1933 Australian Cup and third in Hall Mark’s Melbourne Cup; and Winooka, who won a Futurity and a Doncaster Handicap before racing and winning in America.

When Windbag died in 1944, aged 23, the Hunters buried him at Northwood Park. His grave was later maintained by subsequent owners Barry and Midge Griffiths, who themselves enjoyed enormous racing success with champions like Mannerism, Northwood Plume, and the 1989 Melbourne Cup winner, Tawriffic. In
2006, Northwood Park was acquired by Sheikh Mohammed’s Darley Stud operation. Windbag’s memorial headstone still stands  there today, where magpies sing.