New Zealand stables once ambushed the Tancred Stakes with precision like few other Australian Group 1 races during a golden era for Kiwi-trained stayers.
What started as a trickle of winners in the 1970s turned into a torrent over the next decade and continued with the same results into the early 1990s.
They were almost indomitable: true heavyweights of the Australasian staying ranks such as Bonecrusher, Our Poetic Prince, Apollo Eleven and My Blue Denim ruled the Tancred.
Then all of a sudden the rivers paved with Australian weight-for-age gold as a bounty for carefully planned New Zealand raids stopped running.
After 1994, there wasn’t a Kiwi-trained winner of the race until Roger James’ high-class mare Silent Achiever surged through the heavy conditions in 2014.
What transpired during the two decades between Miltak winning for Dave O’Sullivan and Silent Achiever defeating her compatriot Dundeel, perhaps best illustrates the difference in fortunes and philosophies of the thoroughbred industry in Australia and New Zealand.
As prize money dipped in New Zealand, more than ever Kiwi trainers, owners and breeders turned to selling their best bloodstock.
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