Greatest Caulfield Guineas Winners of All Time: Top 10

Who are the greatest Caulfield Guineas winners of all time? From Tulloch and Ajax to Manikato, Vain and Surround, The Sporting Base ranks the top 10 horses to win Caulfield’s spring classic for three-year-olds, ahead of the 2026 running on Saturday 10 October.

The Caulfield Guineas is one of the biggest tests of the spring for Australia’s best three-year-olds. Run over 1600m at set weights and now worth $3 million, it has a habit of finding horses who go on to dominate on the track and at stud. As racing.com noted on Monday 5 October, the mile classic has produced legendary stallions such as Redoute’s Choice, Lonhro, Starspangledbanner, The Autumn Sun and Anamoe.

The honour roll goes much deeper than that. Nine of the 10 horses on our list are members of the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. The order is TSB’s opinion. The results, margins and career figures come from official records and reputable reporting.

How we ranked them

We looked at four things: how each horse won the Guineas (the margin and the quality of the horses it beat), what it achieved over the rest of its racing career, its standing in racing history, including Hall of Fame membership, and its influence at stud. Comparing a 1930s champion with a modern colt is never exact, so this is a judgement call rather than a formula.

1. Tulloch (1957)

Trainer: T.J. Smith
Jockey: George Moore
Guineas result: Won by eight lengths as a 2-7 favourite
Career: 53 starts, 36 wins

Tulloch came to Caulfield fresh from winning the AJC Derby, where he took two seconds off Phar Lap’s race record. Sent out at 2-7 in the Guineas, he won by eight lengths, as The Age recalled. The next Saturday, with Neville Sellwood aboard and only 48kg on his back, he won the Caulfield Cup in race-record time. A serious illness then kept him off the track for two years, but Smith and vet Percy Sykes brought him back from near death, and he won the 1960 Cox Plate in race-record time. George Moore, who rode him in 19 of his 36 wins, put it simply: “Tulloch was the best — the best by far.”

2. Ajax (1937)

Trainer: Frank Musgrave
Guineas result: Beat Avenger by a neck as a 5-4 favourite, lowering the course record
Career: 46 starts, 36 wins

Ajax led his rivals a merry dance in the 1937 Guineas. He was well clear rounding the turn, held off a late charge from Avenger by a neck and lowered the course record by a quarter of a second, according to the race report of the day. It was a sign of things to come. Ajax went on to win 18 races in a row, as racing.com recounted, including the 1938 Cox Plate and the first of three straight All Aged Stakes. His streak ended in the 1939 Rawson Stakes, when he was beaten by Spear Chief at odds of 40-1 on, which TTR AusNZ calls probably the most famous boilover in Australian racing. He is a member of the Hall of Fame.

3. Manikato (1978)

Trainer: Bob Hoysted
Jockey: Gary Willetts
Guineas result: Won by a length and three-quarters from Karaman
Career: 47 starts, 29 wins

Manikato won the Blue Diamond and Golden Slipper double in the autumn of 1978 for Bon Hoysted, who died suddenly after the Slipper, leaving his brother Bob to train the champion. The Guineas was one of the most controversial in the race’s history. Willetts forced his way out of a pocket near the turn, unbalancing Karaman, and Manikato went on to win by a length and three-quarters. Stewards dismissed the protest but later suspended Willetts for 12 weeks, as Max Presnell recounted. Manikato then won the William Reid Stakes five years in a row (1979 to 1983) and became only the second Australian horse to earn more than $1 million. He is buried at Moonee Valley, and the Group 1 Manikato Stakes is named after him.

4. Vain (1969)

Trainer: Jim Moloney
Jockey: Pat Hyland
Guineas result: Beat Daryl’s Joy, who went on to win the 1969 Cox Plate
Career: 14 starts, 12 wins

Vain won the 1969 Golden Slipper, then won six of his seven starts at three, including the Guineas against Daryl’s Joy, who won the Cox Plate later that spring. His most famous performance was a 12-length win against older horses in the Craven ‘A’ Stakes at Flemington, carrying more than weight-for-age. Bart Cummings said, as TTR AusNZ reported: “I don’t think I have ever known or seen a 3-year-old that could make top-class horses look as mediocre as he does.” Vain was retired with a leg problem, became Australia’s champion sire in 1983/84 and sired Golden Slipper winners Sir Dapper and Inspired.

5. Surround (1976)

Trainer: Geoff Murphy
Jockey: Alan Trevena
Guineas result: Won by two and a half lengths from Family Of Man
Career highlights: Cox Plate, VRC Oaks, AJC Oaks and Queensland Oaks; Australian Horse of the Year

Surround is still the last filly to win the Caulfield Guineas, and she did it the hard way, coming from worse than midfield to run down Family Of Man, who won the Cox Plate a year later. She then won the 1976 Cox Plate by three lengths in track-record time, with Peter Cook in the saddle because Trevena could not make the weight. As Breednet notes, she remains the only three-year-old filly to win the Cox Plate, and she added three Group 1 Oaks in the same season. She was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2014.

6. Lonhro (2001)

Trainer: John Hawkes
Jockey: Darren Gauci
Guineas result: Won from last on the home turn
Career: 35 starts, 26 wins, 11 Group 1 wins

Known as “the black flash”, Lonhro produced one of the great Guineas wins, sweeping around a big field from last on the home turn. It was the first of his 11 Group 1 wins, which also included two Caulfield Stakes, the Mackinnon Stakes and a famous 2004 Australian Cup. He was champion three-year-old in 2001/02 and Australian Horse of the Year in 2003/04. At stud he was champion sire in 2010/11 and sired Pierro, among many other top-class horses, before his death in 2024. He is a member of the Hall of Fame.

7. Red Anchor (1984)

Trainer: T.J. Smith
Jockey: Mick Dittman
Guineas result: Won by three lengths as the even-money favourite
Career highlights: Caulfield Guineas, Cox Plate and Victoria Derby in 1984; Australian champion racehorse 1984/85

Few three-year-olds have had a spring like Red Anchor’s. The New Zealand-bred colt won the Guineas by three lengths, then won the Cox Plate, again under Dittman, and the Victoria Derby for T.J. Smith, who also trained Tulloch. He was named Australian champion racehorse for 1984/85, and no horse has won the Caulfield Guineas and the Cox Plate in the same spring since. For the weight-for-age championship’s all-time best, see our ranking of the greatest Cox Plate winners. Red Anchor was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2021.

8. Mahogany (1993)

Trainer: Lee Freedman
Jockey: Greg Hall
Guineas result: Won by a length and a half from Port Watch
Career: 43 starts, 19 wins, eight Group 1 wins

The VRC calls Mahogany arguably the most versatile elite racehorse of the last 50 years, and his record backs it up. In the same spring he won the Guineas and then the Victoria Derby by five lengths, and in the autumn he added the Australian Guineas and the AJC Derby. Freedman said: “To be fair, he was so far above those other three-year-olds; his form just carried him through.” Mahogany ran second to Octagonal in the 1995 Cox Plate and later became a top sprinter, winning the Lightning Stakes twice. He was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025.

9. Luskin Star (1977)

Trainers: Max Lees (two-year-old season), Bart Cummings (three-year-old season)
Guineas result: Won for Bart Cummings after his transfer from Max Lees
Career: 17 starts, 13 wins

Newcastle’s “Colt from the Coalfields” won the 1977 Golden Slipper by seven lengths for Max Lees and jockey John Wade, then completed the two-year-old Triple Crown of the Slipper, AJC Sires’ Produce and Champagne Stakes by a combined 16 lengths. A syndicate headed by Robert Sangster then bought him and moved him to Bart Cummings, and he won the Caulfield Guineas the following spring. Lees said after the horse’s death in 2002, as The Sydney Morning Herald reported: “I’ll never get another horse like Luskin Star and I doubt that Australian racing will ever again see a two-year-old as great as what he was.” He is a member of the Hall of Fame.

10. Redoute’s Choice (1999)

Trainer: Rick Hore-Lacy
Jockey: Jim Cassidy
Guineas result: Beat Testa Rossa in the final metres
Career: 10 starts, five wins, four Group 1 wins

Redoute’s Choice won the Blue Diamond at only his second start and the Manikato Stakes first-up at three, then beat his great rival Testa Rossa in a thrilling Guineas finish before adding the C.F. Orr Stakes in the autumn. His racing career was short, but his influence on the race is unmatched. He was Australia’s champion sire three times and sired 163 stakes winners, including the 2005 Guineas winner God’s Own and the 2018 winner The Autumn Sun. In 2025 The Autumn Sun’s son Autumn Boy won the Guineas, completing three generations of winners from the same line. Redoute’s Choice died at Arrowfield Stud in 2019.

Honourable mentions

Heroic (1924): won the 1926 Cox Plate, later became a champion sire and is a Hall of Fame member.
Hydrogen (1951): a 26-race winner who won the Cox Plate in 1952 and 1953, and was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2025.
The Autumn Sun (2018): won by four and a half lengths as an 8-11 favourite, one of his five Group 1 wins, and later sired Autumn Boy.
Anamoe (2021): won the Guineas for James Cummings and Damien Oliver, then won the 2022 Cox Plate.

The 2026 Caulfield Guineas

The 2026 Caulfield Guineas is on Saturday 10 October over 1600m at Caulfield, worth $3 million. A field of 11 has been drawn, made up of 10 colts and one gelding, Blind Raise, according to Breednet. Guineas Prelude winner Blind Raise has drawn barrier two with Blake Shinn, while Golden Rose winner Warwoven makes his Melbourne debut from barrier six with Rachel King. Chris Waller has four runners, Tron Bolt, Diameter, Central Europe and Somethings Burnin’, as he chases a fifth Guineas and a third in a row after Private Life (2024) and Autumn Boy (2025). See the full Caulfield Guineas field, barriers and jockeys.

Follow every runner on Guineas day with TSB’s free Racing Form Guide, or download the TSB app on iPhone or Android.

Gamble responsibly.

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