Toparoa
New Zealand thoroughbred racehorse
Toparoa (foaled 1948) was a New Zealand bred thoroughbred racehorse that was most notable for winning the 1955 Melbourne Cup.
01Melbourne Cup
Toparoa started as the 6/1 second favourite in the 1955 Melbourne Cup. Holding favouritism at 2/1 was future Hall of Fame champion Rising Fast who was attempting to go back-to-back after winning the race in 1954.
Rising Fast carried the top weight of 10 stone (63.5 kilograms), whilst Toparoa with jockey Neville Sellwood carried just 7 stone 8 pound (48 kilograms).
Toparoa was able to hold off the fast finishing Rising Fast to win the race by three quarters of a length and give trainer T J Smith his first winner of the Melbourne Cup. Sellwood was subsequently suspended for two months for causing interference to Rising Fast during the race, however controversy followed when no protest was lodged and Toparoa remained the winner.
02Pedigree
| Sire Massowa (GB) 1939 |
Massine (FR) 1920 |
Consols | Doricles |
|---|---|---|---|
| Console | |||
| Mauri | Ajax | ||
| La Camargo | |||
| Evangeline (GB) 1933 |
Press Gang | Hurry On | |
| Fifinella | |||
| Daughter-in-Law | Son-in-Law* | ||
| Clerical Error | |||
| Dam Miss Sally (NZ) 1937 |
Posterity (GB) 1926 |
Son-in-Law* | Dark Ronald |
| Mother in Law | |||
| Hemlock | Spearmint | ||
| Keystone | |||
| Miss Thespian (NZ) 1925 |
Thespian | Absurd | |
| Leta | |||
| Sea Elf | Seaton Delaval | ||
| St Evelyn |
* Toparoa is inbred 4S x 3D to the stallion Son-in-Law, meaning that he appears fourth generation on the sire side of his pedigree and third generation on the dam side of his pedigree.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Toparoa”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
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