The Mick Robins-trained Rain Lover belongs to a select band of stallions that have won two or more Melbourne Cups.

Biography

TRAINER: Mick Robbins

OWNERS: Mr C.A. Reid.  Trainers: Grahame Heagney; M.L. 'Mick' Robins

RACE RECORD/STAKE MONEY: 46 starts: 17 wins, 17 placings/$188,651

About

Like many great stayers, Rain Lover was slow to find a winning way in his races. At his fifth start as a two-year-old he beat a moderate field over a mile at Morphettville. It was not until his autumn three-year-old preparation that he began to show his real potential, running second in the South Australian St Leger and then realising an easy two-and-a-half length win in the 1968 Adelaide Cup.

Rain Lover had a solid lead-up for the 1968 Melbourne Cup with placings in the Craiglee, Underwood and Caulfield Stakes, and a win in the Mackinnon Stakes. In the Cup he decimated his rivals, winning by a record equalling eight lengths and at the same time clipping four tenths of a second off the course and Australian record.

Rain Lover’s second Cup in 1969 was no runaway win but came after a hard grinding battle down the straight to win by a head.

His final preparation in the autumn of 1970 was memorable for his titanic match race with Big Philou in which he went down by a half head. A fortnight later he reversed the decision when he beat Big Philou in the Autumn Stakes at Randwick.

When he was retired from the track soon thereafter, Rain Lover had 17 wins and 17 placings from 46 starts for prize money of $188,651 – second then only to Tulloch in the list of Australian money winners.

Image Source: Copyright: Australian Racing Museum Collection