Wenona Girl won fifteen races now classified as Group 1 - a statistical record unmatched by any other mare in Australian racing history.

Biography

TRAINER: Maurice McCartin

OWNERS:W. Longworth

RACE RECORD/STAKE MONEY: 68 starts: 27 wins, 19 seconds, 7 thirds/$70,825

Major Wins 

• AJC and VRC Sires' Produce Stakes
• VATC One Thousand Guineas
• Lightning Stakes (twice)
• Futurity Stakes
• Flight Stakes
• George Main Stakes

About

Universally recognized as one of Australia's great race mares, Wenona Girl excelled as a sprinter miler, but she also had the stamina to win over a mile and a half. Not only did she have a champion's racing ability, but her chestnut coat, flowing golden mane and tail, immediately captivated racegoers. To those in Sydney, where she achieved eighteen of her twenty seven wins, she was known simply as "The Girl".

In 1960 Wenona Girl won both the VRC and AJC Sires' Produce Stakes, and finished second in the Golden Slipper Stakes. In the spring she took out the Hobartville Stakes and Rosehill Guineas in Sydney, and the Thousand Guineas and Wakeful stakes in Melbourne. In the VRC Oaks she could only manage third, but the following autumn she won the AJC Oaks.

In 1962 she won the C.F.Orr Stakes at Caulfield and in 1963 a succession of major races - the George Main and Gloaming Stakes In Sydney, the Lightning Sakes, Futurity Stakes, Linlithgow stakes and George Adams Handicap in Melbourne. She was still a major force at six, winning her second Lightning Stakes and AJC All Aged Stakes at her last start.

Throughout her career Wenona Girl had to contend with another champion of the turf, Sky High. On 20 different occasions they met, with Sky High taking the honours in six of those races, including the Golden Slipper, and Wenona Girl in five.

Wenona Girl was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2008.

Image Source: News Ltd/Newspix