There are Slipper winners and there are SLIPPER WINNERS, but only one has ever been crowned Australian Horse of the Year based on what they did in their juvenile season.
Tommy “TJ” Smith was the archetypal “Aussie battler” made good, the kid from the bush who ended up wheeling, dealing and winning - always winning - with the big boys in the big smoke.
Born in Jembaicumbene NSW in 1916 and one of a large family, TJ was the son of a humble working man - lacking in formal education, to his eternal regret - but smart as a whip and instilled from birth with a larger than life character and a dream to rise above the ordinary.
Those were tough years to grow up in. They left their mark on the youngster, and fuelled his burning ambition to leave them behind.
The family lived in financial hardship. TJ worked alongside his dad at various tasks, and they would take on jobs breaking in horses. He dreamed of becoming a famous jockey.
He rode winners at picnic meetings round the Riverina region for his father, who was into training a few nags.
What bloke who knew horses wasn’t, in those days, in the bush? Racing was one of the few forms of entertainment that offered any relief from the daily grind and the endless gloom of war.
Young Tommy gave the dream his best shot. He left home and endured hard times riding in Melbourne and Sydney as a jockey until the age of 20, but always struggled with weight - and while a competent rider, and a brave one, riding over the jumps until a fall broke his hip and ended his career in the saddle - he wasn’t any Frank Dempsey or Fred Foley and he knew it.
But with his characteristic inability to be deterred from a goal, the young Tommy launched Plan B. He would train, not ride, his way to glory!
Smith acquired his licence in 1941, and thanks to wealthy connections he had ridden for in Sydney who owned stables in Cootamundra, he got his first gig as a trainer. He was soon racking up winners and making sure anyone who roamed within earshot knew all about it. But training in the bush soon wore thin - it was time to go back to the city and launch his path to fame in earnest.
Young TJ took with him a horse he had been gifted by his employers in a parting gesture.
“Gifted” was probably debatable. The horse was a rogue and they were, one suspects, overjoyed to see the back of it - but Tommy doubtless relished the challenge. Anyway, it was the only horse he had - and he had supreme faith in his ability to turn this unpromising, well nigh unmanageable individual into a winner!
He named the horse “Bragger” after himself, as that was his nickname, and it was particularly apt for a son of a horse called Windbag!
Of course I had to look up the breeding of old Bragger, this mythical beast that started the entire TJ empire.
Actually, he was a very well bred horse. Magpie's Melbourne Cup winner Windbag stood at Kia-Ora Stud, and Bragger’s dam Demostress was from the family of the imported mare Thalestris, a half sister to the Derby winner Sir Hugo. So he had good genes did Bragger, but unfortunately, he appeared to be a raging nutcase.
Eventually this unruly horse came round to his trainer’s bold, take-no-prisoners approach to life. Perhaps, he was no rogue but just a strong character who needed to be with his own kind. Bragger probably grew to feel that he had found a kindred spirit. It took more than a year of preparation, but the rogue was finally ready to race.
The pair were installed in domestic bliss at TJ's newly rented stables in Kensington. Bragger hung out in his box and Smith lived in the one next door - dreaming, planning and doubtless gazing with satisfaction upon his set of newly registered racing silks. They would become famous and feared, as the green and blue Tulloch Lodge stripes.
Soon Bragger was carrying those silks to victory in thirteen races, giving his trainer his very first G1 winner in the Railway Quality of 1946. Naturally, Smith was backing him at every start and amassing quite the bankroll.
Bragger played a pivotal role in launching the career of an Australian racing legend and without him, it may never have come to pass.
TJ had quickly risen to the very top of the game and once there, not hell nor high water was going to knock the little peacock off his perch. As ever, his personal charm was the equal of his ruthless persistence. It was to get him out of a few less than ideal “situations” with the stewards over the years.
It also won him plenty of supporters, and wise heads soon recognised his ability to judge horseflesh and get the best out of any horse in his stable. He began to receive commissions to purchase horses at sales as well as buying them himself.
TJ's “eye for a horse” was as good as that of his great rival Bart Cummings, and both men would become revered for their ability to pick a future champion out of a paddock or a sale ring where others saw nothing of interest.
At the 1956 NZ National Sale, TJ’s eye was taken by a Khorassan colt and he bought him for 750 Guineas. Then no one among his owners wanted to buy into such a small, plain looking individual.
The trainer had to use all his enthusiastic charm to badger one E A Haley to take him on - well done to that man, he had just bought the immortal Tulloch!
TJ won the first of what would become an unbelievable 33 consecutive Sydney trainer premierships in 1953, but the horses trained out of what would soon become Tulloch Lodge were a dominant national presence.
TJ's horses ran in everything and won everything, and among them were names that will live forever - Tulloch and Kingston Town of course, but what about the likes of Redcraze, Red Anchor and Gunsynd? Fabulous horses.
A race particularly coveted by TJ was Sydney's glamour juvenile contest, the Golden Slipper.
Inaugurated in 1957, it soon became the ultimate bigshot's race with its massive prize purse, aura of prestige and connections to the breeding “establishment.” The boy from the bush resolved to conquer it as he had conquered every other barrier to success.
TJ would win six of the Golden beauties - the first with Fairy Walk in 1971 opened the floodgates. John's Hope saluted the following year, Hartshill in 1974 and Toy Show in 1975. In typical TJ fashion, he didn't stop at conquering - he owned.
His final Slipper winner was Star Watch in 1988, but it was his fifth winner of the great race in 1986 that was dear to Tommy’s heart, probably as dear as the ghost of old Bragger.
Her name was Bounding Away, and she was a spectacular talent. She was also very special to Smith because nobody else could take even an inch of credit for his little superstar.
He bred her, he owned her, he trained her. Nobody since has ever achieved this feat, rightly one of the trainer's proudest accomplishments.
Particularly as she didn't just win the Slipper. Bounding Away was an outright freak. In the lead up to the 1986 Golden Slipper the beautiful grey filly swept all before her. She had bolted in the Blue Diamond Stakes in Melbourne and was the raging favourite to complete the rare juvenile double in Sydney.
On the very eve of the race, a mysterious buyer with deep pockets approached TJ in an attempt to secure the filly for an unheard-of amount of cash at the time - two million dollars (the equivalent of $10 million today).
As if… Bounding Away was the living embodiment of TJ’s “my way or the highway” creed. She was his masterpiece as a breeder, and he had waited years to get one as good as her - one that could win the race he most loved to win. Nobody else would be stealing any of that limelight!
Bounding Away won the Slipper - it was the very first million dollar Slipper - after burning off the good Lunchtime colt Pre Catalan in a titanic battle down the Rosehill straight, and defying the late charge of the filly Just Blooming and Imperial Baron.
She won the Champagne Stakes and was duly crowned Australian Horse Of The Year - a crown no other two year old has ever been deemed worthy to wear.
At three she was back to carry a punishing 57.5kg to victory against the older mares in the G1 Coolmore Classic.
She revealed stamina to match her speed in winning the Flight Stakes and The AJC Oaks - and remains the only filly to achieve the Golden Slipper / Coolmore double.
It was very nearly a filly trained by Tommy's daughter Gai that would equal her achievement.
Uber-competitor TJ liked to needle his daughter at times - doubtless intended as a form of encouragement - as she fought to break barriers of her own while establishing her place in the training ranks. They would argue furiously about training methods. Gai wanted to innovate a bit, but Tommy was adamant his methods could not be improved upon.
One day he famously told Gai, rather scornfully - “ You can't train two year olds.” Well that was fuel to the fire - she was her father's daughter.
Gai didn't just equal TJ's record of six Slipper winners, she eclipsed it. So far her tally stands at eight.
Tommy didn’t live to see any of them - he passed away in 1998 at the ripe old age of 82, and Gai’s first Slipper winner was the great filly Ha Ha in 2001.
But somehow you think he not only secretly believed she would surpass him - he expected it. Didn't he teach her how to train winners? She’d come back to his methods when she got sick of losing!
Ironically, the filly who came closest to equalling Bounding Away’s Slipper / Coolmore double was the Waterhouse /Bott trained Lady Of Camelot.
The daughter of Written Tycoon was second in the Blue Diamond before taking the 2024 Slipper. At three she was placed in the G1 Moir, 4th in The Everest, placed in the G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes and then had the misfortune of meeting champion Lady Shenandoah in the Sydney autumn. Twice she was runner up to that Snitzel filly in the Light Fingers / G1 Surround and was a valiant third, less than a length behind her in the Coolmore Classic. Outstanding performances from an elite filly - but Bounding Away still stands alone.
In every way, TJ achieved his dream of fame and fortune and he always said Bounding Away was the best filly / mare he ever trained.
He adored her. He named stables for her. She was family. Bounding Away's framed photograph was the only “horsey” one permitted in the Smith living room by TJ's devoted wife Valerie!
The stunning steel grey was an immensely strong filly with a bold eye. She was versatile, but liked to lead - where she would live up to her name by unleashing acceleration her rivals could not match, bounding away to the line!
This was a unique thoroughbred. To win the Blue Diamond / Slipper Champagne at two, be the only 2YO in history to win HOTY, and return at three to complete the Slipper / Coolmore double and the Slipper / ATC Oaks double ( both feats still unmatched) is as good as it gets!
Only the late, great Miss Finland comes close with her Slipper / Thousand Guineas / VRC Oaks / Australian Guineas at three - she was second in the Blue Diamond to Nadeem.
As if that wasn't enough record setting, Bounding Away was the first of her sex to break the $1 million dollar prizemoney barrier in Australasia. She retired with the record of 21 starts for 9 wins ( 6 of them G1s) and 6 seconds, with earnings just shy of $1.5 million.
Bounding Away's sire Biscay was bred by Stanley Wootton and foaled at Barramul Stud in 1965. By the imported sire sensation Star Kingdom out of Magic Symbol by Markapura (Big Game), he was a full brother to the stakes winning colts Star Of Heaven and Tattenham.
The powerful chestnut was very much stamped by his dam as much as his famous sire. He stood over more ground than Star Kingdom, and was taller. He was massive in musculature, but had a gentle nature.
Biscay was placed in the stables of legendary trainer of juveniles, Angus Armansco, who declared him a champion before the colt had set foot on the track! Biscay had blistering speed. At two he won the Maribyrnong Plate by eight lengths, the Merson Cooper Stakes and The Debutant Stakes.
He was fourth in the Golden Slipper to Royal Parma and immediately dubbed a “squib” by many. But there was a story behind Biscay's Slipper defeat that most were unaware of.
On the colt's arrival in Sydney, owner / breeder Wootton had imperiously taken over from an infuriated Armansco. He proceeded to train Biscay in a completely different manner - as if he were about to contest the Derby at Epsom - not the helter skelter of a 1200m juvenile sprint.
It's a tribute to Biscay's greatness that he finished as close as he did.
Well, that would be far from the first or last time an owner thought they knew better than the trainer, to the detriment of the horse - no wonder trainers like TJ ruled owners with an iron fist.
After further brilliant wins at three, the star colt retired to stand at his birthplace at Baramul but soon after the stud was dispersed, and he would eventually find his way to Bhima Stud where he would spend the rest of his life.
Due to all of this, Biscay’s first crop was small, but it contained the future G1 winner and champion sire Zephyr Bay, and what would become a far greater horse in Bletchingly - bred by Wootton at Baramul from his Relic mare Coogee.
At the time Biscay went to stud, there was still a widely held attitude that Australian bred sires were somehow innately “inferior” to anything that had been imported ( even if they came from the same bloodlines!).
Thank goodness we outgrew that - and Biscay was one stallion who did more than most to level the playing field.
By the time TJ sent his broodmare Who Can Say - a daughter of the all conquering filly sire Sovereign Edition - to visit Biscay at Bhima, the great stallion was almost twenty and battling chronic navicular disease.
His legacy was assured. Bletchingly and Zephyr Bay ( who held the 1000m track record at Randwick for thirty five years) were leading sire sons.
He had already sired G1 winning fillies Biscadale ( 1,000 Guineas), Shaybisc ( AJC Sires Produce) and dual Oaks heroine Lowan Star.
His Golden Slipper winning colt Marscay was kicking off an incredible stud career, and juvenile stakes winners like Biscarina, Blue And Gold, King Hadrian, Magic Beam and Nassau were blazing across Australian racetracks on a regular basis.
At the time of Bounding Away's conception, Bletchingly's immortal son Kingstown Town was not long gone from Tulloch Lodge. Nobody had developed a keener appreciation for the merits of the Biscay blood than Tommy.
So it was a no-brainer to send the G2 SAJC Sires Produce winner Who Can Say to the great Bhima sire, though her first foal ( unsurprisingly) was by Bletchingly himself. That was a filly, born in NZ named Winning Hauk, but the mating didn't produce the desired result.
Bounding Away was Who Can Say's very next offering. The mare passed through several homes after that, and produced the excellent filly Don't Stop Talking ( Ahonoora) who became a great producer, during her time at Arrowfield.
From that mare came stakes winning daughters Blab ( Flying Spur) and Miss Dodwell ( Falbrav) - both G1 producers and founders of highly successful and commercial families.
Who Can Say was one of three stakes winners from the French-bred Zurycida, a daughter of Nasrullah's great sprinting son Zucchero, who would make his mark in Australia through the deeds of another of his daughters Zoom - the ancestress of Audrey Joan, who became the dam of the excellent sire and broodmare sire Prego and his half sisters, the influential mares Pure Of Heart ( dam of Lion Hunter) and River Dane - brilliant speed sources all!
It's not difficult to see why he singled out the NZ- bred Who Can Say as a mare he would purchase to chase his Slipper dream!
Bounding Away was inbred within five generations only on the dam’s side of her pedigree.
She thus carried the patterns
Nasrullah x 5m, 3m
Donatello x 5f, 5m sex balanced
Her dam Who Can Say was also bred 5m x 5f,5m to Blenheim, the sire of both Donatello and of Nasrullah's dam Mumtaz Begum - additionally, she was 5f x 5m to Hyperion through her ancestress, the high class Alycidon daughter Orycida.
Birth Child was inbred sex balanced to two Blue Hens, La Fleche and Pleasanterie.
How did this interact with Biscay to beget a champion?
Birth Child was bred to full brother and sister John O’Gaunt and Baronin, sired by Isinglass (Isonomy) and out of the freakish filly La Fleche by Ladas.
Her sire Birthright was out of a mare by Tracery ( Rock Sand x Pleasanterie's daughter Topiary by the Bend Or grandson Orme) and her ancestress Only Child was by Childwick (St Simon x Pleasanterie) and sex balanced St Simon.
Biscay's third dam Conveyer was bred 5f x 4f to the St Simon daughter Simonath through her two sons sired by Tracery, Papyrus and Flamboyant. She carried lines to the Isonomy son Janissary and two of his best daughters via the champion Lemberg.
Star Kingdom's grand dam Thoughtless was by Papyrus from Virgin’s Folly by John O Gaunt's famous son Swynford.
His damsire Concerto was by Orpheus, tail male Bend Or and descendant of Contessina ( from the wider family of Pleasanterie) , all of which would very much pick up on the Blue Hen duplications carried on Bounding Away's female line.
The sex balance of Hyperion also found in Bounding Away’s dam was of course Biscay’s own tail male line coming through Stardust, who was sex balanced to Isonomy including via his grandsire Cicero (Bend Or line x Isonomy x the mare Gas - a three quarter sister to Ladas, the dam of La Fleche.
Additionally, Biscay's damsire Markapura was a son of Big Game ( Swynford tail male and a close relation to Hyperion).
Alycidon was so important as his dam was out of a Hyperion x Swynford mare!
Biscay’s damline (2-0) went back to the fine grey mare Teheran - a three quarter sister to the famous “Spotted Wonder ” The Tetrarch.
That oddly marked grey champion would become a breedshaper, primarily through his flying daughter and epochal broodmare Mumtaz Mahal dam of My Babu's damsire Badruddin, ancestress of Nasrullah, Mahmoud and Royal Charger.
Biscay's damsire Markapura was by Big Game ( out of a mare by The Tetrarch son Tetratema) and his second damsire Newtown Wonder was by family relation Fair Trial. These are the nicks that combined with the Nasrullah blood in Who Can Say to create extraordinary speed..
The history of the great Bounding Away at stud, is at first blush, quite depressing.
She was a difficult breeder and produced only two foals over a period of years.
The first was for Tommy - Bounding Again, by Twig Moss. She never got to the track.
She had five fillies by leading sires such as Testa Rossa, Bel Esprit and Snippets but most of them never raced or went to stud.
After that inauspicious beginning and with her continued inability to get in foal, TJ gave up on breeding with Bounding Away himself and literally gave her away.
Six years after birthing her first foal, Bounding Away was carrying one by the Soviet Star son Ashkalani, and in 1999 she delivered another filly.
From one extreme to the other - this daughter became the G1 winner In A Bound. Gai would train her to victory in the 2004 Queen Of The Turf Stakes!
On retirement In A Bound was acquired by Godolphin and exported to the USA in 2007, after producing one foal in Australia, a filly by More Than Ready named Leap. She never raced and was served by Testa Rossa for her first foal - but was sadly gone within the year.
Bounding Away herself was covered twice by an early Japanese-bred stallion on the Australian scene in Bubble Gum Fellow but failed to conceive, and was retired from breeding in 2004.
The date of this legendary Australian thoroughbred’s passing is not recorded in the studbook.
A change of fortune for Bounding Away’s family at stud was sorely needed - would it come in the US? There, In A Bound visited both Street Cry and his son Street Sense. Thankfully, she produced daughters to both of them.
In 2009 Calle Flora (Street Sense) arrived. She was exported back to Australia and has set about filly production with a vengeance! Her first four foals were for Godolphin and were all winners - the best of them the filly Handspun ( Bernardini) was retained and is the dam of fillies by Exceed And Excel, a colt (as yet unraced) by Bivouac named Ultrafine and last year she produced another filly to Victor Ludorum.
Calle Flora's daughters Lavande (Exceed And Excel) and Lanova ( Shooting To Win) are young mares at stud. Her 2021 filly, the beautifully named Bloomin Hell ( Hellbent) is still racing
Calle Flora is still at stud and her most recent foals are a colt and a filly by Tiger Of Malay.
Or - if you've got the megabucks - perhaps consider this gem from Bounding Away’s immediate family.
Inglis Easter Lot 117 presented by Newgate Farm ( as agent for Newgate / Goree Joint Venture)
A precious filly by supersire Extreme Choice, out of Northern Meteor's outstanding G1 Flight Stakes heroine Speak Fondly - who was also a three time G2 winner at two and placed in the G1 Golden Rose at three.
