'You can have your Winx' - connections remember the astonishing Might And Power

Perhaps it is only fitting that Might And Power, the horse named by owner Nick Moraitis after hearing a church choir sing of the “might and power of Jesus Christ”, died as Easter Sunday dawned.

The 26-year-old Might And Power was rushed from his home at Living Legends to Werribee Equine Centre on Saturday night, having been diagnosed with colic. Despite emergency surgery, he was unable to be saved.

“I got a text this morning saying the big horse had gone and it is a very sad day,” regular rider Jim Cassidy told ANZ Bloodstock News on Sunday. “But there were so many great memories as well and that’s how I’d like to remember him today. He took me places I never thought I’d go.”

The death of Might And Power was, in many ways, the final curtain call for a golden age of racing.

The early to mid 1990s was a halcyon era for Australian racing: think Super Impose , Better Loosen Up, Let’s Elope, Schillaci, Naturalism, Octagonal, Saintly, even Might And Power’s old sparring partner Doriemus. All are gone.

Few remain from that period; among them is the legendary Subzero, now the only Melbourne Cup winner from before 1999 still alive. As good a horse as he was on the track, it is his exploits away from racing that will remain his lasting legacy.

For Might And Power, his legacy will always be linked to his tremendous ability, his dominant, pulverising front-running style that saw him win a Caulfield Cup stylishly, a Melbourne Cup tenaciously and a Cox Plate aggressively. He remains one of only two horses to have won all three of Melbourne’s most prestigious races, alongside Rising Fast.

From Ireland to Britain to New Zealand to Australia

The seeds for the Might And Power story hark back to Britain in 1989, when Listed-placed Irish filly Benediction was sold for
17,000gns at the Tattersalls December Sales. Purchased by Windsor Park Stud principal Nelson Schick, she was shipped to New Zealand, with her first visit to Kaapstad in 1990 producing Miss Priority.

“Benediction was bought on an overseas trip to England by Nelson Schick, co-owner of Windsor Park,” recalled Steve Till, long-time general manager of Windsor Park Stud, to ANZ Bloodstock News.

“She had above-average talent as a racemare being stakes-placed and although she was by an unfashionable stallion Day Is Done she did come from a good branch of a family descending from the great racemare and broodmare Selene, as did our own champion sire Star Way and the great stallion Sir Tristram.”

It was her third New Zealand mating in 1992, when she visited Cambridge Stud’s unproven second-season stallion Zabeel, that resulted in the birth of a bay or brown foal in October, 1993.

“Might And Power resulted from the decision to send Benediction to Zabeel on the share Windsor Park owned in him. We felt that both were at a similar stage in their respective stud careers and, importantly, we felt Zabeel had the right physical attributes to compliment Benediction. We also liked the fact that it was quite a complementary line-breeding mating.

“As a foal and a weanling, Might And Power was taking time to develop and, even as a yearling, he wasn’t quite forward enough to take to the New Zealand yearling sales. As a result, we decided he would be best offered at the Inglis Easter yearling sales in Sydney. He was initially passed in, however, he was sold a short while later to Anthony Cummings for his reserve price of $A40,000.”

Cummings remembers that April day in 1995 when the colt failed to attract sufficient interest, despite the fact that first season sire Zabeel had just produced his first Group 1 winner with Octagonal’s victory in the AJC Sires’ Produce Stakes.

“I’d seen him in the days leading up to the sale,” reminisced Cummings. “I was buying horses for Nick Moraitis and for other people as well. At that stage, they’d finished what they were doing, they’d reached their limit with Inglis and what have you and so I didn’t have a client for him. I bought a few on the way through.

“He was passed in, so I went straight over to where Windsor Park was at stable two. Nelson Schick was there and I did the deal with him. On the way back, I started to think about who I might sell him to. I had seen Nick when I was going over to see the horse and told him I was going over there and he told me to come back and see him.

“In the meantime, I came back and I went over to the Newhaven hospitality tent and I ran into Eric Lucas, and I offered him the horse first. He had a racing manager there, he went over to have a look at it and he came back and told me what was wrong with it. I said, that’s fine, I know all that, but did you stand back and look at the horse? And he hadn’t done that.

“The movement and the style of him to me was very impressive and, sure, there were some faults - he used to dish both legs, you only need to look at his action in the Caulfield Cup, it speaks for itself. He used to do some of that stuff at a walk and when you looked at him front-on, it was a bit of a mess. If you looked at him side-on though and decided that the issues that come from that sort of action wouldn’t be an issue for him in his racing career, given that he had a pedigree that said he’d be at the races at three and four and beyond, those other likely issues became less likely.

“That was the thought process and it turned out to be reasonably accurate.”

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At the same time as Cummings was taking possession of Might And Power, the colourful Cassidy was watching his career fall apart. The “jockey tapes” scandal saw him disqualified for 21 months, not for fixing races but for pretending to fix races. The suspension took effect right in the middle of the 1995 Sydney autumn carnival, too.

“In 1995 and 1996 it was all about the jockey tapes and I got rubbed out, they tried to bury me,” he said. “I couldn’t take a trick. No matter what I did, they just kept rubbing me out. In one respect, it was probably the best thing that happened but they took five or six years off me in suspensions and that was the hardest one. I needed a miracle to get back to the top.”

While Cassidy was sitting on the sidelines, Cummings was preparing the now Moraitis-owned Might And Power for his first racing campaign. Gelded early in his two-year-old days, he was given his name by his new owner after a church service.

“My granddaughter received her first Holy Communion - and the choir was singing about ‘the might and power of Jesus Christ’,” Moraitis told Helen Thomas for her book, A Horse Called Mighty. “And because his mother is Benediction, I said to my partner Judy, ‘That’s a wonderful name for a horse, Might And Power!’ She said, ‘How dare you think of a horse at Mass!’ And I said, ‘It’s an inspiration.’”

He debuted at Canterbury late in his two-year-old career in June 1996, coming from last to finish fourth over 1290-metre in a no metro win event for colts and geldings. On start three, he broke through to win at Randwick over 1400 metres, before he finished second over 1500 metres at Rosehill three days into his three-year-old season.

“The first part of it was about looking after him and keeping him in one piece,” Cummings said. “He was always precocious, he always looked like he was ready to go but we slowed the process down and made sure that he was given the time to cope with those deviations from the norm that he had. We tried to help him to become the racehorse that he ought to have been.

“I had him for his first four starts, he broke his maiden and then ran second at Rosehill. That’s where, in the run, he looked like he was going to win on the turn, but he lost some ground and then he made good ground again on the line. He was a bit shinny coming out of that race, so he had a break after that and came back next time in. After he’d been in work about a month, he went off to Jack’s place.”

Cummings knew he had a potential superstar on his hands, and so he tried to buy Might And Power from Moraitis - without success.

“In the discussion that I had with Nick when his horses were leaving, there were a few in which we shared ownership and he bought me out of those,” he said. “I tried to buy Might And Power, it was the only one, and that didn’t happen. I got Brett Howard to value him for me before I went into the meeting and I offered him double the valuation. I was hoping he would jump at the money but I probably overplayed my hand and suspicion was the order of the day so he hung on to him.

“He may not have been with me after that, but I was pleased to have played some part in him becoming the horse that everyone in Australia knew him to be.”

Pumper and Power become a pair

With Moraitis shifting Might And Power to the shrewd, surly Jack Denham, the connections that would become most associated with the horse were almost in place. However, it was the reappearance of Cassidy soon after his return to the saddle that would be the final piece in the puzzle.

“I rode him trackwork one morning at Jack Denham’s at Rosehill,” Cassidy said. “He told me to trot twice around the B, canter once and then go 1200 three-quarters. I came in and I said, what a horse. I told him I didn’t want to ride this trackwork but I wanted to ride him raceday.”

“Jack ran him at Canterbury in a one-win 1900m and I led on him and he won. Jack then backed him up the next week in a two-win for three and four-year-olds and he won again. Actually, true story, I said to Nick Moraitis after that win that I’d found a Caulfield Cup horse. He said, ‘What is it? I’ll buy it.’ And I told him that he already owned it!”

After those two wins at Canterbury, Might And Power was given his first attempts at stakes company, finishing second to Intergaze in the Canterbury Guineas, run that year at Rosehill, before a disappointing seventh to Tarnpir Lane in the Rosehill Guineas, both under Cassidy.

“I got beaten on him then in both but Jack was trying to get us to ride him back,” he said. “I got suspended on him in the Rosehill Guineas because he was pulling and I shouldered out. Jack put Brian York on him in the Derby and he should have won that day, they rode him back again.

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“He then went to the Frank Packer Plate and he won by six, Brian rode him up on the speed. He was up running second the whole way. And then he came back and he ran in the Show County, the Tramway and the Shannon on his way to the Epsom and again, he should have won the Epsom by lengths but he got beaten. That’s what led to me getting back on him in the Caulfield Cup.”

Never was Might And Power more impressive than that day in 1997 when he won the Caulfield Cup. Ridden on the speed by Cassidy in what was a sparkling ride on a front-runner, he smashed the 2400-metre track record in winning by seven and a half lengths over the 1995 Caulfield and Melbourne Cup winner Doriemus, with two-time Group 1 winner Catalan Opening back in third.

“I knew on the Friday that he’d win the Caulfield Cup, I swear on my three daughters,” he said. “He was weighted to win, he only had 52.5 kilograms, he was unlucky not to win the Epsom and I knew if I rode him up on speed, he’d run 12 to the furlong for the mile and a half. That’s exactly what he did and he broke the course record.

“The way he paraded that day, I’ve never seen a horse parade like that. When I saw him walking around the yard, they were flat hanging onto him. But they didn’t want me to lead - they were adamant that I don’t lead. Jack said to me, whatever you do, don’t lead. Brett Grant, who rode him trackwork, led him in and he goes, ‘Pump, don’t lead or Jack will kill you.’ I said to him, ‘I’m leading at all costs.’ That’s how much confidence I had in the horse.

“Not many jockeys can become one with a horse. When we were out there, he relaxed for me. Other times, he used to race hard and he was fierce, but I could get him to relax enough to run a trip. That was his greatest attribute - he could run time and he could run sectionals, which most can’t do.

“It was one of the best wins I’ve seen from any horse ever. You can have your Winx - she was running around near last against six runners and then she’d come to the outside and win by four. He took on a good handicap field, probably the second hardest handicap to win in Australia, and he demolished them.”

Watch Winx win her four Cox Plates

A mighty Melbourne Cup

Just 17 days later, Might And Power lined up at the top of the Flemington straight, sent out as favourite in the Melbourne Cup on the back of heavy support from some of Australia’s biggest punters, including a rumoured $A2 million wager from Kerry Packer.

Past the post the first time, Cassidy had Might And Power out on the lead. Unlike the Caulfield Cup, though, the pair were under siege from Chicquita Lodge - first by Greg Childs aboard 200-1 outsider Crying Game and then by Cassidy’s own brother Larry, who rode the Gai Waterhouse-trained Linesman.

“Idiots, and both Kiwis too,” Cassidy laughed. “I had Greg Childs come up at the 1200m and he tried to take me on. If you listen to the call, you’ll hear Greg Miles say, ‘Crying Game hard ridden to be up there on his outside’ - I reckon that was the Freedmans sending him along. And then you get to my dopey brother! He fought them off and kicked for home.

“Might And Power wasn’t a two-miler. Anything up to a mile and a half, on his day, he was unbeatable, but the Cup, he did that all on guts and determination and a tremendous will to win.”

After fighting off wave after wave, attack after attack, a challenge loomed that seemed too tough to hold off; storming home out wide was the 1995 Melbourne Cup winner Doriemus, ridden by the inimitable Greg Hall.

At the line, it was too close to call, but Hall was convinced he had won. Raising the whip high into the air, it was one of the all-time great victory salutes. And, in the seconds after the race, Cassidy thought that he’d been beaten.

“On the line, I didn’t think I’d won it,” he said. “When Hally went up, I thought, I’ve been done. I’d done all the hard work and I’d got caught right on the line. I never said a word until I got to Johnny Letts. Once I came towards him, he yelled out, ‘Pump, you’ve won it! You’re in the frame! Number 3!’ And I just thought, oh my god, here we go. Unbelievable.

“After the three went in the frame, I reckon Hally almost fell through his underpants and hung himself. He was gutted, absolutely gutted.

“All honours to the champ, though. Nine out of ten horses would have been beaten, no matter how good they were. After leading and being attacked from the 1200m, it’s just an unbelievable effort. So few horses can win leading all the way in the Melbourne Cup, I can’t think of another one aside from him.”

A strong 1998 saw Might And Power win three Group 1 races through the Sydney autumn and the Brisbane winter, all under Brian York: the Mercedes Classic, the Queen Elizabeth Stakes and the Doomben Cup. Cassidy was reunited with the gelding in the Caulfield Stakes two weeks before the 1998 Cox Plate, ensuring he was sent off as an odds-on favourite.

Cassidy recalls: “I rode Mossman to win the Vase leading into the Derby and I led on him and he broke the course record, he held the record the same day for a couple of hours. So I sat there before the race and I thought to myself, just take everything away.

“Jack said, ‘What are you going to do?’ I said, if he begins good, I lead at all costs, and if he misses the start, I still lead. He was such a big brute in the gates, often he’d fidget around and if he was a bit slow he’d take three or four strides to get going.

“That’s what he did that day, he missed the kick and then I shouldered Tycoon Lil out of the way going out of the straight. I led on him and I really asked him to be a champion that day, because I asked him to run a record and he did, he broke it by two seconds and he held the record until Winx won her second Cox Plate.”

End of an era

A cameo appearance at the Melbourne Cup Carnival that year would prove to be the last time he’d enter the winners’ circle, taking the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

“He raced on the last day of the Melbourne Cup Carnival, the last race he won was the Queen Elizabeth,” he said. “He carried 60 kilograms in a handicap, he was giving the rest of them between nine and ten kilograms and I led on him and he won by seven. A champion’s performance.

“What a team we were. Jack Denham, as much as he was a great trainer and a grumpy sod when he wanted to be, he said to me before he died, ‘Son, at least you gave me something that no one else could.’ And that was that I was the only jockey to give the same trainer and the same owner the Caulfield Cup, the Cox Plate and the Melbourne Cup with the same horse.

“Jack was grumpy and he didn’t like the media, but what a great horse trainer he was. I give him and Allan the utmost respect for what they did with Might And Power. He was hard to train, he was hard-going, he was a big horse and he used to hit the ground really hard so he was a day-to-day prospect in the respect of breaking down. It was just beautiful to get out of him what we did, and then he had a beautiful life afterwards.

“I reckon he had more visitors than most people get at the old people’s home. He was a very popular horse, even in his old age, he was like a ten-year-old. He was an idiot in that he wanted to go 100 miles an hour, even in retirement, but he was smart as well, he had a great affinity with kids.

“I used to go and see him whenever I got the chance. Funny enough, I’ve seen him every year for the last five years, ever since the last year I rode. I saw him in the Melbourne Cup parade and then I’ve seen him at Living Legends. I’ve seen him plenty and he was so well cared for.”

For Cassidy, Might And Power belongs in rarefied territory, alongside a horse who helped to kickstart his career in the late 1970s, New Zealand iron horse Grey Way.

“Might And Power is one of the great horses I’ve seen,” says Cassidy. “When I was just starting out in New Zealand, there was a horse called Grey Way. He was a champion weight-for-age horse running against six or seven champions at the same time, he was running against the Might And Powers and the Winxs every day of the week.

“He won 51 races over a decade, he used to travel backwards to the races in a horse float because he’d injured himself and cut open half his chest. I rode him at the end of his career and he was amazing, because he’d canter down during the preliminaries and he’d turn his head towards the crowd and every time, they’d clap him. He used to shake his head. I got to ride him and I thought, if I never ride a winner, what a thrill to ride a horse that won as many races as he did.

“I’ll never forget that - Grey Way and Might And Power, they are the two special horses of my life. They were both genuine weight-for-age horses but they carried weight in handicaps against some of the best horses around. I rode some great horses, I rode Winx in her first trial, I had that great Melbourne Cup win on Kiwi, but Grey Way and Might And Power are my special two.”

After news filtered through of Might And Power’s death, Cassidy paid his own special tribute to ‘Mighty’.

“I never had many photos of my time and I had one of Grey Way, but the other I have that’s close to me is of Might And Power,” he said. “It is the one when I was coming back after winning the Melbourne Cup and I had closed my hands, looking to the heavens. I looked at that today and there it was, I was looking to the heavens and saying thank you - thank you to the horse, thank you to all the people who helped me get back when I won the Cup. Again, today, I said thank you.”

And so say all of us. Vale Mighty.