A great New Zealand sprinter, Mr Tiz was admired as a speedster that won multiple NZ features, but his Galaxy win in Australia was phenomenal

MR TIZ was a champion New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse best known for his three consecutive wins in the Railway Stakes (1200 metres) at Ellerslie, the country's premier sprint race for thoroughbreds. Mr Tiz remains the only horse to have ever achieved this feat. Furthermore, he also won New Zealand's other major sprint race, the Telegraph Handicap (1200 metres) on two occasions. Trained at Matamata by Dave and Paul O'Sullivan, the gelding was bred in Australia by International Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. He raced 36 times for 17 wins, two seconds and six-thirds. Dave O'Sullivan, one of the most successful trainers in New Zealand racing history, labelled Mr Tiz "the greatest racehorse I've ever trained".

MR TIZ by BLETCHINGLY (Biscay) from the dam, YIR TIZ (Bismark II), won 17 of his 36 starts and headed the 1990, 1991 and 1992 Australasian 4YO+ Classifications in the 1000 metres and 1200 metres category. Selected and purchased by trainer Dave O’Sullivan at the NZ National Sales for $110,000, he was raced by Sir James and Lady Fletcher, Wilson Jolly and Colin Reynolds. 

Mr Tiz showed his potential from very early in his career, being placed in his first two starts before a maiden win at Paeroa at his third raceday appearance. He won four-in-a-row from March 1988 and from there, his career took off. He won the Hawke's Bay Guineas in just the fourth start of his career. But it was as a four-year-old, in the 1988–89 season, that his true ability was observed. He dead-heated with another excellent New Zealand sprinter, WESTMINSTER, in the Railway ridden by Lisa Cropp. Three weeks later he won his first Telegraph with Lance aboard, completing a rare Railway/Telegraph double. Incredibly, in winning the Telegraph, he also dead-heated, this time with FESTAL. Two dead-heats in a row in major features is virtually unheard of, but they still count.

He won both races again in the 1989–90 season after two average runs on Heavy Sydney tracks, and completed his unprecedented Railway treble in 1991. That win has been claimed as one of the greatest sprint victories in New Zealand. Carrying 59 kg, Mr Tiz was severely checked and all but fell at about the 600-metre mark, and went to the back of the field. Yet from that impossible position, under a huge weight - and in a sprint race - Mr Tiz, ridden by regular jockey Lance O'Sullivan, stormed along the rail to win. The style of the win was labelled, "absolutely unforgettable”. Later in the month, he finished second in the Telegraph to VAIN SOVEREIGN (52kg), carrying a crushing 60.5 kg - a handicap weight given due to his brilliance. Another victory would follow in the Gr.1 Lion Brown Sprint at Te Rapa, before defeating MICKEY'S TOWN in the Ellerslie Stakes over 1400m.

Three months later came arguably his greatest performance. Unlike stayers, few New Zealand sprinters cross the Tasman and achieve success against the best Australian sprinters in their own backyard. In April 1991, Mr Tiz won The Gr.1 Galaxy in Sydney, one of the premier sprint races in Australia. Just like the Railway victory a few months beforehand, what made this win more remarkable was the manner in which he won the race.

Near the back of the field at the home turn, and seemingly in a hopeless position with 300 metres to run, Mr Tiz showed a breathtaking turn of foot and made up an extraordinary amount of ground to record one of the greatest wins on Australian soil - second last with few gaps behind a wall of horses, Lance booted him along the rails but there was zero room to move - he was trapped. He managed to punch his way wider and finally find space on the outside very late, before powering up and absolutely storming home. It was potentially one of the finest sprint wins by any Kiwi horse to have ever crossed the ditch. His trainer, Dave O'Sullvan, recounts: "I still can't believe how he won the Galaxy. He had 10 horses in front of him and he nearly fell trying to make his run. It was incredible.

He would return home and run 2nd to the brilliant ROUGH HABIT In thr Gr.2 Regency (1400m) at Trentham, beaten by a big margin. In the last start of his career, Mr Tiz finished third in the Gr.1 Gadsden Stakes at Flemington in November 1991.

Mr Tiz could have achieved so much more across the Tasman, reflected by his high class New Zealand victories. He is well considered a champion in his class. He was honoured with a race carrying his name at Ellerslie, the scene of his historic Railway treble. The Mr Tiz Trophy is formerly a listed stakes race for three-year-old horses over 1200m. It was run on the third and final day of Auckland Cup Week, once considered the most prestigious week of racing on the New Zealand calendar. It is now the Almanzor Trophy. Mr Tiz had his own paddock at Wexford close by the main stable block and his retirement there lasted more than 15 years. Mr Tiz died 30 January 2014, at the age of 29

RACE RECORD - 36:17-2-6

EARNINGS - $909,276

Hawkes Bay Guineas (1987)

Railway Stakes (1989, 1990, 1991)

Telegraph Handicap (1989, 1990)

The Galaxy (1991)

Ellerslie Stakes (1991)

Waikato Sprint (1991)

New Zealand Racing Hall of Fame (2014)