Tommy Smith never imagined the tiny pony purchased in 1956 would become a racing legend

This is the extraordinary story of the great thoroughbred TULLOCH, who would come to known as "Haleys Comet," the virtually unwanted yearling who rose to greatness with the support of Australia's most flamboyant trainer, and a contrasting, dogged owner who often clashed about what was best for their horse. It's more than a story about a great racehorse, who was one of the best ever to grace Australia's turf and often mentioned in the same breath as PHAR LAP and CARBINE.

He won at distances from 5 furlongs (1000m) to 2 miles (3200m), established Australian records at 10 furlongs (1960 Cox Plate) and 12 furlongs (1957 Caulfield Cup), and took two full seconds off Phar Lap's 28-year-old record for the AJC Derby. As a three-year-old Tulloch won 14 of his 16 starts before he was struck down by a virus which kept him off the racing scene for almost two years. He returned to racing as an autumn five-year-old and won 15 of his last 24 races.

It's a tale about the characters behind the scenes - his trainer, the legendary Tommy Smith - his owner EA Haley - the jockeys, such as George Moore and Neville Sellwood, who rode him and the his strapper and track rider, Lem Bann, a song 'n dance man who whistled his way into Tulloch's heart. His race record and the amount of travel involved is the stuff of legends. Few horses possess the requisite fortitude and resilience to endure the rigorous demands and challenges associated with such intensive racing, but TULLOCH did.

TULLOCH was a small bay/brown colt foaled in 1954 in New Zealand at Trelawney Stud, Cambridge. He was by the good racehorse and sire, KHORASSAN, out of the race winner, FLORIDA (by Salmagundi). Khorassan (IRE) was the sire of 18 stakes winners with 65 stakes wins, mostly in NZ, bred by the Aga Khan and was out of the Nearco mare, NAISHAPUR, who had run second behind Lord Derby’s Sun Stream in the English Oaks Florida was also the dam of TALLAHASSEE LASSIE, but her wins to starts ratio was none too flash as those four wins had come from sixty starts before she was retired to stud in 1953.

Tulloch was purchased as a yearling in 1956 at the Trentham Yearling Sales for 750 guineas by T.J Smith as a potential future derby prospect and was surprised when he came to hand so early in the season. Many considered the horse small, hollow backed and weedy, and unlikely to ever amount to much. Almost three months after the sales, Smith still hadn’t found a buyer. He in turn offered the colt to EA. Haley who thought Tulloch's clever breeding offered a bright future. Although small (he would never be much more than 15.2 hands) the colt boasted a beautiful game head and powerful neck and was possessed of a magnificent walking action.

This keen appraisal of talent would serve to produce a remarkable return for the original investment. Tulloch went on to win £110,000 in career earnings, almost 50 times his purchase price. Winning those same races today would be the equivalent of $5.6 million. Between 1956 and 1961, Tulloch was a dominant force in the racing world down under. His only significant setback was a 7th place finish in the 1960 Melbourne Cup, where he carried the heavy weight of 64kg and endured a challenging ride from the jockey Selwood who put the horse 60L last at the start of the race. It was the geldings only non place finish within his entire career. Tulloch possessed an incredible turn of foot and high crusing speed. Once he charged for the line few could match the acceleration and swift pace.

Tulloch, one of most notable horses in Australian racing history, derived his name from the Scottish town where the mother of its owner, E.J. Haley, originated. Tulloch achieved numerous remarkable feats, setting a precedent that only a select few thoroughbred horses have managed to match or surpass, guided by his legendary trainer, a defining man of genius in post-war Australian racing who would change the methods of training racehorses forever. He oversaw Tulloch to a career race record of 36 wins, 12 seconds, and 4 third place finishes. Only once in his fifty-three starts did he fail to place.

Running up against the brilliant sprinter TODMAN as a two-year-old, Tulloch was taken to Brisbane to win the Q.T.C. Sires’ Produce Stakes easily in race record time and thereby eclipse MOLLISON as Australia’s highest stakes-winning juvenile.

It is noteworthy that Tulloch accomplished this feat despite facing significant health challenges in his 4yo season. An undiagnosed digestive disorder resulted in severe weight loss and recurrent infections, posing a substantial threat to his well-being. This illness caused him to miss two years during what could reasonably be considered prime racing age. A vet thought it may be an infection in his mouth and concocted a mixture of port wine and brandy mixed into his oats - it seemed to have an immediate effect.

Tulloch was most impressive as a 3yo and considered the fastest in the world for his age. A particularly notable victory was the AJC Derby, beating the highly talented, PRINCEDARIUS, and in the process shaving two seconds off the track record of no less a horse than, PHAR LAP that had stood since 1929. Immediately after the Derby, Tulloch was whisked to Melbourne and seven days after his Randwick triumph he had the Victorian public bewitched when he pulled his way to the front at the half-mile in the Caulfield Guineas to run out an easy winner by eight lengths. Among all of Tulloch's remarkable victories, the Caulfield Cup stands out as the most brilliant. The colt won running away in an Australasian record time of 2.26.9 – officially the third fastest-timed twelve furlongs ever run anywhere in the world. The exhibition garnered a larger audience than typical, as the race was broadcast to viewers in Melbourne and Sydney that evening, thanks to the marvel of television.

Despite the protestations of trainer Tommy Smith, owner Len Haley refused to start him in the Melbourne Cup. Tulloch was installed as favourite for the 1957 Cup - it was rumoured that Smith had a wager of £33,000 to £1,000 that Tulloch would win the Cups double. A Sydney newspaper ran a story on the Monday after the Caulfield Cup that quoted the owner as saying that Tulloch would never run in the Melbourne Cup as he did not fancy running 3yos over two miles, especially with the 8 stone 5 pounds (53 kg) burden he had been allotted. The rest of the newspapers were full of Tommy Smith predicting how far Tulloch would win the Cup by and the debate raged leading up to the race if the great horse would run or not. It’s a pretty safe bet to say that Tulloch’s name should be on the honour roll of Melbourne Cup winners as the only major trophy missed.

The trainer was crestfallen when Haley held his ground and scratched the Tuesday before the race. The ailing Haley, who had not been able to get to Melbourne, said: “I love horses too much to run a three-year-old, any three-year-old, not only Tulloch, in the Melbourne Cup.  I will not risk breaking the colt’s heart.”  If this was the case, many wondered why Tulloch had ever been entered in the race in the first place.  Years later, George Moore expressed a view that part of the difference of opinion between owner and trainer may have been to do with betting; whereas Tommy had backed Tulloch heavily to win the Cups double, Haley had not.

In sixteen starts of the 1958 season, TULLOCH won fourteen times and not once finished unplaced; his stakes earnings amounted to £66,148, easily eclipsing the previous mark for a three-year-old held by SAILORS GUIDE and not far behind the all-time record £71,481 amassed by his recently-retired stablemate, REDCRAZE. Any suggestion that Tulloch had not regained his authority was quickly scotched when the bay won his only five races on the trot at the Sydney autumn meetings. Hollow victories in the Rawson Stakes at Rosehill and the Chipping Norton Stakes at Warwick Farm were soon followed by a hat-trick at the AJC. Autumn Meeting. Tulloch was thus restricted to set weight races: in the St. Leger, he beat Prince Darius by twenty lengths and then four days later dropped back in distance to take the All-Aged Stakes, before completing his season with an effortless win in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes on the final day of the meeting.

Tulloch's return in the fall of 1960 affer a brush with death has to be considered one of the most incredible comebacks of all time. Tulloch was almost put down more than once during his sickness; he spent time at his owner’s Te Koona property as well as alternating between a spelling paddock at Richmond and Percy Sykes’ veterinary clinic. Competing at distances ranging from 10 to 14 furlongs, he won his last four races of the autumn season: The AJC Chipping Norton Stakes, Queen Elizabeth Stakes, and Autumn Stakes, finishing up with the BRC PJ O'Shea Stakes, all with Neville Sellwood aboard.

Tulloch's final season, as six years old, proved to be his most demanding on the racecourse. Although he could no longer perform at his previous peak, the seasoned competitor still managed to secure victory in ten out of nineteen races that year. At the end of his career, Tulloch had won 19 Group 1 races, and seven that are now Group 2 races and two are Group 3. The VRC St Leger (now only a listed race) and AJC St Leger were principal (stakes) races in Tulloch's era, which indicates how impressive his record was. Tulloch sired two stakes winners after retiring and died at Old Gowang Stud near Coonabarabran on 30 June 1969.

RACE RECORD - 53: 36-12-4

EARNINGS - £110,121

VRC St Leger (1958)

AJC St Leger (1958)

P.J. O'Shea Stakes (1960, 1961)

Queen Elizabeth Stakes (1958, 1960, 1961)

C B Fisher Plate (1957, 1960)

Chipping Norton Stakes (1958, 1960)

Brisbane Cup (1961)

W S Cox Plate (1960)

Mackinnon Stakes (1960)

Chelmsford Stakes (1960)

Craven Plate (1960)

All Aged Stakes (1958)

Rawson Stakes (1958)

Caulfield Cup (1957)

Caulfield Guineas (1957)

Warwick Stakes (1957)

VRC Derby (1957)

AJC Derby (1957)

QTC Derby (1957)

Rosehill Guineas (1957)

AJC Sires Produce Stakes (1957)

VRC Sires Produce Stakes (1957)

QTC Sires Produce Stakes (1957)