HE should have been called Mr Big… for a lot of reasons.
But his racing name was Mr Ziesel.
HE was not only the biggest horse ever to win the Cleveland Bay- but arguably the biggest horse ever to race in North Queensland - or anywhere, for that matter.
The Robert Sangster-owned, English import sprinter stood 17.5 hands. So big that in all places but Cluden he had to be placed in the starting stalls with a strap fastened behind as the gates couldn’t close behind.
But the chief North Queensland stipe at the time Alan Cooper refused to allow the barrier adjustment and according to his race jockey, Keith Ballard, Mr Ziesel was “squeezed in” with his head hard against the front of the stalls.
It didn’t stop the giant sized son of Rheingold. He bolted in the Cleveland Bay of 1982, and they still talk about him.
It was the biggest win of all time. It was the biggest plunge in history of the race and still rates today in the minds of his jockey Ballard as the biggest win of his long and successful career.
It was a big win alright.
The Townsville Bulletin’s racing writer at the time Brian Burke said more than $20,000 was lifted from the ring.
His long retired trainer Danny Callaghan scoffs at that figure.
“I know one punter who won more than that himself and we had plenty of other stable punters,” he said from Adelaide this week where he now lives in retirement and with no association to racing whatsoever.
The horse was backed all over Queensland firming from 12/1 horse to 4/1 favourite in the north greatest sprint.
The handicapper of the day, David Hughes was roundly ridiculed for allocating the Alice Springs visitor top weight of 57kg. But after he decisively defeated the Adelaide galloper, Balkan Secret, Heza Prince and Innisfail flyer Forever Noble, the handicapper had the last laugh. As is often the case!
The story of Mr Ziesel began when he was sold at a Robert Sangster clearing sale in Melbourne for $2800 as a maiden.
Apparently he bled and everyone knew.
He was picked up by David and Catherine Weir from Derry Downs Station- still one of the biggest stations in Central Australia and they wanted a horse for the Alice Springs carnival in 1982
Danny Callaghan whose mother was sister to Ron Hall, the famous jumps jockey and trainer, and father of Greg (and grandfather of Nicholas), was training at the time in Alice after a successful apprenticeship in Adelaide cut short by weight problems. He trained the horse and remembers his first start in a maiden at Pioneer Park. He won by a head.
“He fell-in but you have never seen a horse improve so much from just the one run,” said Danny.
Mr Ziesel went on to win 20 odd races - 13 in succession culminating in the Christmas Handicap - a feature at Morphettville - after his escapades in northern Australia.
The horse arrived in Townsville from Mt Isa where he had won the Patron’s Handicap in a breeze. It was a win that jockey Ballard remembers as “astounding”.
“I said just how good is this horse?
He arrived in Charters Towers a week before the Cleveland Bay but Ballard was brought over to ride him in a gallop on Thursday before the big sprint at Cluden.
And this is where the story gets beyond belief.
Track watchers including seasoned local trainers were dumfounded when Mr Ziesel worked off at three quarter pace (17-18 to the furlong) from the top of the straight and then galloped from the 1200m.]
He ran the first 600m in 34.5 seconds, according to a Townsville Bulletin report “but walked over the last 600m in 41.5 secs.”
“He needed a strong workout,” Callaghan explained to stunned track watchers, though he admitted later he was concerned the way the horse had pulled up after such a strenuous (and unprecedented) workout two days before the race. So was the jockey.
“He was distressed alright but recovered on Friday,” said the trainer.
And to emphasise the versatility of this giant, he returned to Charters Towers on Saturday after the race. On Sunday night he was in Mt Isa and took off for Katherine in a two horse float on Monday. On Tuesday he was trotting around the Fannie Bay race track in Darwin. Incredible.
He had one start at the Darwin Carnival - easily defeating Few Benefits (later to win in Melbourne) in the Palmerston Sprint.
Mr Ziesel then headed to Adelaide where he was a winner and had his last race on Melbourne Cup day at Flemington with Harry White on board.
Trainer Danny Callaghan gave away training a short time after and concentrated on buying bloodstock for the overseas market.
He said he could foresee the difficulties that lay ahead for racing, and especially for trainers. His judgement, as it was with Mr Ziesel, has proved to be spot on.
He has lived in retirement in Adelaide, just down the road from Morphettville racecourse for the past 10 years with no involvement in racing whatsoever.
Just the memories of which Mr Ziesel is at the very top of the list.
The giant killer who came to Cluden and conquered in the Cleveland Bay.