Big Philou was a notable New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 bred Thoroughbred

Thoroughbred

The Thoroughbred is a horse breed best known for its use in horse racing. Although the word thoroughbred is sometimes used to refer to any breed of purebred horse, it technically refers only to the Thoroughbred breed...

 racehorse

Horse

The horse is one of two extant subspecies of Equus ferus, or the wild horse. It is a single-hooved mammal belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae. The horse has evolved over the past 45 to 55 million years from a small multi-toed creature into the large, single-toed animal of today...

. He was by the good sire Le Filou (imported from France) from Pink Lady by Contact and he was trained by Bart Cummings

Bart Cummings

James Bartholomew 'Bart' Cummings, AM is one of the most successful Australian racehorse trainers. He is known as the Cups King, referring to the Melbourne Cup, as the he has won the 'race that stops a nation' a record 12 times....

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He is best remembered for the controversy surrounding his withdrawal from the 1969 VRC

Victoria Racing Club

The Victoria Racing Club was founded in 1864. It was formed following the disbanding of the Victoria Turf Club and the Victoria Jockey Club. A legacy passed from the Victoria Turf Club was the annual “race that stops a nation”, the Melbourne Cup, which was first contested in 1861.From its...

 Melbourne Cup

Melbourne Cup

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major Thoroughbred horse race. Marketed as "the race that stops a nation", it is a 3,200 metre race for three-year-olds and over. It is the richest "two-mile" handicap in the world, and one of the richest turf races...

 when as the hot favourite he was the victim of a doping scandal and was withdrawn from the race 39 minutes before the start.

Jockey Roy Higgins

Roy Higgins

Roy Henry Higgins MBE is a former Australian jockey who rode in the late 1960s and the 1970s. He grew up in the southern New South Wales town of Deniliquin where he was apprenticed to local horse trainer Jim Watters...

 believed that the horse was a certainty to win the race.

Rain Lover

Rain Lover

Rain Lover was a champion Australian Thoroughbred racehorse. He was one of the very few horses to win the Melbourne Cup more than once. Rain Lover was sired by the good racehorse, Latin Lover his dam Rain Spot was by Valognes .He was owned and bred by Clifford A. Reid, who won the 1945 Melbourne...

 went on to win the Cup and created history as the first back-to-back winner since Archer

Archer (horse)

Archer was an Australian Thoroughbred racehorse who won the first and the second Melbourne Cups in 1861 and 1862. He won both Cups easily, and is one of only five horses to win the Melbourne Cup twice or more; he is one of only four horses to win two successive Cups.-Breeding:Archer was sired by...

 in 1861 and 1862.

Although he missed out on winning a Melbourne Cup the horse did record wins in the 1969 VATC Caulfield Cup

Caulfield Cup

The Caulfield Cup, one of Australia's richest Thoroughbred horse races and the richest of its type in the world is held annually by the Melbourne Racing Club. The race is a handicap like the Melbourne Cup, which means that horses that compete in the Caulfield Cup are capable of running on the...

, 1970 VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes

VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes

The VRC Queen Elizabeth Stakes is a Victoria Racing Club Group 3 Australian Thoroughbred horse race for horses aged three years old and over, under open handicap conditions, over a distance of 2500 metres.It is held at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne....

 (Autumn) and the 1970 VATC Underwood Stakes

Underwood Stakes

The Underwood Stakes is a Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race, held at Caulfield Racecourse in Melbourne Australia. It is run over 1800 metres under weight-for-age conditions in late September each year...

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