Surround’s Legacy - The Filly Behind Sydney’s First Group 1 of the Year
The Moonee Valley Gold Cup, once the main event of the Moonee Valley Racing Club's spring carnival, took a backseat in 1976 to the W.S. Cox Plate—a significant race in Australian horse racing. That year marked a tribute to the remarkable filly Surround, winner of the first Cox Plate Day. Trained by Geoff Murphy and raced successfully, Surround claimed eight consecutive wins, including a Cox Plate, solidifying her legacy as one of Australia’s top fillies. Her career culminated with her induction into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
- The Moonee Valley Gold Cup was overshadowed by the Cox Plate in 1976
- Surround, trained by Geoff Murphy, became the only filly to win the Cox Plate
- Her career highlights include 10 consecutive wins and Hall of Fame induction
Lady Shenandoah edges out Lady Of Camelot in a gripping finish to the 2025 Surround Stakes, the Group 1 race named in honour of the only filly to win the Cox Plate. (Getty)
For decades the Moonee Valley Gold Cup - a race with a 39-year longer history than the W.S. Cox Plate - was the club's spring carnival headliner.
Even as such champions as Phar Lap, Ajax, Rising Fast, Tobin Bronze and Gunsynd were eliciting roars from the crowd, the day was known as Moonee Valley Gold Cup Day.
All that changed in 1976 when the Cup was renamed the Governors' Stakes; that year, and for a few following, it was run in May - leaving the last Saturday in October as a day centred instead on the 2040m weight-for-age championship.
And how apt it was that the first winner on the day dedicated to the Cox Plate would be such a special one - the mighty Surround.
With the race named in her honour, the Group 1 Surround Stakes (first run two years after the grey's retirement) to be held on Saturday, we thought it timely to relive the achievements of that wonderful filly.
There have been plenty of great horses throughout Australian racing history, but only a select few have achieved something so special that no other can lay claim to that same success.
Such as four Cox Plates for Winx, the unbeaten winning streak for Black Caviar and three Melbourne Cups for Makybe Diva.
Surround is a worthy member of that list - the first and only filly to win a Cox Plate.
What a spring it was for the Geoff Murphy-trained, Ralph Stuart-bred Sovereign Edition filly, who was raced on lease by Murphy's wife and clients of the stable.
Showing enough early to kick off her career as favourite in the Maribyrnong Trial, finishing third, Surround won five city races at two and was third in the Marlboro Stakes (now the Group 1 J.J. Atkins).
Her three-year-old campaign kicked off at Moonee Valley in August 1976, winning a 1200m race.
Quickly up in class, she took on and easily defeated the boys in the Group 2 Ascot Vale Stakes - the first sign that this was a rather special filly.
The Group 2 Moonee Valley Stakes was next, then the Group 1 Caulfield Guineas - and she impressively won both, with Family Of Man behind her on each occasion.
Despite that stellar form, Surround was not favourite come Cox Plate Day, that honour going to How Now coming off a big performance in the Caulfield Cup.
That mare did not have things go right at Moonee Valley, but Surround made her own luck from barrier 10.
With regular rider Alan Trevena unable to make the 47kg, Peter Cook stepped in - and he had her going forward and in a nice position behind the leaders.
For a few strides approaching the turn she was in a pocket, but the splits came at the right time and away she went, saluting by three lengths in race record time.
Adding the VRC Oaks to her tally, Surround made it eight wins in a row, a streak she would extend to 10 with victories in the C.F. Orr Stakes and the Blamey Stakes, both at Group 2 level.
She went on to win the AJC Oaks and the Queensland Oaks, sealing her reputation as one of the best fillies to grace the Australian turf.
Retiring with record earnings for a mare and an Australian Horse Of The Year title - later inducted into the Australian Racing Hall Of Fame - Surround (whose half-brothers Purple Patch and Lord Hybrow were also Group 1 winners, as were her dam's siblings Balmerino and Fulmen) did a good job at stud, with all six of her runners being winners.
The stakes winner Bowral was her best performer, but Frame looked exciting only to die young.
The New Zealand Group 1 winner Consensus is a descendant, as are the stakes winners Tantalic, Za Magic, Silver Baron and Aspen Lass.
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