Australia's first great rider dies

Legendary Australian jockey Arthur "Scobie" Breasley has died after suffering a stroke. He was 92.

Breasley was born in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales, in 1914 and boasted five Caulfield Cups, two Epsom Derbys (Santa Claus in 1964 and Charlottown 1966) and a Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe (Ballymoss 1958) in a career which featured 3,251 wins.

But despite an amazing career which took him from rural New South Wales to the racetracks of Europe, he never managed to win Australia's most famous race, the Melbourne Cup.

The chairman of Racing Victoria Ltd, Graham Duff, said Breasley's death was a blow for the industry in the state where the annual medal for the best jockey is named in his honour.

"He was the first of the really great Australian jockeys who went overseas and really conquered Europe," Duff said.

Breasley rode his first winner when he was just 12 years old, and two years later, in 1928, won his first metropolitan race in Melbourne.

At the age of 15, he rode in the 1929 Melbourne Cup against Australia's most famous horse, Phar Lap.

He dominated Melbourne racing during the war years and four of his five Caulfield Cup victories came in successive years, 1942 (Tranquil Star), 1943 (Skipton), 1944 (Counsel) and 1945 (St Fairy).

His record of five wins in Australia's second-most-famous handicap still stands.

His burgeoning career took full fight when he moved permanently to Britain shortly after his fifth Caulfield Cup on Peshawar in 1952.

While away from home, he would ride 2,161 winners and win four English jockey titles (1957 and 1961-63).

He was a dominant force in the saddle for a decade, notching over a century of winners every season from 1955 to 1964. He retired in 1968 and took up training.

That career took him to England, France, the US and Barbados, before returning to Melbourne for his retirement.

The Scobie Breasley Medal has been awarded to the outstanding Victorian jockey over the past decade.

One of the many big-race winners Breasley rode in Britain was Be Friendly, owned by the "voice of racing", former BBC commentator Peter O'Sullevan.

"He was one of the all-time greats and he didn't have to die to be recognised as such," he said. "It was great that he should ride a winner in my colours. He won on Be Friendly twice for me, at Epsom, the King's Stand Stakes and of course the Vernons Sprint Cup in 1967.

"He couldn't ride him when he won the race the year before as he was crocked.

"The first time he was crocked was May 3rd, 1954. I was there and he had the most horrific fall at Alexandra Park. He was riding Sayonara and he fractured his skull and he had optical paralysis.

"The medical opinion was that he would never walk unaided again. The very thought of riding was impossible, but it was an example of his resolution and his courage.

"He was over 50 when he rode his first Derby winner, Santa Claus."

Australian Jim McGrath, who succeeded O'Sullevan, said: "He came here in the 1950s when some Australians thought his best days were behind him.

"He was a great tactician and remembered for his style, his lack of use of the whip and his superb judgment. He was just a superb practitioner at race riding."