The HEART of Makybe Diva

Makybe Diva
Never heard of her? Maybe a four-legged animal doesn’t belong in these pages. But Makybe Diva is internationally renowned in horse-racing circles for her ‘heart’. She gave her all during her career - and soundly beat the boys in the process. Meet a legend….

On 1 November, 2005, Makybe Diva won the hearts of a nation...and galloped into history. With her ears out sideways and a glazed look in her eye as she dug deeper than she ever had in her life, she won the Melbourne Cup for a record third time in a row. It gave this spectator goose-bumps to see a horse try so hard.

On the first Tuesday of November at around 3pm local time, all of Australia pauses to watch one of the country's greatest sporting events, the Melbourne Cup race - 'the race that stops a nation'. The Melbourne Cup is the peak of the Spring Racing Carnival, held in Melbourne every year since 1861. The Cup is the southern hemispheres’ Kentucky Derby. It has become a date on the international horse-racing calendar too, with horses from Europe and Asia competing. The race attracts 130,000 spectators, and schools and workplaces across the country stop to watch.

In 1895 American author Mark Twain said ‘nowhere in the world have I encountered a festival of people that has such a magnificent appeal to the whole nation. The Cup astonishes me.’

But a bit about the Diva....
Makybe Diva was conceived in Irelend and born in Britain. She was taken to Australia after failing to attract any bids in England. Her new owner, Tony Santic, a South Australian tuna fisherman, asked five of his employees to help name her. They came up with her name by combining the first two letters of each of their first names - Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Dianne and Vanessa. Hence Makybe Diva.

In 2003, Makybe Diva won her first Melbourne Cup, which is a difficult feat for any horse and less likely to be accomplished by a mare than a gelding or stallion.
In 2004, she won national acclaim by winning her second Melbourne Cup and beating the competitive Irish horse Vinnie Roe.

In 2005 despite being the punters' favourite for the Melbourne Cup, many Australians doubted that she would win again. It seemed too much to ask. At seven years old, she would be one of the oldest horses to win the Cup, if indeed she did. And no other horse had ever won the Cup three times in a row.

Adding to Australia’s sceptisicm was the footing of the racecourse. The Flemington Racecourse was wet in 2003 and 2004, and Makybe performed better on softer racecourses. In 2005, if the organisers hadn't made a controversial decision to water the racetrack at the last minute, the course would have been dry.

In 2005, the total prize money offered at the Carnival was AU$5.1 million (approximately £2 million). Over AU$200 million (approximately £79 million) worldwide bets were placed on the races over the four-day event - including an AU$1 million bet on Makybe Diva herself !

But Makybe Diva overcame all the scepticism and questions to win the Melbourne Cup for the third time in a row, an achievement that has never before occurred in the history of the race. All Australia stopped to watch, and the after-race parties went on for days.

Only two other seven-year-old mares have won the race in its entire history - Archer in 1861 and Acrasia in 1904. Makybe Diva is also the first horse since 1890 to win both the Sydney Cup and Melbourne Cup in the same year.

So what makes Makybe Diva so special? In one word, heart. She wins because she gives more than she has. Maykbe Diva has more determination to win than her competitors, and simply runs right by them. What an inspiration.