Waverley Star


Waverley Star was a New Zealand Thoroughbred racehorse who is best remembered for finishing second to Bonecrusher in the 1986 Cox Plate - widely referred to as the 'race of the century'. Waverley Star, who was known as Our Waverley Star in Australia to distinguish him from a 1976 foaling of the same name, won his maiden as a three-year-old on 30 November 1985 at Pukekohe. Prior to his first visit to Australia, for the Cox Plate, he won 10 of his 13 starts in New Zealand.
In the Cox Plate, he was installed 3/1 second-favourite behind fellow New Zealander Bonecrusher, who was 6/4-on. With 800 metres to run in the Cox Plate, Lance O'Sullivan took Waverley Star to the lead, with Gary Stewart on Bonecrusher right behind him. The two horses then raced well clear of the field, with little between them for the remainder of the race, and at the post, Bonecrusher was narrowly in front. The Filbert placed third to make a New Zealand trifecta.
Waverley Star had a further 20 starts after the Cox Plate, and his three wins in this period included the Chipping Norton Stakes and one of the lead-ups to the 1986 Japan Cup, in which he finished fifth. He had his final start in June 1989, as a six-year-old, after failing to recapture his best form.