QUEENSLAND RACING HALL OF FAME
2008 INDUCTEES

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Two of State’s racing greats were inducted into the Queensland Racing Hall of Fame this year.

Bill Briscoe

In many history books Bill Briscoe is remembered simply as the jockey that rode the mighty Bernborough when he broke down in the 1946 McKinnon Stakes. However, he was much more than that and holds a rightful place among Queensland and Australia’s greatest jockeys. He won the Brisbane jockeys premiership eight times winning over 750 races before moving to Sydney in 1946. He held the premiership record of 89 winners in a season for over 40 years, before Mick Dittman broke that with 97 winners in 1977-78. He won countless Group 1 races is Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria. However, his best victory was aboard Red Fury in the 1948 Caulfield Cup. 

Spear Chief

By the Melbourne Cup winner Spearflet out of the mare Serevale, Spear Chief was trained by Bill Tucker and won 14 races between 1937 and 1939, from distances of 1400 metres to 3200 metres which included two Brisbane Cups, the QTC Derby, the Sires, the Champagne and many more. However, he is best remembered for the biggest upset in Australian racing history when at 33-1 he beat the 40-1 on favourite Ajax in the 1939 Rawson Stakes in Sydney.