Cunderdin pays tribute to champion WA mare

Fifty-three years ago on 8th November 1963 the moderately performed New Zealand bred harness racing mare Dainty Widow gave birth to a filly that was to change two men’s lives and bring fame to the Western Australian town of Cunderdin.

Today the Cunderdin Museum, located in the No 3 Pump Station on the famous Goldfields pipeline 160 kilometres north-east of Perth, opened its Daintys Daughter exhibit to pay tribute to a remarkable horse, her breeder/owner Jock Coleman and trainer/driver Bernie Cushing.

The idea of a museum exhibit to honour Dainty’s Daughter came from a fan Patrick Maloney who wrote to the Cunderdin Shire some years ago with the suggestion that they recognise the contribution the mare had made to the town.

Born in the bottom corner of the home paddock at Coleman’s property Rockdale, some 20 kilometres south-east of Cunderdin, the filly was broken in by Hurtle Webb and given her early education by Coleman’s great friend Bernie Cushing before being returned to Coleman’s farm for her early racing.

Named Dainty’s Daughter, the filly won her first race at Kellerberrin but Perth was to become the scene of her greatest triumphs and where she was to record 33 of her 36 career wins.

When she won the WA Pacing Cup on 1st January 1970, Daintys Daughter broke the World Record for two miles from a standing start previously held by New Zealand champion Johnny Globe.

A year earlier Daintys Daughter had set a one mile World Record for mares on a half-mile track when she won the Meteor Mile in 1:58.8. She remains the only Australian mare to have jointly held two world records.

In 1970 Daintys Daughter became the first Western Australian horse to be invited to contest Australia’s premier sprint race – the NSW Miracle Mile where she finished fifth with Bernie Cushing’s former stablehand Kevin Newman at the reins. Newman was the leading driver in Sydney at the time.

She is also the only mare to win both a WA Pacing Cup and Fremantle Cup since the second World War and her other feature wins included a Stratton Cup, Christmas Gift, State Sprint Championship and a pair of Invitation Stakes.

Dainty’s Daughter had a legion of fans who adored her and her habit of nodding her head to the crowd on her return to scale and she became a household name across the country.

When Perth’s second Sunday and first colour newspaper the Sunday Independent was launched the entire back-page featured a colour photo of the mare and her trainer/driver Bernie Cushing at trackwork.

In 2010 Dainty’s Daughter became the first mare to be inducted into The West Australian Racing Industry Hall of Fame and today she became the first Western Australian horse to be honoured with a museum exhibit.

The exhibit features her Fremantle Cup and WA Pacing Cup rugs, all her major trophies, the original black and white striped racing colours and Bernie Cushing’s cart that Dainty’s Daughter pulled to victory in both World Records.

At the launch of the exhibit today were Jock Coleman’s daughter Bev Snooke, Bernie Cushing’s daughter Dot and son Robert along with representatives from Racing and Wagering WA, Gloucester Park Harness Racing and the Fremantle Harness Racing Club.

The Cunderdin Museum is located just off the Great Eastern Highway in Forrest Street, Cunderdin (just look for the 30 metre chimney stack) and is open daily from 10:00am until 4:00pm.

Dainty’s Daughter died in 1992 and is buried in the same corner of the paddock she was born in 29 years before. Her grave is marked by a plaque.

by Alan Parker