Story No. 15… Lucky Creed

Great Harness Horses 1960-1980

LUCKY CREED

Lucky Creed was by the imported sire, King Creed, from Overdrive, the winner of the 1956 NZ Oaks. Bred by Sydney Trainer/driver Bill Picken, Lucky Creed was offered at auction but failed to reach his reserve and was later sold for $1400 to Queensland car wrecker, Merv Wanless.

Lucky Creed had his first start as a 2yo in the heats of the Bathurst Debutant Stakes on 7-1-67 but injured himself in running and finished 6th. Spelled for 13 months, he resumed on 24-2-68 at Rocklea in a 3yo event and finished 6th again before winning his first race on 13-4-68. Three weeks later he won the Redcliffe Derby by a big margin and at his final 3yo start won the Rocklea 3yo Futurity, beating Monarchy by 15 yards.

Spelled for another 12 months, he resumed on 3-5-69 at Rocklea and beat Margaret McDermid by 32 yards. A week later he won his second, and last, 4yo event by 55 yards with the third horse 40 yards further behind. Given a short spell it was decided to race him in NSW, but before doing so he was sent against the clock at Albion Park. This was most unusual as it was almost unknown for such a restricted grade horse (he was a  C4-Mo)to attempt such a feat, especially first up after a 4 month spell, but Lucky Creed was more than capable and broke the track record with a time of 2-1 2/5 (remember this was on the OLD Albion Park).

He had his first NSW start this season on 8-10-69 in a heat of the Carousel at Parramatta, winning by 20 yards as a 10-9 favourite. It would be 23 starts later before he started at a LONGER price! Fourteen days later he won the final at Bankstown in record time, beating Ilike Ike by 12 yards. It was his 7th consecutive win. He raced, and won, 8 times during November 1969 the first of these being on 3-11-69 at Menangle and four days later he won his first start at HP, rating 2-5 3/5 beating The flyer by 12 yards. Three days later he won at Penrith, once again running a race record, and the very next day he started off 36 yards at Menangle and beat Foreign Guy. Back to HP where he started at 1-10 before easily beating Ima Pride and three days later won at Penrith off 24 yards equalling the race record. The next day he won again off 24 yards at Menangle and 3 days later he won again at HP. In this race, he was a red hot 1-10 favourite and galloped badly at the start,
but still won by 15 yards, clearly showing his superiority. It was his 15th consecutive win.

In December he slowed down somewhat and only started 6 times during the month but still managed to win them all. First was a FFA at Bankstown in which he beat Dancing Chamfer and then 4 days later he raced at HP easily beating Brave Rex in record time. The next day he contested a Kembla FFA and beat First Glow by 24 yards with Teeny Rena 12 yards further behind in 3rd place. Only 2 months later Teeny Rena was contesting the Adelaide Inter Dominion, and won a Consolation, so Lucky Creed was now beating quality horses but STILL by big margins. Three days later he started off 12 yards in the Menangle Cup and ran fast time beating Brave Rex by 12 yards. It was his 19th consecutive win. Win number 20, which would equal Aachen’s 11 year old record, was much harder. Lining up in the HP Constellation Stakes he broke at the start losing plenty of ground then, during the race, dislodged a shoe and twisted a knee boot. Despite these setbacks he won by 5 yards from
Brave Rex in very fast time,   2-3 1/5, for the one mile standing start event. With this win he equalled Aachen’s long standing record of 20 consecutive wins. Three days later at HP, he started off 36 yards, was the 1-8 favourite, and beat Gay Glen easily by 12 yards. Win Number 21.

On 16-1-70 he raced in the Cannonball Stakes at HP and, despite breaking at the start, won easily from Royal Society. Win number 23 was in a HP FFA a week later where he beat Teeny Rena by 9 yards with Royal Society 6 yards away third. The next day he travelled to Kembla for a FFA, started at 1-20, and beat Bermuda Chief by 7 yards. It was his 24th consecutive win. Six days later he started off 12 yards in the Australia Day Cup and staged one of the greatest 2 horse wars ever seen at HP when he went down by a ½ head to the champion, Cocky Raider. That race was covered in depth in my previous story on Cocky Raider. Lucky Creed wasted no time in ‘bouncing back’, three days later he won a Bankstown FFA and four days later won the HP Invitation Challenge by 15 yards from Born To Trot with Cocky Raider third. In this race Lucky Creed produced the fastest last 3 furlong sprint ever clocked at HP, to that time, coming home in 42.7 seconds for the distance,
VERY fast time for the HP track of 1970. He then travelled to Melbourne for the 1970 Inter Dominion carnival.

In his first heat, on 14-2-70, he broke at the start and finished 5th to Deep Court. Four days later he ran 4th to Adios Court and clearly was having trouble handling the small 3 furlong Showgrounds track. Despite this he won the final heat beating Imatoff and Billy Adios. The Final saw a few horses miss the start and Bold David raced straight to the front and led all the way. Lucky Creed raced up wide early to sit outside the leader but wilted in the run home to finish 6th. Six days later he won an Invitation at HP beating Koala Frost and Ascot King. He was then invited to contest the Miracle Mile. Given special mobile barrier practice at Vic Frost’s track, he was expected to perform well and started a 9-10 favourite. Bold David jumped straight to the front, just as he had done in the ID, but this time Lucky Creed had the perfect sit behind the leader, got out at the right time, and just got up by 1½ yards with Imatoff 3 yards away 3rd. It was to be
his last start in Australia for 3 years as he had been leased to American interests.

Over the next 2 years he had 42 starts in America for just 6 wins, 9 seconds and 6 thirds with his best winning time being 1-59 2/5. He returned to Australia in late 1972 and resumed racing as an 8yo on 2-4-73, running 3rd in a Redcliffe FFA. He then won his next 3 races at Southport, Tweed Heads and Redcliffe before running 4th at Tweed Heads on 12-4-73. A week later he won a FFA at Tweed Heads and 2 days later won another FFA at Albion Park. Four days later he ran 8th to Flash Adios and on 28-4-73 won his final race, a FFA at Albion Park, setting a new track record rating 2-5 4/5 for the 12½ furlong event. At his last 2 starts he ran 2nd and 4th and was then retired to stud duties. Just one month after Lucky Creed had his last race his owner died of a heart attack.

Lucky Creed’s 24 consecutive wins stood as the Australasian record for 8 years until equalled by super trotter Maori’s Idol in 1978. Three years later San Simeon stretched it to 29 wins in a row, and it still stands today as the record. Outstanding juvenile pacer, Courage Under Fire, also equalled the old record of 24 consecutive wins in 2000.
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When ‘old timer’s’ talk about the fastest horses they have seen it is doubtful they will mention Lucky Creed, although he did win a Miracle Mile, and when they compare the best stayers he probably wont rate a mention either, although he did win an ID heat over 15 furlongs. But when they get down to comparing the TOUGHEST horses they have seen, you can be sure that Lucky Creed will be in there somewhere. At one stage in November 1969 he won 4 races in 8 days, had a 10 day ‘break’ and then won 5 races in the next 10 days! That’s TOUGH! It was also a terrific training feat to be able to keep the horse ‘fresh’, and winning, with so little time in between races.

For those reasons, and many more, Lucky Creed will always be remembered by those who were lucky enough to be there during his ‘stampede’. It really was harness racing at it’s best and most entertaining.