This year marks 100 years since the remarkable performance of Frances Tressady in winning the 1923 VRC Derby and Oaks double. Yet her name rarely is to be seen among any list of our great racehorses. There are likely plenty of reasons that the mare lives in relative obscurity, with not the least being that her wins after that Spring were few. For me, it is the knowledge that she beat the legendary Drongo, thereby relegating a wonderful horse to a future of scorn. Without that victory, perhaps Australian culture would have been changed markedly. Nonetheless, she had a remarkable career and one that is worth remembering so many years later.
Frances Tressady was owned by AG Barlow who raced under the pseudonym AG Vauxhall, and originally trained by Fred Foulsham before being transferred to the stable of his brother, former top jockey, William “Billy” Foulsham. The filly showed her quality as a 2yo, despite being regarded as a sprinter. She won the Electric Handicap at Williamstown, beating Wallarak, and the Alma Stakes at Caufield beating The Monk who had earlier won the VRC Ascot Vale Stakes. The Monk was to win the VRC Sires Produce with Frances Tressady in second, and the filly was also to run third in the Carmichael Stakes. Frances Tressady was to race eighteen times
