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Makybe Diva (foaled 21 March 1999) is a champion Australian Thoroughbred horse racing who is the only horse to win three and the only mare to win it more than once. She achieved the feat in 2003, 2004, and 2005. She also won the 2005 Cox Plate. She was the highest stakes-earner in Australian history, winning more than A$14 million.
She is by Desert King (a winner of the Irish Derby and Irish 2,000 Guineas) out of Tugela by Riverman (USA). Tugela was also the dam of the Australian stakes-winners, Musket and Valkyrie Diva. Makybe Diva is owned by tuna fisherman Tony Šantić, who named her after five of his employees—Maureen, Kylie, Belinda, Diane, and Vanessa—by taking the first two letters from each of their names.
Makybe Diva's early career was unusual in that she was unable to contest any major races against horses of her own age, such as the Crown Oaks, because she was foaled in Great Britain to the Northern Hemisphere breeding calendar. This meant that, for Australian racing purposes, where horses "age-up" on 1 August each year, she was bracketed with horses foaled about six months earlier, in the Southern Hemisphere spring.
After finishing as a 14-1 outsider in the Caulfield Cup, she began her partnership with Sydney jockey Glen Boss. Coming from near last with to go in the 2400-m race, she finished fourth behind the Lee Freedman-trained Mummify. The first Tuesday in November 2003 was her first Melbourne Cup victory. Starting as an $8 second favourite, Makybe Diva raced at the back of the field until the finishing straight, where jockey Boss picked his way through the field to win by lengths.
In the autumn of 2004, she resumed over 1400 m (7 furlongs) carrying 59.5 kg followed by a third-place finish in the Group 3 Carlyon Cup. Following this, she was blocked when making a winning run in the Australian Cup before being taken to Sydney, where she placed third in the Ranvet Stakes and The BMW Stakes, both Group 1 races. The Group 1 Sydney Cup over 3200 m (2 mi) was to be her final run for the campaign. Sent out as a $3.50 second favourite, she began off the pace, but ran home to record a win by half a length, becoming the first mare to ever win the Sydney Cup/Melbourne Cup double in the same season, and only the fourth horse to have accomplished the double win.
After the 2003–2004 season, trainer David Hall left to train in Hong Kong, and Makybe Diva was transferred to trainer Lee Freedman, generally regarded as one of Australia's top trainers.
Makybe Diva was sent out a $3.60 favourite, and won the 2004 Melbourne Cup. In driving rain, the mare defeated a field featuring multiple Irish St. Leger winner Vinnie Roe, Caulfield Cup winners Mummify and Elvstroem, Mamool from the Godolphin stable, and the 2002 Melbourne Cup winner Media Puzzle.
Resuming racing in February, Makybe Diva put in close finishes behind Elvstroem in both the C F Orr Stakes and St George Stakes, at Caulfield. On 12 March, she won the Australian Cup, a weight for age event over , and in the process broke the Australian record and set an unofficial world record for 2000 m on turf. She proceeded to win Sydney's most important WFA race, the BMW Stakes, with a last-to-first burst. In April and May, she raced in Japan, where she failed in two starts, the latter of which was over in the Group One Tenno Sho (Emperor's Cup).
Makybe Diva was named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year for the 2004/05 season. Along with this, she was also named Australian Champion Stayer and Australian Champion Filly and Mare. A three-quarter brother to Makybe Diva, by Redoute's Choice, was sold in April 2005 for an Australian record price of $2.5 million. Subsequently, named Musket, the colt won his debut at Canterbury in August 2006, and in 2008 won the Gr.2 Shannon Stakes at Rosehill.
Prior to the Melbourne Cup, whether Makybe Diva would start was in doubt, after her connections said she would not run if the track was "too firm". After the VRC decided to water the track, however, she was declared a starter. On 1 November 2005, she made history in winning a record third Melbourne Cup. Settling towards the back of the field, she steadily made ground between runners around the home turn, before hitting the lead with around 300 m to go and holding a comfortable 1-1/4-length margin at the finish. Immediately after the race, trainer Lee Freedman said:
The win was not without controversy, however. Many, including rival trainers, suggested the track watering amounted to bad sportsmanship employed to give Makybe Diva the best chance to win the race. However, the track condition was upgraded to good straight after the Cup, and the winning time of 3:19.18 was consistent with that rating.
Makybe Diva carried 58 kg during the record third Melbourne Cup, 0.5 kg above the weight-for-age scale for a mare in a 3200m race. The last horse to carry more than weight-for-age and win was Rain Lover, who was 1 kg over when he won his second cup in 1969, with 60.5 kg. In 2005, Makybe Diva broke her own weight-carrying record for a mare of 55.5 kg, which she set in 2004, and became the highest-weighted winner of the Cup since Think Big won his second Melbourne Cup with 58.5 kg in 1975. During the presentation of the Melbourne Cup, owner Tony Šantić announced that Makybe Diva would "retire from racing as of today".
At the end of the 2005–06 season, Makybe Diva was named Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year for the second time, becoming just the third horse to win that accolade more than once. She was also named Australian Champion Stayer, winning this award for the third consecutive year, as well as Australian Champion Middle Distance Racehorse.
At 3:16 on the morning of 17 August 2007, AEST time, Makybe Diva gave birth to her first foal, named Rockstardom, at Coolmore Stud in the Hunter Valley of NSW. Sold for AU$1.5 million as a yearling in 2009, he won two races in 12 starts, earning $26,115 over three years. Rockstardom was gelded and died of a skull fracture in his stall at C. Waller's stables on 26 July 2013.
Makybe Diva was due to be served by Encosta De Lago in the spring of 2007 until the outbreak of equine influenza forced the stud to be quarantined. Owner Tony Šantić sent the Diva to American champion Fusaichi Pegasus, instead. On 20 August 2008, Makybe gave birth to her second foal, a filly by the aforementioned Fusaichi Pegasus. This filly, later named La Dolce Diva, sold at auction for $1.2 million to trainer Mark Kavanagh of Melbourne.Harvey, Virginia, Thoroughbreds, The Land newspaper, 15 April 2010, p. 60, Rural Press Makybe Diva had a colt on 28 August 2009 by Encosta De Lago and was covered by More Than Ready for the 2010 season, but she did not produce a foal in 2010. The Daily Telegraph. "Makybe Diva has third foal ." 1 September 2009.
Makybe Diva gave birth to her fourth foal, a bay colt by Lonhro, on 16 August 2011 in Victoria. Her fifth foal, born in September 2012, is a colt sired by High Chaparral.
On 4 July 2006, Makybe Diva was inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
As announced on 5 August 2006, Makybe Diva has been honoured at Flemington Racecourse with a life-sized bronze statue, in recognition of her historic three Melbourne Cup wins. Photo of the statue Makybe Diva at Flemington Racecourse - The Weekly Review A life-sized bronze statue was also erected on the foreshore in Šantić's home town of Port Lincoln, South Australia.
Makybe Diva headed the International Federation of Horseracing Authorities ratings for the 2005-06 official end-of-season assessment. She was given a rating of 124, ahead of Electrocutionist, David Junior. and Heart's Cry on 123. At a ceremony in Melbourne on 5 September 2010, held in conjunction with the Australian Horse of the Year awards, Makybe Diva was officially inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame.
| + 2001/2002: Three-Year-Old Season |
| Blues Explosion 1st |
| + 2002/2003: Four-Year-Old Season |
| Sing Us a Tune 2nd |
| Zanisa 2nd |
| Our Fireman Sam 2nd |
| Little Miss Quick 2nd |
| Aquiver 2nd |
| Spirit of Westbury 2nd |
| Karamazou 1st |
| Old Man 1st |
| + 2003/2004: Five-Year-Old Season |
| C'Est Le Reve 1st |
| Sunday Joy 1st |
| Studebaker 1st |
| Mummify 1st |
| She's Archie 2nd |
| Mr Murphy 1st |
| La Sirenuse 1st |
| Lonhro 1st |
| Sound Action 1st |
| Grand Zulu 1st |
| Manawa King 2nd |
| + 2004/2005: Six-Year-Old Season |
| Regal Roller 1st |
| Delzao 1st |
| Elvstroem 1st |
| Elvstroem 1st |
| Vinnie Roe 2nd |
| Elvstroem 1st |
| Elvstroem 1st |
| Winning Belle 2nd |
| Grand Armee 2nd |
| Suzuno 1 March |
| Suzuka Mambo 1st |
| + 2005/2006: Seven-Year-Old Season |
| Barely a Moment 2nd |
| Lad of the Manor 1st |
| Lad of the Manor 2nd |
| Lotteria 2nd |
| On a Jeune 2nd |
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