Retirement Looms for Tough Tilly

Tough Tilly. Photo by Stuart McCormick.

SATURDAY night will be one of the last times we see star mare Tough Tilly on the track.

Connections have made the call that her final race start will be in the $150,000 Group 1 Queen of the Pacific at Melton on November 4.

Tough Tilly will continue preparing for her farewell through Saturday night’s $30,000 Make Mine Cullen (1720m) at Melton.

Managing-owner and breeder Craig Judd said he and connections wanted the triple Group 1 winner to retire on a high.

“We’ve decided the Queen of the Pacific will be her last race,” he said. “It feels like the right time and right stage. She will retire to stud in fantastic shape.”

Tough Tilly has been sparingly raced by trainers Emma Stewart and Clayton Tonkin across four years with 38 starts netting 17 wins, 11 seconds, a third and $616,833 in prize money.

Despite living in the intimidating shadow of champion stablemate Ladies In Red for much of her career, Tough Tilly holds the distinction of being the only horse to have beaten Ladies In Red three times in a race.

Two of Tough Tilly’s wins over Ladies In Red came at Group 1 level, in the APG 4YO Mares’ final at Menangle on May 7, last year and the Vicbred 2YO final on New Year’s Eve, 2020.

The most recent was 12 months ago in the Make Mine Cullen when Tough Tilly won and Ladies In Red ran second.

Saturday night’s Make Mine Cullen will be their 14th clash. As well as her three wins over Ladies In Red, Tough Tilly has run second to her seven times, third once and fourth on two other occasions.

All that aside, Tough Tilly’s greatest legacy will be significantly increasing awareness around EB (Epidermolysis Bullosa) Research in Australia.

Named after EB sufferer Tilly Wilkes, Tough Tilly has raced in the EB Research colours.

She raised around $100,000 towards EB Research as part of the prize money was donated to the cause.