History records the first official Sydney Cup being run and won in 1866 by Yattendon but from 1862-65 the race took place in the shape of the AJC Grand Handicap.

The initial AJC Grand Handicap, run over 4800m, was taken out by the five-year-old gelding Talleyrand (by Cossack) with the dual Melbourne Cup winner Archer finishing third.

The second running was staged over 3200m and won by Traveller and the third event saw the five-year-old entire Tarragon prevail as favourite.

Traveller and Tarragon would incidentally each take out the AJC Queen's Plate (4800m) at WFA on the third day of the meetings and that race has since become the Queen Elizabeth Stakes (2000m).

Union Jack would win the 1865 event and the following year the race became known as the Sydney Cup, for which it has remained ever since.

The presence of the Melbourne Cup, and the Adelaide and Brisbane Cups appearing around this period, probably forced the hand of the AJC to come up with their own notable handicap feature.

Remember interstate feelings were staunch at this time with the great Archer, after winning the first two Melbourne Cups, leading to a New South Wales boycott of the third Cup, because his acceptance was deemed to have missed the deadline.

Interstate rivalry was as fierce as it is today and one-upmanship was prevalent between the racing and jockey clubs that looked to build on their early success.

The 1866 win by Yattendon was the first of three winners for his sire Sir Hercules in the Sydney Cup, with The Barb (1868-69) scoring twice and Barbelle (1870), the first mare to win the race.

Barbelle also won a Doncaster Handicap that year and it is a record she will keep all too herself.

The mares Vixen and Wakeful would also win a Doncaster Handicap, but theirs came the season before winning the Sydney Cup.

The Barb had won the 1866 AJC Derby and VRC Melbourne Cup and proved to be a superb carrier of weight in handicap distance races with a terrific Sydney season in 1869 culminating in the Sydney Cup.

He came back in 1869 to set a weight carrying record when winning his second Sydney Cup in a row, lugging the staggering impost of 67kg.

A good measure of handicap dominance The Barb showed in his era was the next highest weight carried to victory in a Sydney Cup was by the champion Carbine, at 61.2kgs.

Dual Sydney Cup winners apart from The Barb are Carbine (1889-90), Mosaic (1939-40), Veiled Threat (1942, 1944) and Tie The Knot (1998-99).

The age group statistical breakdown offers no surprising results except for the lack of older horses taking out the race.

Only three horses seven years of age or older have ever taken out the Sydney Cup with Kingfisher (1877), River Seine (1965) and two years ago in Mr. Prudent, which went on to finish second in this seasons fast run Melbourne Cup.

The age group breakdown is 32 three-year-olds, 45 four-year-olds, 38 five-year-olds and 19 six-year-olds, to go with the three seven years of age or older winners.

Four three-year-old fillies have won the Sydney Cup in Petrea (1880), Diffidence (1899), Patroness (1895) and Moorilla (1911).

Carbine won the 1889 Sydney Cup as a three-year-old with 57kg and his son Wallace won the 1896 running at the same age, carrying 56.2kg.

Those are the two highest weights carried to victory by three-year-olds ever in the race.

The next best five weight carrying efforts by three-year-olds are Lord Cardigan (1904, 54kg, The Australian Peer (1888, 53.5kg), Carbon Copy (1949, 53kg), Johnnie Jason (1932, 52.5kg) and the modern day wonder Kingston Town (1980, 52.5kg).

Some quality three-year-olds to win the race include Fishook (1867), Progress (1881) and Trafalgar (1909) up to the more recognisable Prince Grant (1966), Our Paddy Boy (1981) and Veloso (1983).

The magnitude of Kingston Town's win is best shown in that it is the highest weight carrying win by a three-year-old in the last 53 years of the running of the Sydney Cup.

Four-year-olds have the best winning ratio in the Sydney Cup with the most recent being Tie The Knot (1999) but over the 137 runnings some fine examples of horse flesh have prevailed at this age.

Yattendon (1866), The Barb (1868), Darebin (1883), Carbine (1890), Lady Trenton (1894), Eurythmic (1921), Mosaic (1940), Veiled Threat (1942), Galilee (1967), Lowland (1969) and Count Chivas (1996) to name a few.

Thirty eight five-year-olds have saluted the judge first in the Sydney Cup with the most recent being Streak in 2000.

Some of the famous five-year-olds to win, apart from that 67kg win by The Barb (1869), include La Carabine (1900), Wakeful (1902), David (1923), Apollo Eleven (1973), Oopik (1976), Trissaro (1984) and Marooned (1986).

The stories behind the above centered on breeding, overall race record, track conditions or generally the greatness and domination of their victories.

In 1926 however greatness was bestowed on a brown five-year-old gelding and his place in history became settled as the longest priced winner of the Sydney Cup.

Murray King might not ring any bells with many racing folk these days but in 1926 he stunned the Sydney racegoers and media by winning the Cup at 250-1.

He was by Comedy King, a 1910 Melbourne Cup winner, from the Bardolph (GB) mare Lady Cantana.

He failed to show much early on for Bill Burke at Flemington and was bundled off to Randwick trainer George Price, with instructions he would never be any good until he runs 2400m or further.

Price was a Kiwi expatriate and in three years since arriving in Australia had turned around Windbag to win the 1925 Melbourne Cup.

Murray King impressed in training, as he often did, but flattered to deceive on raceday until ambitiously nominated for the Sydney Cup.

A keen Price stable follower upon considering taking 500 pounds to 2 pounds for Murray King, was advised the 2 pounds was better kept in his pocket.

Murray King was ridden by a twenty-year-old, that had never won a race in the city before, so you can see the reasoning behind his incredibly long odds.

The owners of the gelding at the time of the race were overseas (T J Gaffaney) and at another race meeting (E J Gorman, also his breeder).

The favourite for the 1926 Sydney Cup was the New Zealand star Pilliewinkie, but he had to carry 63kg, while next in the betting was the super chestnut Heroic (60.5kg), as yet unproven at 3200m.

Murray King led the field up and like an Olympic distance final, no one worried about the despised outsider in front.

The 250-1 shot still led coming up to the turn and then calamity struck with a fall, which Murray King obviously missed.

The challengers came either side of Murray King late in the home straight but when they hit the line his neck was in front from a flying Caserta second, a head in front of Naos, with Heroic a close fourth.

The riders of Pilliewinkie, Naos, Tookarby and Heroic all felt they would have won the race but for suffering interference from the fall.

Odds of 500-1 and even 1000-1 went begging on Murray King but his winning price of 250-1 was the legitimate "boilover of the century".

Nineteen fillies or mares have won the Sydney Cup and Lady Trenton (1894) is the only one to leave a subsequent winner of the cup in Lord Cardigan (1904), by Positano (GB)).

Lord Cardigan won the 1903 Melbourne Cup too as a three-year-old and his two feature 3200m handicap wins overshadow his stunning WFA record of finishing first or second in eight of his ten attempts.

Lord Cardigan came close to achieving Archer's record of consecutive Melbourne Cups when beaten less than a length by Acrasia, but sadly died four days later from internal bleeding.

Rain Lover would achieve the back-to-back Melbourne Cup victories 65 years later, showing the enormity of such a task.

Wakeful carried the mare's record of 60.5kg to victory in the 1902 Sydney Cup, an amazing 6kg more than the second best on the list of Lowland (1969) with 54.5kg.

The unraced dam Sunbride left dual Sydney Cup winners in Straight Draw (1958) and General Command (1968), with the former being only one of four horses to win the Melbourne and Sydney Cup's in the same season.

Carbine, Lord Cardigan and Galilee were the other three.

The broodmare Fair Ellen left three Sydney Cup winners in consecutive years with The Barb (1868-69) and Barbelle (1870), which also ran third in the race in 1872.

Many horses have tried and come close to winning the Doncaster-Sydney Cup double in the same season with the most famous being Vagabond, second in each race in 1949.

Vagabond was the horse that champion rider Darby Munro was outed for two years over.

Carbine left the Sydney Cup winners in a son Wallace (1896) and a daughter La Carabine (1900).

Darebin (1883), the third highest winning weight carrier in history with 61kg, left The Australian Peer (1888) while 1949 Sydney Cup winner Carbon Copy left Grand Print (1962), to replicate his fathers success.

Some noted six-year-olds to win the Sydney Cup include Merloolas (1898), Reckless (1977), My Good Man (1978) and Battle Heights (1974).

Merloolas (by St. Swithin (NZ)) had finished second in the Doncaster Handicap that same season.

The days of back-breaking weights carried to victory in the Sydney Cup appear over and recent decades confirm this.

The highest recent weight carried to victory was by Tie The Knot (57kg) in 1999, his second Sydney Cup, and that comes in at a paltry eighteenth on the all time list.

The only two horses to carry enough weight to break into the top ten in the last 50 years were Galilee (1967, 60.5kg) and My Good Man (1978, 60kg).

Henderson Bay, as the winner of the Sydney Cup last year, will be aiming to join a select band of five previous dual winners of the 3200m autumn feature handicap.