Cigarette cards - horses | State Library of New South Wales

Cigarette cards - horses

Cigarette cards featured popular race horses including winners of the Melbourne Cup and Caulfield Cup. The selection of images below is from a series of cigarette cards which featured winners of the Melbourne Cup from its beginnings in 1861 until 1905, including the famous horse Archer who won the Melbourne Cup twice in two consecutive years 1861 and 1862. 

For more than a century, Archer was one of only two horses to have won the Melbourne Cup twice. Watched by a crowd of around 4,000, Archer, a Sydney 'outsider' who had been injured during training a few days earlier, went on to win the innaugural Melbourne Cup in 1861, defeating the local favourite Mormon. In 1862, Archer again won, this time by an amazing eight lengths, with Mormon again running second.

This image viewer requires a web browser with the Flash plugin and JavaScript enabled.

Get the latest Flash player .

> View more of the Library's collection of cigarette cards featuring Melbourne Cup winners, 1861-1905

This series of cigarette cards features all the Melbourne Cup winners between 1861 and 1905, including Archer (1861, 1862), Glencoe (1868), Don Juan (1873), Carbine (1890), Glenloth (1892), Clean Sweep (1900), Acrasia (1904) and Blue Spec (1905).  Many Melbourne Cup winners have become part of Australian folklore. 

> View more cigarette cards featuring early Melbourne Cup winners, via the Library's online catalogue catalogue link

> View another series of cigarette cards featuring scenes of Australian horseracing, 1900s, via the Library's online catalogue catalogue link