Rough Habit

Rough Habit (2 December 1986 – 7 November 2014) was a New Zealand-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won 11 Group One (G1) races on both sides of the Tasman, and won New Zealand's Horse of the Year Award in 1992 and 1995.

Background

Rough Habit, a bay gelding with a distinctive white blaze trailing over his near-side nostril, was foaled on 2 December 1986. He was sired by Roughcast (USA) out of Certain Habit (NZ) by Ashabit (GB). Certain Habit was the dam of 11 named foals that were produced in Australia and New Zealand, producing 2 stakes winners in Rough Habit and Citi Habit.

Racing record

Rough Habit was trained by John Wheeler, and had nine campaigns in Australia, from three to eight years of age. He won Group One races in Sydney and Melbourne and won six of his 11 Group One races at the Brisbane winter carnivals, where his wins included the Queensland Derby, two Stradbroke Handicaps, and a record three Doomben Cups. Rough Habit won 21 feature races from 1,400 to 2,400 metres, on wet tracks and dry, and was narrowly beaten by fellow New Zealander Solvit in the 1994 Cox Plate. Later in the season, Rough Habit won the O'Shea Stakes, in Brisbane, at his final start in Australia.