Etienne L. de Mestre

Who was Etienne L. de Mestre?

Etienne de Mestre, a 19th-century trainer of Thoroughbred racehorses, was Australia's first outstanding racehorse trainer. In his 30 year career he experienced all the highs and the lows of the turf in a career which ended with him dependent on donations from racing friends.

With the five wins de Mestre achieved in the Cup's first 18 years, he held the record for training the most Melbourne Cup winners for nearly 100 years. De Mestre won the first two Melbourne Cups with Archer in 1861 and 1862, and later trained a further three winners: Tim Whiffler; Chester; and Calamia. He set a training record for Melbourne Cup winners which was finally broken by Bart Cummings in 1977. De Mestre also trained many other feature race winners including two AJC and two VRC Derbies and an Epsom Handicap. In recognition of his outstanding achievements, Etienne de Mestre was inducted into the Hall of Fame of the Australian Racing Museum on 12 September 1992. One could best describe Etienne de Mestre as the "Bart Cummings" of his day.