Better Loosen Up (foaled 29 August 1985 – died 15 March 2016^[2]) was an AustralianThoroughbredracehorse that won theJapan Cup in 1990^[3] and was namedAustralia's champion racehorse in 1991. He campaigned from two to seven years of age, and won 17 of his 45 starts,^[4] including eightGroup One races.^[5] In 2004, he was inducted into theAustralian Racing Hall of Fame.^[6]

Better Loosen Up was a small baygelding, by Loosen Up (USA) out of Better Fantasy by Better Boy (IRE). He was bred by Howard Martin and foaled inBerrigan, New South Wales. Loosen Up won the French Prix de l' Avre and was the sire of six stakes-winners in Australia with Better Loosen Up being the best one. Better Fantasy was the dam of 13 named foals, but Better Loosen Up was her only stakes-winner.^[7]

Under the care of Les Theodore, won one of his four starts as two-year-old, a maiden atBendigo on 28 April 1988. At three, he was transferred to theSydney stables ofBart Cummings, where he won four races and was runner-up in theCanterbury Guineas. At season's end, his record stood at a relatively unprepossessing five wins from 16 starts, although Les Theodore claims to have told the staff at Lindsay Park that the horse was a 'champion'.^[8]

Now trained byColin Hayes, Better Loosen Up resumed late in the spring of 1989, on Caulfield Cup day, with a close second, and finished the year with three Group One wins in as many starts, in theHonda Stakes, theWinfield Stakes, and theRailway Stakes. In the new year, he defeatedSuper Impose andVo Rogue in theBlamey and theSegenhoe Stakes, and was runner-up to Vo Rogue in theAustralian Cup in between. In his final starts for the season, he was defeated bySydeston on heavy tracks in theMercedes Classic andQueen Elizabeth Stakes. At five, under the care of David Hayes (Colin Hayes had retired at the end of the 1989–1990 season), Better Loosen Up was better again. After a first-up defeat in theListon Stakes, he was undefeated for the rest of the season, and, in successive races, took out theFeehan Stakes, theTurnbull Stakes, theCox Plate, theMackinnon Stakes, theJapan Cup, and, in the new year, the Blamey Stakes and the Australian Cup. In theCox Plate, Better Loosen Up had come from an estimated 30 lengths off the lead to win in course-record time; in the Mackinnon Stakes, on Derby Day, he was one of a 'world record' six Group winners for his trainer;^[9] in the Japan Cup, he scored a thrilling win to racecaller Bryan Martin's cry of 'Better Loosen Up has won for Australia',^[8] and remains the only Australian horse to do so; in the Australian Cup, he defeated Vo Rogue by5+1⁄2 lengths. Following this season, Better Loosen Up was named Australia's champion racehorse in 1991.

A leg injury, which had cut short his autumn campaign, restricted him to just 12 further starts, at six and seven, and he failed to reach the same heights. His best performance came in the Cox Plate of 1992, where he was beaten just over a length by Super Impose, and successfully protested against Let's Elope, who was second past-the-post. He was retired in February 1993, within days of Super Impose, with which he would star on 'Super Better Best'^[8] – the story of how two geldings rose from obscurity to amass a '$10 million fortune'.

Better Loosen Up lived atLiving Legends, The International Home of Rest for Champion Horses in the Melbourne suburb ofGreenvale before his death in 2016.^[10]

• List of millionaire racehorses in Australia

• Better Loosen Up at the Australian Racing Museum and Hall of Fame

• 1985 racehorse births
• 2016 racehorse deaths
• Racehorses bred in Australia
• Racehorses trained in Australia
• Cox Plate winners
• Japan Cup winners
• Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year
• Australian Racing Hall of Fame horses
• Thoroughbred family 7-d

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