Vo Rogue was his name, and he captured the hearts of the racing public like few others before or since. He was also synonymous with the Australian Cup, winning the group 1 race twice and finishing second twice: whenever the race is run his memory is evoked.

The Rogue wasn't unbeatable, like Winx or Black Caviar, and he didn't compete in an era of social media and digital technology where instant replays of his mighty feats were readily available within seconds of him crossing the line.

But in the late 1980s and early 1990s everyone knew the brave, trailblazing Queenslander, his quirky trainer, Vic Rail, and his little-known (in Melbourne, anyway) jockey Cyril Small, who rode him in 68 of his 83 races.

The Rogue would burst from the barriers and, no matter what the distance, hustle to the front and just go faster and faster, often building up huge leads and daring his classy rivals to run him down in the straight.

He could keep up a relentless pace and broke the hearts of many as he galloped them into submission. Everyone loves a bold, defiant front-runner, especially one with his class and grit, and he never let anyone down in a long career that ended in May 1991 when he was a seven-year-old.

Small, his long-time partner, always remembers him wistfully at this time of year, and with good reason. He was aboard on all four Australian Cup runs and recalls them all vividly.

The first was marketed as a match race between the Queensland sensation and the Kiwi champion, Bonecrusher, who had won the ''race of the century''  in the 1986  Cox Plate and had taken the Australian Cup in 1987.

Fans turned up at Flemington wearing scarves proclaiming their allegiance and it was widely regarded as a race in two.

But the rain had come earlier in the day and that didn't suit the Rogue, who used to love to hear his hooves rattle. And he wasn't quite right on the day, says Small.

''When his owner Jeff (Perry) picked me up at the airport that morning he said he wasn't at his top and he would have been pleased to run in the first three,'' Small said - hardly encouraging words to hear about an even-money favourite.

The Rogue kept his side of the bargain with Bonecrusher and beat him easily.

But whether it was the soft ground or the fact that he wasn't at his top caught up with him in the closing stages and he was run down close home by the 125-1 outsider Dandy Andy, ridden by Brent Thompson, and could finish only second.

It was one of the sensations of that or any other racing season, but the Rogue made amends the following year.

''Those two seasons when he won it, he was just fantastic,'' says Small. ''He would go out in front and defy them to run him down, and they couldn't get to him even down that long straight.''

In 1988 the combination saw off Super Impose, one of the greatest gallopers of the past 50 years (he won two Doncasters, two Epsoms and finished second in a Melbourne Cup), and Our Poetic Prince, who would win the 1988 Cox Plate seven months later.

Twelve months on, the Rogue enhanced his reputation still further in beating perhaps the best Australian Cup field assembled.

Once again he and Small blazed the trail and he had enough in hand to beat Better Loosen Up (who would win the 1990 Japan Cup ) and Super Impose by a length and three quarters of a length.

Stylish Century, who had been beaten a fraction in the Cox Plate five months earlier before winning the VRC Derby could finish only fourth, with The Phantom, placed in two Caulfield Cups and a Melbourne Cup, fifth. A year later the now-seven-year-old Vo Rogue finished second to Better Loosen Up, by then firmly established as Australia's top galloper.

The greatest show on turf? He might not have been the best ever, but surely the Rogue and his Australian Cup record will stand for a long time to come.