Some champions are bred for greatness—born into royal bloodlines, trained at the finest stables, and surrounded by wealth.
And then there was Takeover Target—the horse who came from nowhere, owned by a broke taxi driver, trained in the backyard, and ridden to glory against the world’s best.
His was not just a racing story.
It was a fairytale.
This is the legend of Takeover Target—the battler who conquered the world.
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The Forgotten Colt
Takeover Target was never supposed to be a champion.
Born in 1999, he was by a no-name stallion, out of a no-name mare.
As a young horse, he was riddled with injuries, too slow to impress breeders, and too fragile to be worth training.
No one wanted him.
He was sold for a pitiful $1,250 at a bargain auction—a throwaway price for a horse that seemed to have no future.
And that’s where Joe Janiak found him.
Joe wasn’t a wealthy owner.
He was a struggling taxi driver from Australia, scraping by on fares and working nights to pay the bills.
He didn’t have a stable full of blue-blooded racehorses. He had one—a broken, unwanted gelding named Takeover Target.
Joe took him home, nursed him back to health, and trained him himself.
No fancy facilities. No expensive equipment. Just a horse, a man, and a dream.
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The Underdog Awakens
For years, Takeover Target battled injuries.
But then, in 2004, at the age of five—when most racehorses are already reaching their peak—he was finally ready to run.
And when he stepped onto the track for his debut race, the world saw something no one had expected.
The forgotten horse was fast.
Not just good, not just decent—blindingly, breathtakingly fast.
He won. Then he won again.
And again.
Takeover Target went on an unstoppable winning streak, tearing through the ranks of Australian sprinters.
By the time he stormed to victory in the Group 1 Salinger Stakes, he was no longer a no-name horse.
He was a rising star.
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The World Takes Notice
Most underdog stories would end here.
A cheap horse winning a Group 1 race is miracle enough.
But Joe Janiak wasn’t done dreaming.
And Takeover Target wasn’t done winning.
In 2006, Joe did something unthinkable.
He took his backyard-trained, taxi-funded racehorse to Royal Ascot—the most prestigious racing festival in the world.
He entered the King’s Stand Stakes, a race featuring Europe’s best sprinters.
And the racing elite—trainers with million-dollar stables, horses worth fortunes—laughed at the idea of an Aussie taxi driver beating them.
Then the gates flew open.
And Takeover Target humiliated them all.
He charged down the straight, holding off the world’s best, and won the King’s Stand Stakes in front of the British Royal Family.
The cheap horse from nowhere had just conquered the world’s biggest stage.
And he wasn’t stopping.
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The People’s Champion
Over the next four years, Takeover Target became a global racing superstar.
He won Group 1 races in England, Japan, Singapore, and Australia—something no other horse had ever done.
At every track, in every country, the world fell in love with him.
Not just because he was fast.
Not just because he was great.
But because he wasn’t supposed to be there.
He wasn’t a millionaire’s horse. He wasn’t born into privilege.
He was a battler—a fighter who had defied every odd, every expectation, and every rule of racing.
And through it all, Joe Janiak stayed the same—still a taxi driver at heart, still waking up at dawn to feed his horse, still laughing at the fact that he, a nobody in the racing world, had beaten the best.
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The Final Run
Takeover Target raced until he was nine years old—an age when most sprinters had long since retired.
But he loved to run.
And he still ran like a champion.
In 2009, at the age of nine, he entered the KrisFlyer Sprint in Singapore—his final race.
He ran his heart out.
But in the final strides, he pulled up lame—his powerful legs finally betraying him.
Joe knew it was time.
There would be no more comebacks. No more underdog miracles.
Takeover Target had given everything.
He was retired, sent back to Australia, and lived the rest of his days as a hero—beloved by millions.
—
The Legend Lives On
Takeover Target’s story was never about money, or breeding, or the expectations of the racing elite.
It was about heart.
It was about proving that even the most unwanted, overlooked, and forgotten can rise to greatness.
And it was about one man and one horse—defying the odds together.
Today, when racing fans talk about champions, they don’t just talk about the Secretariat and Frankels of the world.
They talk about the horse who cost $1,250, trained in a backyard, and took on the world’s best—and beat them.
They talk about Takeover Target.
Because his was not just a racing story.
It was a fairytale.
