Kingston Town

Kingston Town (31 August 1976 - March 1991) was an outstanding Australian bred Thoroughbred racehorse who won a record three Cox Plates and 11 other Group One races in a career spanning from 1979 to 1982. In 1980 he was awarded the honour of being the Australian Champion Racehorse of the Year.

He was by Bletchingly, later a Leading sire in Australia, his dam, Ada Hunter (GER) was by Andrea Mantegna (FR). Ada Hunter was the dam of nine foals, but Private Thoughts (a brother to Kingston Town) was her only other stakes winner. She was later exported to the United States. Kingston Town was bred by David Hains, who sold a share in him to G. Monsborough and his wife after the horse failed to reach his reserve as a yearling.

Racing record

He was trained throughout his career by Tommy Smith and ridden in 25 of his 30 wins by Malcolm Johnston. Kingston Town made his debut as a two-year-old, and, in his only start as a colt, ran last, but returned as a gelding in the final weeks of the season to win the Round Table Handicap at Rosehill at odds of 33/1. This was the beginning of a six-race winning run, which culminated in his first Group One win, the Spring Champion Stakes. Sent to Melbourne, the 'Sydney Champion', as he was dubbed, could only finish third, fourth, and second, respectively, in the Caulfield Guineas, the Caulfield Cup, and the Victoria Derby. The pattern of consistent success in Sydney and mixed fortunes in Melbourne would be repeated throughout his career: Kingston Town won 21 races from as many starts in Sydney between June 1979 and August 1982, interspersed with four trips to Melbourne, where he won five of his 13 starts.

Kingston Town (song)

"Kingston Town" is a 1970 song by Lord Creator. It was recorded in 1989 by reggae group UB40 and was the second single from their album Labour of Love II, reaching #4 on the UK singles chart.

In June 2007, the copyright holders of the song, Sparta Florida Music Group, started legal action against Paris Hilton and Warner Chappell Music for plagiarism due to alleged similarities between "Kingston Town" and Hilton's song "Stars Are Blind". It was wrongly stated that UB40 was the suing party, which the band later confirmed as being incorrect on their website.

In France, the cover by UB40 peaked at #1 for three weeks from October 20 to November 3, 1990. It remained on the chart for 25 weeks, and was certified Gold disc by SNEP in 1991. Infodisc Website estimates it is the 426th best selling single of all time in France with 581,000 copies sold.

The song was also covered by Jamaican group The Mighty Red.

Track listing

5" CD

Virgin / DEPX 35