Memsie Stakes
Horse race
The Stow Memsie Stakes is a Melbourne Racing Club Group 1 Thoroughbred horse race held under weight for age conditions, for horses aged three years old and upwards, over a distance of 1400 metres. It is held at Caulfield Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia as a lead in to the Spring Racing Carnival.
01History
The race is often used as a lead-up race by good horses preparing for the longer feature races such as the Caulfield Cup, Cox Plate and Melbourne Cup. Such horses typically compete against less glamorous, and usually fitter, sprinter-milers who have been trained specifically for this race. Speed and fitness seem to prevail over class about half the time, as can be seen in the list of recent winners.
As the race comes early in the Spring, it will often indicate how well a horse has come back after its customary winter spell. There is sometimes just as much interest in the horses running on well from the back of the field, as there is in the actual winner. A good run by a staying horse in this race is often a good indicator of a successful Spring Carnival to come.
The Memsie Stakes is a virtually identical race to the P B Lawrence Stakes, another 1,400 metre weight-for-age race run at Caulfield usually earlier in August except that this is the first Group 1 in the racing season in Victoria.
The list of previous winners of the race contain recent champions, including Sincero, So You Think, Weekend Hussler, Makybe Diva, Sunline, Naturalism, Rancho Ruler, Manikato, and famous champions from the 20th century Galilee, Rising Fast, Comic Court, Lord (four times), Ajax (three times) and Phar Lap.
Distance
- 1899 -1 mile (~ 1600m)
- 1900, 1980 - 11⁄8 miles (~ 1800m)
- 1971 - 1 mile (~ 1600m)
- 1972, 1979, 1600 metres
- 1980 onwards - 1400 metres
Grade
- 1899, 1978 - Principal Race
- 1979, 2012 - Group 2
- 2013 onwards Group 1
Venue
- 1899 - 1983 - Caulfield Racecourse
- 1984 - Sandown Racecourse
- 1985-present - Caulfield Racecourse
1951 and 1954 racebooks
02Winners
The following are past winners of the race.
Sources and credits
This article is adapted from the Wikipedia article “Memsie Stakes”, written by its contributors and licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Fathomly has changed the layout, removed citation markers, navigation and maintenance notices, and adjusted punctuation. This adapted version is shared under the same license. For references, see the original article.
Images, from Wikimedia Commons:
- Ajax 1937 RRC Rosehill Guineas Jockey Maurice McCarten Trainer Frank Musgrave.jpg by Sydney Morning Herald - Sydney, Public domain
- Rising Fast (NZ).jpg by Ern McQuillan, Public domain
- Tranquil Star 1946 Olympic Park Melbourne Farewell Jockey Scobie Breasley Trainer Ron Cameron.jpg by Herald & Weekly Times - Melbourne, Public domain
- Eurythmic racehorse with jockey ca. 1920..jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
- Uncle Sam 1914 VATC Caulfield Cup Jockey J E Ettershank Trainer M P Whitty.jpg by Sutcliffe and Akers - Melbourne, CC0
- Gothic 1928 VATC Caulfield Stakes Jockey Jim Pike Trainer Lou Robertson.jpg by The Australasian - Melbourne, Public domain
- Comic Court (AUS).jpg by Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
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