William Reid Stakes


The William Reid Stakes is a horse race of Moonee Valley Racing Club Group 1 thoroughbred racing at Weight for Age, for three year olds and older, run over a distance of 1200 metres at Moonee Valley Racecourse, Melbourne, Australia in the autumn. Total prize money for the race is A$500,000.

History

The race has been won by a few champions including Manikato who won the race five consecutive times from 1979 to 1983. Also noted champions Black Caviar and Miss Andretti won the race before being successful at Royal Ascot.
From 2005 to 2007 it was the second leg of the Global Sprint Challenge, preceded by the Lightning Stakes and followed by the King's Stand Stakes. It has now been replaced as an Australian leg of the Global Sprint Challenge series by The Age Classic.

Name

The William Reid Stakes was named after William Reid, a former committee member of the Moonee Valley Racing Club. Originally from Morayshire, Scotland, William Reid was a Victorian Banker and racehorse owner who died in 1923. He was the owner of a number of prominent racehorses in the early 1900s including Uncle Sam, who won the Caulfield Cup in 1912 and 1914. Uncle Sam also ran third in the Melbourne Cup in 1912 who stood at his Glen Orla Stud in Sunbury.
During the period 1996-2001 the race was held on the Australia Day holiday weekend. In 2002 the event was moved to March while the Norman Carlyon Stakes which was the same distance and race conditions was rescheduled for the Australia Day holiday weekend. Later in 2010 that event was renamed to the Australia Stakes and to this date continues to be raced under the given name.
In 1995 the race was held at Flemington Racecourse.

Foreign entries

In 2005, Cape of Good Hope became the first overseas runner to win this race.

Winners