C F Orr Stakes

C F Orr Stakes

The C F Orr Stakes 2013 is the first Group 1 feature thoroughbred race held in Australia this year. It is normally the 2nd, after the Lightning Stakes, however that event has moved back a week in 2013. Taking place on a Saturday in early February at the coveted Caulfield racecourse in Melbourne, the C F Orr Stakes is a weight-for-age event, and as such often attracts some of the younger and emerging champions going around suited to the lower weights. The 2013 CF Orr Stakes will be held on 12 February, 2013.

It is a middle distance sprint event where the contesting horses test their speed and skill over 1400m while competing for the lucrative $400,000 total stakes on offer.

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The headline race of the meeting, the C F Orr Stakes takes place on the same day as four Group 3 races including the Rubiton Stakes, Geoffrey Belmaine Stakes, TS Carlyon Cup and the two Blue Diamond Prelude races.

C F Orr Stakes Day is the first of three exciting race days that make up the Caulfield Festival of Racing; the other two are the Arrowfield Stud Blue Diamonds Stakes Day and Futurity Stakes Day.

Lead Up Races:

Held earlier in the annual Melbourne Autumn Racing Carnival, the Group 2 Australia Stakes (1200m), which is another weight-for-age sprint is considered a good preparatory race for horses running in the C F Orr Stakes. The Australia Stakes is normally held two weeks prior at Moonee Valley Racecourse.

Higher seeded horses may have also run in the Group 1 Lightning Stakes (1000m) at Flemington on the Saturday before the C F Orr Stakes, however this year the CF Orr Stakes will be the first Group 1 race in the 2013 calendar.

The C F Orr Stakes is an ideal lead up race to some of the more prestigious and high stakes weight-for-age races held in Melbourne during the autumn, including the $1million Group 1 Australia Cup in early March on Flemington’s Super Saturday of Racing.

C F Orr History:

The C F Orr Stakes reached its premier Group 1 status in 1993 when it was elevated from a Group 2 event. Now run under standard weight-for-age conditions, the race has previously been a handicap race as well as a weight-for-age with penalties.

Over time, the C F Orr stakes has been held at five different locations around Melbourne. It was originally run at Williamstown Racecourse, Moonee Valley, Flemington, Sandown and now at Caulfield Racecourse.

Previous Winners:

Since the race’s inception in 1925, a number of sprinting superstars has seen success in the C F Orr Stakes including Typhoon Tracy (2011 & 2010), Maldivian (2009), El Segundo (2007), Lonhro (2004), Saintly (1997) and Let’s Elope (1992) just to name a few.

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