It's likely to be wet at Sandown for the running of the 2026 G1 Moir Stakes, adding another twist to this unique edition of the time-honoured 1000m WFA sprint classic.
We are used to watching the Moir field riding the old, tightly cambered Valley track at a truly hectic speed. It was an exciting spectacle and we'll miss it, but future Moirs will no doubt hold us just as spellbound as ever!
Meanwhile, we need to figure out who will be suited at the big and spacious Sandown Hillside circuit, where they'll go around a single turn and have plenty of time and room to get home hard in the straight - unlike the old Valley finish.
The Moir Stakes was named to honour a former Chairman of the MVRC, Alan John Moir, and was inaugurated in 1976.
The winner was Bob Hoysted's grand old sprinter Scamanda. The baldy faced chestnut was a crowd favourite and a race-aholic who steadfastly refused to be retired. Hoysted had to keep him in light work for many years as an old horse, because he pined for the life he loved in the stables.
Scamanda was exactly the sort of no-holds-barred competitor required to win this high pressure contest, and just a few years later Hoysted was saddling up the ultimate equine streetfighter - Manikato!
From 2013 the Moir has been a G1 contest. On the honour roll of iconic sprint races there are certain names we just expect to see there, and this race doesn't disappoint - Manikato in ‘82, Placid Ark in ‘87, the Freedie's flying grey Schillaci in ‘92.
Special, Apache Cat, Nature Strip, Sequalo, Miss Andretti, Falvelon, Bomber Bill, Virage De Fortune and California Dane all scorched the turf on their way to a Moir victory.
More recently Nature Strip, Extreme Choice, Viddora, Wild Ruler and the great Imperatriz are among the awesome speed machines to come out on top.
The only dual winners of the race are With Me and the legend, Black Caviar.
But the Moir’s undisputed king is the mighty Queenslander Buffering.
The legendary Buff won three editions in 2012 /14 /15 and was runner up to Samaready in 2013. The extraordinarily tough son of Mossman started 54 times for trainer Rob Heathcote and collected six G1s - it would have been more but for Black Caviar and Hay List!
Another Heathcote warhorse Rothfire is tackling his fourth Moir Stakes on Saturday, and after Rothy’s recent extraordinary feat in Brisbane when he finally claimed his second G1 at nine years of age by blowing them away in the Doomben 10,000 - who would dare to say he isn’t a chance?
The champ Giga Kick is back too, and the rest of the 13 strong field is made up by a bevy of fabulous mares and one exciting filly.
The Moir has always been a happy hunting ground for the fairer sex.
Apart from Black Caviar and the mares already mentioned, we remember Samaready, Spinning Hill, Our Egyptian Raine, She Will Reign, Pippie and Coolangatta as elite female flyers over the 1000m.
The new girl on the block is Natural Fling, by boom sire Home Affairs and already drawing comparisons to former stable star Sunlight. Whoa! I know she bolted in the G3 Quezette Stakes, but her credentials are a long way from former 3YO winners Coolangatta (placed Golden Slipper and two G2 wins at two), She Will Reign ( won the Slipper) and Virage De Fortune ( G1 winner at two) way back in 2005.
Mornington Glory in 2024 defeated two fantastic fillies - the ill fated Hayasugi and Lady Of Camelot - who were both G1 winners against all comers at two.
Obviously Natural Fling is very exciting. Maybe the race favourite is indeed a superstar about to launch, or maybe the hype train has lost the brakes and is about to go off a cliff.
Proven bigtime performers Skybird, Generosity, Ole Dancer, Geegees Mistruth, Extragalactic and the flying grey My Gladiola will face off against some high quality rivals who currently lack their glamour CVs.
Point Barrow and Herecomesthestar are in the hunt, while Cavalry Girl is fit and flying. She's a last start stakes winner at the track / distance and the mare she beat that day, Bazabell Rewarded, will attempt to turn the tables.
They will be out to run the bigger names off their legs, possibly accompanied by Natural Fling with her featherweight. Good tactics but nope, I don't like their chances of holding out the massive horsepower behind them when it’s unleashed. It’s G1 at WFA and there’s nowhere to hide - this will be a ripper race and fascinating to watch!
Last year Snitzel speedster Baraqiel zoomed to victory beating Alabama Lass and Arabian Summer.
Sandown gives the field a near- 500m straight run before they hit a turn, thus barriers are not the make or break factors they were at The Valley.
I don’t really want to be on a horse that’s leapt up in class and then finds itself out front in an insane high pressure race on testing ground and an undulating track.
This year’s Moir is going to favour relentless sustained speed over the sharp sprint that could usually win you the race!
Horses with stamina reserves, able to win up to 1200/1400m who will cope with the last 200m of this brutal test are needed, because they're going uphill to the post.
So who is ticking the boxes on form and pedigree?
Top Pick: GENEROSITY
Generosity didn't get her trip to Royal Ascot with Joliestar, but this would be a nice consolation!
The mare's first up record is good but is better than it looks in the form guide and she won the G2 Challenge Stakes over 1000m last prep when resuming, beating G1 winners Marhoona and Mazu ( Giga fourth, Skybird fifth) when giving Marhoona 2.5kg.
Marhoona turned the tables next start in the G1 Galaxy on her favourite day (Slipper day!) in which Generosity motored home from the back for fifth less than a length from the winner.
Generosity also went to the line untested in the G3 Concorde 1000m first up last spring.
She wants a big track and to be kept out of traffic - the spacious Sandown course, midfield draw and soft conditions are all in her favour.
Generosity was desperately unlucky in the 2025 G1 Goodwood and is such a genuine competitor- never a standout at the trials, but always ready to go on race day!
Originally trained by Simon Miller in Perth, the daughter of Divine Prophet was purchased by the trainer for a measly $9,000 when she went through the ring as a MM Gold Coast yearling offered by Glastonbury Farms.
In 23 starts for Miller she was only out of the top four on three occasions and was stakes placed up to a mile - which illustrates those reserves of stamina that will be required on Saturday.
Now a veteran of 28 starts for 5 wins and 12 placings, the bonny mare has earned more than $1.2 million and has matched motors with the best sprinters on both sides of the country.
B2B Thoroughbreds and Belmont Bloodstock Agency combined to secure Generosity after her Goodwood run and transferred her to Waller, where she has matured and thrived in her sprinting role.
Her sire Divine Prophet gained his G1 in the Caulfield Guineas but he had plenty of speed, and was in fact the more precocious of two G1 winning brothers ( Proisir the other) by legendary Aussie sprinter sprinter Choisir out of the Encosta De Lago mare Prophet Jewel from the famous NZ family of Sunbride.
Proisir is a champion sire and has sired several multiple G1 winning daughters. Divine Prophet hasn’t ticked the G1 box yet, but here’s a great opportunity.
Generosity's winning dam Orabelle is a daughter of that fine broodmare sire Casino Prince, and as a producer she has been one out of the box!
Generosity was her fourth foal and arrived a year after half sister Midnight In Tokyo ( Kobayashi) - another million dollar flyer who unleashed an impressive display of sustained speed to run away with the G3 Show County Quality at Randwick last month - her fourth stakes win, and she's improved with age too.
Orabelle is a half sister to G3 Gimcrack heroine Bel Merci (Extreme Choice) from the multiple stakes producing G1 Robert Sangster victress and G1 Coolmore Stud Stakes runner up Bel Mer, by mighty Bel Esprit. This grand lady is dam of nine to race for ten winners and is still at stud for Bell River Thoroughbreds, though with no foal due this season.
Generosity's third dam is Drop Anchor, a Listed winning short course sprinter by Roberto's remarkable son At Talaq.
The 1986 Melbourne Cup winner who also won a CF Orr Stakes has long been an influence for speed through his daughters.
Drop Anchor produced 13 foals all of whom raced, and 11 were winners . These included Bel Mer's full brother, a stakes winner in Singapore and this is also the immediate family Sylvia's Mother ( Snitzel) a multiple Group winning mare and dam of the 4YO stakes winning sprinter Wise Inlaw (Wootton Bassett).
Generosity's fourth dam Marine Park by Vain's champion Sir Dapper won the VRC Straight Six at Flemington, and the next dam on the line is French Finale (Bletchingly) a full sister to the dam of elite speedster and excellent sire Clay Hero ( who won the Moir Stakes as well as an Oakleigh Plate)
This damline traces to the matriarch Cinna (3-e) through her stakes winning daughter Belle Mere, a full sister to champion sire Beau Pere.
Generosity is bred
Blue Hen Rolls 5f x 4m
Danehill 4m x 4m.
Duplicating Rolls is a highly successful pattern through close relatives Flying Spur and Encosta De Lago, as here.
G1 winning females Fangirl, Mizzy and Speak Fondly are bred this way - as was the champion Alligator Blood.
Multiple sex balanced lines to Vain and Biscay give Generosity much of her speed, as does the meeting of the Silly Season stallions Adios (Bel Esprit) and Lunchtime (Choisir).
Her own female line is also that of the Argentinian champion Forli who is carried twice by Divine Prophet's dam - through his bluest of Blue Hens Special, and his son Imperial March.
Jye McNeil takes the reins on Generosity for the first time and the powerhouse mare will launch her bid for overdue G1 glory from barrier 7.
Next Best: GIGA KICK
Giga's back!
Rain is his friend and the now 7YO Everest champion and 3 x G1 winner has trialled sharply leading in.
His first up run last autumn was a two length fifth under 58.5kg to the rampaging Tentyris in the Newmarket, and in the spring he beat the Oakleigh Plate hero Tropicus over 1100m at Caulfield in the G2 Schillaci. If this was run at The Valley it would make life more difficult ( though he was third to Imperatriz over 1000m in a G2 McEwan there) but Sandown is a great swooper's track and should be much to the old boy’s liking!
Beautiful Giga Kick is owned by Jonathon Munz's Pinecliff Racing. and trained by Clayton Douglas who has masterfully guided his superstar to 9 wins and 6 placings in 23 starts for earnings of more than $15.5 million, and brought him back from injury as good as ever.
Munz bred both Giga and his sire Scissor Kick under his GSA Bloodstock banner.
Giga Kick is bred
Rainbow Quest 4m x 3f
Nijinsky 5f,5m x
Northern Dancer 5m x 5m,5m
Giga was one of the first topliners bred on the now established pattern of linebreeding to his own damline through its most influential daughter, Best In Show.
The great matriarch is the ancestress of Redoute's Choice and Try My Best, which turbocharged Giga's own damline which descends from Best In Show's dam Stolen Hour.
His pedigree also doubles up on champion sire Rainbow Quest and brings together Nijinsky and his three quarter brother The Minstrel.
Scissor Kick provided a missing nick with Giga’s European bred dam which activated the speed genetics of her damsire Royal Applause, a great sprinter who became a breed shaping sire through his son Acclamation.
Giga Kick is closely related to G1 winner and sire Alabama Express (Snitzel)
Giga Kick's second dam Rekindled Affair was imported to Australia with her daughter and produced superior Group performer Rekindled Interest - a multiple G2 winning sprinter miler who placed in a Cox Plate - to the cover of Redoute's Choice.
Giga Kick renews acquaintance with Mark Zahra who last rode him when they combined for a big G1 win in the VRC Champions Sprint. They will go back and wind up from barrier 9, and the more of the forecast rain that comes the better.
If the big boy brings his A-Game, lookout!
Roughie: SKYBIRD
We haven't seen Skybird at her best since she produced a jaw dropping burst of power on a slow track to win the 2025 G1 Lightning Stakes.
A mix of injury and poor luck have combined to hamper her efforts since then, particularly first up in last season's Moir Stakes when she really should have placed at least.
Resuming in the autumn, she could do no better than fifth to Generosity, then got back on a wet track for the G1 TJ Smith and ran a close third to Joliestar. She was also motoring to the line in Rothy's wet Doomben 10,000.
Early in her career this big daughter of Exosphere won a G2 and was G1 placed at a mile, so she's got plenty of stamina to match her speed.
Now six, the Mitch Freedman trained Skybird is still lightly raced, with 5 wins and 4 placings from 19 starts netting her more than $1.5 million in stakes and she's a G1 WFA winner at the trip.
Her career has provided an enormous return on the $110,000 her trainer invested to secure her from the Inglis Classic Highway Section sale from the draft of HP Thoroughbreds.
Skybird’s sire, the G1 Golden Rose winner Exosphere by the legend Lonhro, was an enormous animal and bore strong resemblance to his Golden Slipper winning broodmare sire Danzero. He stamped his daughter with that imposing physical presence.
Skybird's own damline is one we recognize as being of the first rank.
Her dam Real Desire was a winning daughter of the Waajib mare Forest Finch. Waajib was a great sprinter but passed on a slower maturing kind of speed.
It's the immediate family of champion and breed shaping stallion Snitzel and his fine half brother Hinchinbrook, Snitzel’s full sister Viennese (and her Champion Two Year Old Filly Arcaded), Epsom winner Redeiner, and the incredible Private Eye who is still racing at the highest level.
It's a family that just keeps producing good horses, with no regard for the ins and outs of fashion and hype.
Skybird is bred
Danehill 4m x 4m
Northern Dancer x 5m,5m
Exosphere's damsire the Slipper hero Danzero is a member of a wider family that includes O'Reilly and Ocean Park. Exosphere carries three male lines to the Epsom Derby winner Blue Peter, two coming through Danzero.
Skybird's damsire Fastnet Rock descends from a Blue Peter daughter and has a line to him as a damsire through Princely Gift, and one to his sire Fairway as well.
Snippets and Skybird's third damsire Storm Bird bring further sons of Fairway to the mix, along with duplications of Precipitation - his great sons Summertime and Supreme Court sired Lonhro's ancestress Sweet Time and Octagonal's fourth dam Courtessa respectively.
Skybird's pedigree also features linebreeding to La Troienne's great son Bimelech, To Market, Menow and his son Tom Fool, Star Kingdom and his sire Stardust, and to the Blue Hens Loved One, Grey Flight, Sunshot and La Troienne.
Her second damsire Waajib is from the family of the stallion Alibhai carried by Danehill’s dam, and bred on the same Ribot cross. Waajib was by Northern Dancer's son Try My Best (family of Best In Show) and thus a dynamic upgrading presence in this pedigree.
Skybird is the fifth stakes winner as broodmare sire for Fastnet Rock's G1 Newmarket winning son Wanted, who was a G1 runner up in the William Reid and just missed the placings in a Manikato Stakes.
Like Giga Kick, Skybird will be listening with contentment to the sound of rain on her stable roof.
Ben Melham is the new hoop at the controls on the big girl and I think barrier 12 is a plus for her. She'll go back and if the leaders go too hard she'll be launching late!
Blowout: OLE DANCER
Conqueror of Sydney's champion 3YO filly Apocalyptic in the G1 Thousand Guineas last season and third to the superstar Tempted in the G1 Surround Stakes in the autumn, Ole Dancer resumes at a distance she hasn't raced over before.
Ole Dancer is a relative of Skybird and as a member of this great speed family I really like this test of her as a sprinter - coming back from the G1 mile at three, just like that mare did.
Tongue tie on, first up record is good, will she be sharp enough for this? The big track suits this backmarker and she turned in an epic and unlucky performance when runner up in the 1400m G2 Thousand Guineas Prelude here.
Peter Moody and Kathy Coleman know a bit about preparing sprint mares and of course her sire Ole Kirk is out of a full sister to the greatest - Mood's legend Black Caviar.
Ole Dancer is the first G1 winner for Written Tycoon's brilliant and unbeaten son Ole Kirk (G1 Golden Rose, Caulfield Guineas) who was Australian Champion First Season Sire in 2024 /25 from his home at Vinery Stud - and he sires very fast horses, as you'd expect!
Neil Werrett raced both Ole Kirk and the dam of Ole Dancer, Dancers (Husson). He also bred and races Ole Dancer in partnership with good friends Max Whitby and the Madden family, who all sahred in the ownership of Black Caviar.
Ole Dancer is bred
Snippets 5f x 5f
Vain 5f,5f,6f x
Her damsire Husson ( now retired) like Ole Kirk was undefeated on the track - a champion sprinter-miler. From relatively limited opportunities he got dual G1 winner Lucky Hussler and like his dad Hussonet he is an excellent broodmare sire.
Ole Kirk is bred 4f x 4f x 5f to Vain himself and carries another line to his great sire Wilkes via champion son Bogan Road, who got the ancestress of Written Tycoon's blindingly fast sire Iglesia - he is bred to sire great fillies!
I love the double of Snippets in this pedigree which also features linebreeding to Best In Show and to daughters of Never Bend, sex balanced by his son Mill Reef on the damline of Last Tycoon.
Ole Dancer is linebred to Danzig, My Babu (sex balanced) Nijinsky ( sex balanced) Court Martial, Lunchtime, Better Self and his half brother Beau Max, as well as to La Troienne son Bimelech and her daughters.
From barrier 8, Ole Dancer and Luke Nolen can play a stalking midfield role and build their momentum into the race.
The mare has trialled smartly ( beating Sheza Alibi in one) and will be loving the wet track. Unlike any of the other G1 winners in the field, she has raced here and performed well.
I reckon she's a live hope to cause a major Moir upset!
