Four days of Flemington action are behind us for another year, and what a grand feast of horse racing it was - now Melbourne’s carnival continues with the second running of the MRC's time-honoured G1 CF Orr Stakes, in its new place on the racing calendar.
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We return to Sandown Hillside for the first time since September's G1 Moir Stakes meeting, with the Orr Stakes the highlight on a ten race card.
The 1400m WFA sprint in its traditional February slot was primarily a target of elite gallopers at the beginning of their autumn campaigns.
It now invites the participation of horses in the later stages of their spring preparations who have raced in Sydney as well as Melbourne.
Why this change? The MRC wanted a G1 feature for this meeting, and also saw benefit in revising the old programming which had two G1 1400m WFA sprints, the Orr and Futurity, run at Caulfield a mere fortnight apart.
The change also sees the Memsie Stakes ( same distance and conditions) and the CF Orr now marking the beginning and end of the club's G1 spring majors.
Pros and cons - but if you're a traditionalist, it's impossible not to feel a pang of loss when yet another iconic race undergoes some kind of makeover - we are attached to what we know!
Yet the history of many of our most beloved and longstanding horse races reveals they have undergone their share of shapeshifting moments through the decades. This race is no exception.
The CF Orr Stakes was inaugurated in 1925 and won by The Night Patrol - the Cox Plate winner of the previous year.
The race - originally run at a mile - is named in honour of Charles F. Orr, former Chairman and Secretary of the long-defunct Williamstown Racing Club.
Its racecourse was opened in Altona in 1869 and closed in 1940, so the Williamstown course hosted the first 15 runnings of the Orr Stakes.
During this period, huge crowds thrilled to the deeds of great horses like Whittier, Heroic, Gothic and High Caste.
Even Phar Lap trod the long-vanished turf at Williamstown, winning the 1931 Underwood Stakes at the venue.
In 1947 both grandstands at Williamstown were completely destroyed by fire. The club could not rebuild from this disaster, and was forced to merge with the Victorian Trotting and Racing Association to survive - and thus was born the MRC.
Evolution in action!
From 1973 onwards, the CF Orr Stakes has run at 1400m, having been a seven furlong contest since 1957 (except for 1961 through to ‘63 when it briefly reverted to 1600m)
It graduated from G2 status to G1 in 1993 - though truth be told, its roll call of G2 winners leaves those of some present day G1s looking faintly ridiculous by comparison.
After the old track at Williamstown passed into history, the race was on the move between Moonee Valley and Flemington until installed at Caulfield in 1949.
Since then it has run at one of the MRC's two racecourses, Caulfield and Sandown. The latter hosted the CF Orr between 1966 and 1996.
The Orr Stakes was envisaged and inaugurated as a WFA race, which briefly ran as a handicap during the war years 1943-45.
Through the 1950s and ‘60s the race was won by turf legends and crowd - pleasers such as Flight, Comic Court, Prince Cortauld, Rising Fast, the “King Of Caulfield” Lord (twice), Wenona Girl, Tobin Bronze, Winfreux and the great West Australian galloper Aquanita.
The 1970s were kicked off by Crewman and Black Onyx, with two of the Australian turf's greatest darlings, Leilani and Surround, saluting in the middle of the decade.
Bart's remarkable old rogue Hyperno got his name on the roll in 1978, before the mighty Manikato blitzed them in three consecutive years 79/80/81 to see in the new decade with a bang!
At Talaq got the chockies in 1987, before a scruffy looking Queenslander with the heart of a dragonslayer took the racing world by storm.
Vo Rogue equalled Manikato's three - peat with consecutive Orr Stakes in 1988/89/90, defeating another champion Super Impose to claim the last two.
The 1990s was the era of winners Let's Elope, Jeune and in 1997 Saintly - the last Melbourne Cup winner to boast a CF Orr on the CV.
Fittingly, the turn of the century and a new era was heralded by the victory of Redoute's Choice in 2000.
He was followed by another mighty entire who would go on to change the breed, Lonhro, in 2004.
El Segundo, Elvstroem and Maldivian also won in the early 2000s.
Wondermare Typhoon Tracy won back to back Orrs in 2010/11 and was the toast of the turf, but her well earned limelight was about to be stolen by a sprinting mare possessed of speed unearthly - Black Caviar!
The great daughter of Bel Esprit won the Orr Stakes in 2012, and her half brother All Too Hard claimed the coveted G1 prize the following year - an extraordinary achievement for their dam Helsinge.
Since 2015 the great race has been won by some memorable gallopers - Dissident, Black Heart Bart, Suavito, Hartnell, Alabama Express, Tofane and “Mr Everywhere” aka Mr Brightside, in 2024.
