The Robert Sangster Stakes is a Gr 1 Australian thoroughbred
horserace contested in April every year over 1200m at Morphettville
Racecourse in Adelaide by fillies and mares three-years-old and
above. The race, which currently offers a lucrative purse of
AUD$300,000, is run at set weight conditions.
Hosted each year by the South Australian Jockey Club, up until 2007
the Robert Sangster Stakes was held in February. Interestingly, up
until 2005, the race was called the Swettenham Stud Stakes. Its name
was changed that year in honor of legendary Australian horseman,
Robert Sangster, who died in 2004.
Sangster was one of the country's leading race horse owners and
breeders and an owner of Swettenham Stud. So great was his impact on
the sport of horseracing, that the South Australian Jockey Club
decided to change the race's name in his memory.
The Robert Sangster Stakes is a fairly new horse race by Australian
standards, being inaugurated in 1983. However, between then and now
it has evolved? dramatically. For instance, in 1983 it was run
as a Special Race. In 1984 and1985 it was run as a listed race and
the following year earned itself a Gr 3 status.
In 2004 the Robert Sangster Stakes was run as a Gr 2 race and in
2005 was awarded it current Gr 1 status. As such, it's considered an
important race for fillies and mares in Adelaide's racing calendar.
One notable victor is 2005 winner Alinghi, who won four Gr 1
victories in her career. |
