The Stradbroke Handicap is a Gr 1 Australian open handicap
horse race run in June every year at Eagle Farm Racecourse in
Brisbane. Contested over 1400m, the race currently offers a purse of
AUD$1,000,000. Inaugurated in 1890, the Stradbroke Handicap is the
premier race of the Brisbane winter carnival.
In fact, it is considered to be one of the most prestigious events
in the annual Queensland horse racing calendar. The Stradbroke
Handicap was named after Lord Stradbroke, a relative of Admiral
Rous, who was famous for designing - what was to become an integral
part of horseracing - the weight for age scale.
Being one of Queensland's most popular handicap races, the race
always attracts large numbers of spectators to Eagle Farm who are
eager to wager on many of the state's best weight for age runners.
Before 1953, the Stradbroke Handicap was contested over 6 furlongs
(1200m).
Given its age and pedigree, the Stradbroke Handicap has yielded many
notable winners, many of which won the big race two years running.
These include Gold Tie (1921, 1922), Lucky Ring (1949, 1950) and
Rough Habit (1991, 1992). Rough Habit was a talented bay gelding
from New Zealand.
Over and above his Stradbroke Handicap victories, Rough Habit also
won the Queensland Derby and Doomben Cup a record three times. In
1992 and 1995 he was named New Zealand Horse of the Year. But the
most prolific Stradbroke Handicap winner is Not Held, who won the
race in 1942, 1943, 1944 and 1945. |
