Moir Stakes History: The Champions, Changes & Stories Behind The Sprint

Kristen Manning

Editor

Last updated: Fri 04 Sep 2026 02:06

Kristen Manning 3 hours ago

Share this article

The Moir Stakes has evolved from a Moonee Valley speed test into one of Australia’s premier Group 1 sprints
Champions including Manikato, Schillaci, Black Caviar, Buffering, Nature Strip and Imperatriz feature throughout its rich history
We look back at the race’s biggest changes, famous winners and the links connecting past Moir stars with the 2026 edition

Luke Nolen rides Black Caviar to victory in the 2011 Schweppes Stakes at Moonee Valley, which returned as the Moir Stakes the following year. (Getty)

For decades a highlight of W.S. Cox Plate Day, the A.J. Moir Stakes is a race that has changed complexion in recent years.

A Test Of Pure Speed
A Fast Race For Fast Horses
Classy Mares
Links With Moir's Past

It has been upgraded from a Group 2 to a Group 1 (2013), it has changed dates (to Grand Final Eve in 2013, then to September, where it now sits) and distances - from 1000m to 1200m in 2007 - and has had several name changes courtesy of sponsors. Must say, I am quite pleased that the Schweppervescence Stakes era is over... that was not an easy name to conquer!

And now it is being run at Sandown and, in the future, at a different Moonee Valley.

Phew, it's been tricky keeping up with just what the Moir Stakes is, but one thing is for sure - it has always been a quality sprint.

One which was named after Moonee Valley Racing Club Chairman (from 1960 to 1975) Alan John Moir, a lawyer who enjoyed a varied career including stints as President of the Victorian Law Institute, Director and Chairman of Channel 9 and Director of The Age.

A grandson of the 11th Victorian Premier, Sir Graham Berry, and related to a renowned local racing family in the Underwoods (after whom another feature race is named), Moir was appointed a Companion of the Order of Saint Michael and Saint George (CMG) in 1971 for services to horse racing.

A Test Of Pure Speed

First run as a 1000m test of pure speed around the tight Moonee Valley circuit, the inaugural Moir was won in 1976 (to mark the recent retirement of Alan Moir) by the popular Bob Hoysted-trained Scamanda.

The bold, flashy chestnut, who'd won eight of his nine two-year-old starts, was a Group 1 winner at three and, two years later, was still racing in good form despite several ailments, including digestive issues which Hoysted so famously treated by adding a bottle of stout to his charge's daily diet!

Winning the Freeway Stakes (now the Manikato) at Moonee Valley two months previously, Scamanda added a third Linlithgow Stakes to his resume a couple of weeks later; those wins were to be the last of a stellar career.

Another very fast horse in The Judge won the 1978 and 1979 editions of the Moir, dead-heating with Grey Sapphire the second time, with the following year's race keeping it in the family... Victoria Peak being a full sister to The Judge.

The 1982 race cemented its position as a spring carnival favourite; part of a massive day that saw Kingston Town win his third W.S. Cox Plate, whilst the mighty Manikato stalked Rancher into the straight before getting clear to claim his Moir win.

The aptly named Special was having just her fifth start when she headed to Moonee Valley in 1986, and her defeat of Campaign King was a sign of things to come... not only in regards to her own career, which saw her go on to win three Group 1 sprinting features, but in regards to the Moir itself.

A race won 18 years later by Special's oh-so-tough grandson Bomber Bill!

A Fast Race For Fast Horses

He began his career in Western Australia, as did the 1987 Moir Stakes hero Placid Ark. The speedy mare Scarlet Bisque won the race the following year, whilst the 1989 version saw a dead-heat between Clay Hero and Good Old Ted, with racegoers remembering the latter as one of the fastest horses out of the gates you'd see.

She wasn't very big, but she was fast... With Me, winner of the 1990 and 1991 Moir. Also winner of the Oakleigh Plate, she'd run second in the 1990 Golden Slipper and later went on to be served by that race's winner, Canny Lad; the result was the dual Group 1-winning sprinter Accomplice.

Not having the easiest of on-pace runs from a wide gate, Schillaci was favourite in the 1992 Moir and just too good. He was again well fancied 12 months later, only to just miss out, with Sports Works causing a boilover.

A horse who would go on to success at stud in Queensland, where his son Spirit Of Boom fared even better, Sequalo won the following year's Moir. Spartacus, Al Mansour and Show No Emotion are amongst the other quality speedsters to win the race during the 1990s.

Falvelon was odds-on when he won in 2000; the start of a campaign that saw him win the first of his two Hong Kong International Sprints. Two years later, Spinning Hill was in the winner's circle, with her rider Frankie Dettori doing his famous jumping dismount to the delight of the crowd.

The Moir's Modern Champions

Other classy mares to win the Moir during that era included Our Egyptian Raine, Virage de Fortune and Miss Andretti, though the most cheered-on winner in the late 2000s was the wildly popular Apache Cat.

His win in 2009 was to be the last of his 19 victories, and that was a big day... So You Think recording the first of his W.S. Cox Plate wins.

Black Caviar made the race her own (as she did with every race she contested) in 2010 and 2011, whilst three of the next four runnings were won by the same wonderful Queenslander, the evergreen globe-trotter Buffering.

Extreme Choice didn't have a long racing career, the 2016 Moir being the last of his four wins from just eight starts. It is probably just a matter of time until one of his progeny wins the race; what a star he has been at stud despite his limited opportunities.

She Will Reign, Viddora and Pippie made it wins for the females in three of the next four Moir runnings... in between, the star chestnut Nature Strip recorded the 11th of his 22 career wins, whilst in 2023 the race was part of a big campaign for Imperatriz.

Links With Moir's Past

There are a few links to Moirs past in this year's running, held for the first time away from Moonee Valley.

Three riders hope to win the race for a second time... Jamie Melham aboard Natural Fling (successful on Coolangatta four years ago), Craig Williams (Virage de Fortune in 2005) on Cavalry Girl and Ethan Brown (Mornington Glory two years ago) on Extragalactic, whilst Black Caviar's rider and trainer, Luke Nolen and Peter Moody, again combine with Ole Dancer, whose sire Ole Kirk is out of Black Caviar's full sister Naturale.

Robert Heathcote, trainer of triple Moir winner Buffering, is back with another of his wonderful veterans in Rothfire, who is having a fourth crack at the race. Nature Strip's trainer Chris Waller saddles up Generosity, whilst Imperatriz's trainer Mark Walker has Geegees Mistruth.

My Gladiola attempts to become the third daughter of Champion Sire I Am Invincible (dam sire of Cavalry Girl and grandsire of Natural Fling) to win the race, on the back of Viddora and Imperatriz, whilst both Ole Dancer and Skybird hail from the same family as Snitzel, sire of last year's winner Baraqiel.

Bel Mer, the grandam of Generosity, ran second in the 2008 Moir behind Lucky Secret, whilst Nature Strip's sire Nicconi is the dam sire of Hearcomesthestar. And just for a bit of breeding trivia that has nothing to do with this race... Natural Fling is a descendant of Miss Kate, whose great-granddaughter Entreaty produced Phar Lap.