Northerly Stakes – A Fitting Tribute to a True Australian Champion

Kristen Manning

Editor

Last updated: Thu 04 Dec 2025 05:10

Kristen Manning 04 Dec 2025

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The Northerly Stakes celebrates the legacy of legendary racehorse Northerly
Northerly was renowned for his resilience, securing multiple Group 1 victories
The race attracts top contenders, honoring Northerly's impact on Australian racing

Northerly winning the 2002 Cox Plate. (Getty)

Normally there might be an uproar should a race run in honour of such a great as Kingston Town be renamed, but there were no qualms when that Group 1 Ascot contest changed names three years ago. Mind you, it was a race that had been run under differing sponsors’ names for a number of years, with the Fruit N Veg one of the least inspiring names for a major race!

Northerly – A Beauty!
Northerly Makes His Melbourne Debut
Riders Pay Tribute to a Star

Naming it after an all-time Western Australian great was much more apt, and this Saturday sees the fourth running of what is now the Northerly Stakes (there was a Group 3 race with that name, now run as The Eurythmic).

It was fitting that a local horse who would go on to enjoy success in the eastern states won the first running named after Northerly, the classy mare Amelia’s Jewel proving too good for the interstate visitors Ironclad, Steinem and Cascadian in 2022.

Another talented WA horse in Dom To Shoot won in 2023, whilst last year’s race went to the Victorian Light Infantry Man. He was the first visitor since Stratum Star in 2016 to win the race, and this year’s running is another interesting clash of horses from around the country, with the Daniel Morton-trained/William Pike-ridden King Of Light a hot favourite, whilst the most strongly fancied of the raiders is Vivy Air, in the same Ciaron Maher stable as last year’s winner.

Northerly – A Beauty!

Naming races after champions is a lovely way of honouring them and a yearly reminder of just how good those horses were – and wasn’t Northerly a beauty?! Inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame in 2010 and into the WA version in 2007, the bold bay fondly known as “The Fighting Tiger” (and as “Norton” to his connections) entered the world without a pulse, needing to be resuscitated.

Hardly an auspicious beginning, and the youngster didn’t look all that promising in regards to conformation, with his front legs shall we say, far from perfect! But Neville and Susan Duncan of Oakland Park Stud had done their research, and the mating that produced Northerly was an intriguing one.

A pin-up boy for line-breeding enthusiasts (such as myself!), Northerly was by Serheed out of North Bell. Serheed was by Nijinsky out of Native Partner. Nijinsky’s dam was the Canadian Oaks heroine Flaming Page, whilst Native Partner’s dam was the dual stakes winner Dinner Partner. North Bell was by Bellwater, whose dam sire Jim French was a son of Dinner Partner, whilst North Bell’s dam sire Far North was a grandson of Flaming Page.

Having his first start at three, Northerly was beaten but soon atoned with a Listed Aquanita Stakes victory before a break. He was just out of the placings at the start of his next campaign before winning three in a row, including the Group 1 Railway Stakes.

Northerly Makes His Melbourne Debut

He was first seen in Melbourne in February 2021, winning the Group 2 Carlyon Cup – the start of the successful partnership that was Northerly and Greg Childs (six rides, six wins). Beaten at odds-on in the Victoria Gold Cup at his next start, Northerly quickly bounced back with success in the Australian Cup. His spring campaign was an outstanding one – seven starts, five wins including the Feehan Stakes (Sunline second), the Group 1 Underwood Stakes, the Group 1 Caulfield Stakes (Shogun Lodge second) and that controversial W.S. Cox Plate, in which Northerly engaged in pinball-machine moments with Sunline and Viscount.

2002 was another great year for Northerly – ten starts, six wins including his second Underwood and his second Cox Plate, as well as the Caulfield Cup, a race which provided one of its best ever quinellas with fellow dual Cox Plate hero Fields Of Omagh a game second. Northerly lumped 58kg that day, Fields Of Omagh 53.5kg.

He was not as prolific in 2003, though he was able to add another Australian Cup to his record, a race which was to be the last of his 19 victories. Also in the placings on nine occasions from his 37 starts, Northerly retired as the winner of over $9.3 million, having been crowned the 2002/03 Australian Horse of the Year. Nine of his wins came at the elite level.

Riders Pay Tribute to a Star

Dying after a colic attack in 2012 (the same week as another bold front-runner in Vo Rogue), Northerly was rated a champion by all who saw him, including his riders. Damien Oliver noted that whilst “most horses can sustain a run for a furlong and a half, Northerly just kept going... he broke their hearts.” “He was courageous and tough,” said Greg Childs, whilst Paddy Payne said “he always looked the first one beaten but he was always the last one standing.”