Racing Confidential: Changes needed to ensure future of Carrington Stakes

The Carrington Stakes was disappointingly dropped from Saturday’s Randwick program and two options must be considered to prevent it from happening again.

The Listed Carrington Stakes, one of Sydney racing’s oldest feature sprints, must be reduced in distance or be moved to earlier in January.

These are the options for Racing NSW and Australian Turf Club to consider after the Carrington was disappointingly scrapped from Saturday’s Royal Randwick program due to a lack of starters.

The Carrington was first run in 1886 and was a six furlongs (1200m) sprint until 1979 and had some outstanding winners during this period including Hall of Famer Bernborough (1945), Greenline (1931), Gay Gauntlet (1969), Zambari (1973) and Zephyr Bay (1975).

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The race was then reduced in distance to 1000m and had some very good winners over the shorter trip including brilliant sprinter At Sea, who reeled off a hat-trick of Carrington wins from 1985-87 but was denied a fourth when beaten by crack colt Snippets in 1988.

Then in 2006, the race distance was changed to 1100m until 2015 when it went out to 1400m.

The Carrington Stakes was usually the feature race at Randwick’s New Year’s Day meeting but changes to the summer racing program in recent years meant it was shifted to later in January.

The stakes race seems in “no man’s land” now and either should revert to a shorter sprint or be shifted back to January 1 where it can be a lead-in to The Lakes (1600m) at Wyong in the middle of the month.

SYDNEY RACES AMONG WORLD’S TOP 10

Sydney racing can boast three of the world’s top 10 highest-rated Group 1 races last year.

Pride Of Jenni’s unforgettable 6½-length length win from Via Sistina and Mr Brightside in the Queen Elizabeth Stakes at Royal Randwick during The Championships last April earned the race a rating of 123 to be third highest in the world.

Via Sistina’s win over Zougotcha and Fangirl gave the Winx Stakes a 121.5 rating to be ninth overall while the TJ Smith Stakes won by Chain Of Lightning from Bella Nipotina and I Wish I Win gave that race a 121.25 rating to be equal 10th on the world rankings.

The Cox Plate at Moonee Valley won by Via Sistina in race and course record time by a massive eight lengths over Prognosis and Broadsiding also came in equal 10th.

The world’s top-rated race last year was England’s Juddmonte International at York which earned a 124.25 rating when Aidan O’Brien’s superhorse City Of Troy defeated elite trio Calandagan, Ghostwriter and Honeysuckle.

Pride Of Jenni in her phenomenal Queen Elizabeth Stakes win. Picture: Picture: Jeremy Ng/Getty Images

The all-star Travers Stakes at Saratoga last year when Fierceness defeated Thorpedo Anna and Sierra Leone came in next on 123.75 followed by the Queen Elizabeth Stakes.

Randwick (three races) and Australia (four races) have more entries in the world’s top 10 race rankings than any other racetrack or nation.

The final international racehorse ratings for 2024 were also released this week with Ireland’s superhorse City Of Troy, winner of the Juddmonte International, English Derby and Eclipse Stakes, and UAE’s Laurel River, winner of the Dubai World Cup by more than eight lengths, sharing the top spot on a lofty 128 rating.

Chris Waller’s champion mare Via Sistina, winner of five Group 1 races last year, was just behind that duo on 127 to be the only Australian-trained horse in the world’s top 20.

I Wish I Win (121) was equal 24th while Pride Of Jenni, Giga Kick, Mr Brightside and Private Eye all rated 120 to be equal 35th on the world rankings.

LAURIE CHALKS UP 90

Laurie Billett, who rode the speedy Reisling to win the 1965 Golden Slipper, celebrated his 90th birthday on Thursday.

Billet competed in a golden era of Sydney jockeys against the likes of George Moore, Neville Sellwood, Jack Thompson and Athol (George) Mulley.

J-MAC MEYDAN MISSION

Hong Kong’s champion Romantic Warrior, the greatest prizemoney earner in world racing with over $A36m, is aiming for his 10th Group 1 win in the Jebel Hatta (1800m) at Dubai’s Meydan racecourse on Friday night.

Romantic Warrior has seven rivals and will be ridden by regular rider, Sydney’s premier jockey James McDonald, who arrived in Dubai earlier this week to ride the horse in a track gallop.

“It was a quiet gallop, but he did six furlongs (1200m) and breezed home,’’ McDonald said. “He’s got a beautiful nature, nothing fazes him, and he enjoys travelling so it’s a bit like a holiday for him.’’

McDonald is riding in Dubai for the first time and is aiming at his 108th career Group 1 win.

INJURED HOOPS’ SLOW RECOVERY

Injured jockeys Beany Panya and Blake Spriggs remain in hospital but are recovering slowly after they were involved in a horror fall at Moruya a week ago.

Panya needed spinal surgery after sustaining fractures to her T6 and T7 vertebrae but she has been able to take her first steps since the fall. She is experiencing “ongoing disorientation” due to her head injury but remains in a stable condition.

Spriggs, who suffered a fractured arm, clavicle and ribs, is in ICU and remains intubated due to a blood infection.

Originally published as Racing Confidential: Changes needed to ensure future of Carrington Stakes