A Group 1 race in The Pinnacles racing carnival is adding further lustre to the legend of the magnificent Northerly
The great Fighting Tiger, who already has a statue in his honour at Ascot, has increased his presence at the track even further with a $1.5million race in his name.
Swapping one champion galloper with another, the Kingston Town Classic will become the Northerly Stakes and will be run on December 3.
Chief Racing Officer David Hunter said The Pinnacles was being charged with a West Australian theme and it was fitting for the race to carry the name of a WA star.
“Many of us in racing have strong memories of watching Northerly win at Ascot and Belmont Park as well as at the highest level nationally,” David said.
“He won back-to-back WS Cox Plates in 2001 and 2002 and retired with career prizemoney of almost $9.5million.
“His best campaign was undoubtedly the spring of 2002, when he strung together five victories in a row, including the Caulfield Cup carrying 58kg and his second WS Cox Plate.”
Trained by Fred Kersley, Northerly retired with career prizemoney of almost $9.5million.
Chief Executive Officer Ian Edwards said the race name was changed following consultation with the WA racing community.
“Northerly already has a Group 3 race named after him but the enthusiastic support for him to be part of our Group 1 series has prompted us to make this change,” Ian said.
“He was called The Fighting Tiger, partly because his racing silks were yellow and black but even more because his racing style was to fight back and win.
“He often looked under pressure towards the end of a race but he could never be written off. He would make a late surge to winning post.”
The race, which will remain an 1800m race, has been run since 1976 and has held Group 1 status since 1979.
The Group 3 Northerly Stakes will now be known as The Eurythmic, after the first WA thoroughbred to be inducted into the Australian Racing Hall of Fame. He is one of only three from our state alongside Northerly in 2010 and Aquanita in 2018.
