VRC St Leger

The Victoria Racing Club's St Leger Stakes is one of Australia's oldest Thoroughbred horse races held on ANZAC Day at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne. First run in 1857, the Listed race is open to three-year-olds and is run on turf over a distance of 2800m (app. 1.75 miles).

Once one of the most prestigious events on the Melbourne racing calendar, until 1980 the St. Leger Stakes carried Group 1 status. After being a Group 2 event for a quarter of a century, it was downgraded to Group 3 and since 2006 is a Listed race.

Notable winners

Past St Leger Stakes winners include Australian Racing Hall of Fame inductees Grand Flaneur (1881), Phar Lap (1930), Tulloch (1958), Poseidon (1907), plus Hall of Fame nominee Tranquil Star (1941). Several winners also captured Australia's most prestigious race, the Melbourne Cup. They are: Grand Flaneur (1881), Comic Court (1949), Delta (1950), and Gurner's Lane (1982). In 1956, Sailor's Guide won the race and in 1958 raced in North America where he defeated a top international field in the forerunner to the Breeders' Cup Turf, the then very prestigious Washington, D.C. International Stakes.

Run annually in late April, the St. Leger Stakeswas hosted by Moonee Valley Racecourse in 2001 and again in 2005 due to track refurbishments being carried out at the Flemington racecourse. The race was competed over a distance of 14 furlongs, 132 yards until 1973 when it was modified to the metric distance of 2800 metres (app. 1.74 miles). In 2007, it...
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