A remarkable roll of honour decorates the Widden Stakes

Cover image courtesy of Ashlea Brennan

For close to a century, the merits of 2-year-old racing have been bandied about by breeders and racing clubs alike. According to a 1939 article in the Sydney Morning Herald, 'the thoroughbred would be better served if interest were in older horses over exacting distances rather than juveniles over trifling routes'.

In that era, there were moves in England to slash the purses on offer for 2-year-old racing, something that was equally attempted in America but which got little traction with breeders. It got little traction in Australia too, with significant stakes races for juveniles already well-established.

By the 1920s, all racing states had their own features for the babies, and all states bar South Australia (which came to the table in the 1940s) permitted them to race from October onwards only. Any earlier had been prohibited from around 1900, with the motions of that debate proving colourful as early as 1896.

In that year, a particularly animated meeting at the Victoria Racing Club (VRC) proposed that banning the racing of 2-year-olds before October would discourage the ‘breeding of speedy weeds to the benefit of better-class horses’, and that those inclined to run ‘an unmatured 2-year-old off its legs for the most part are made up of breeders and buyers of the trashy sort’.

As such, Australia’s 2-year-olds began to emerge as horses more capable than ‘carrying a postage stamp two furlongs’. Important juvenile races became a mainstay of city racing, and they’ve remained important.

In Melbourne, the Maribyrnong Plate has a timeless berth in the spring, while in Sydney there is the Breeders’ Plate and Gimcrack S., then later, the Canonbury S. and Widden S.

These latter two were introduced in 1930 and 1943 respectively and, while they were initially October races, they are now part of an autumn lead-up.

The Widden S. in particular, an 1100-metre Group 3 for the fillies, has held its own for decades as a richly decorated sprint.

Chops and changes

The Widden S. in its current form began in 1943 when the filly Birthright (Le Grand Duc {Fr}) won the race for the Indian Maharajah of Baroda.

Birthright was a 700 gns yearling by a leading sire of the time, and she made a mess of the field when defeating no less than Tea Rose (Mr Standfast {GB}) into third place. The race was a week after the Gimcrack, in which Birthright had been second.

For the best part of 60 years, until 2003, the race was run as part of Sydney’s spring program. Thereafter it went from very early January to later in the month or early February, and there it has remained.

The distance of the Widden S. changed from 1100 metres in 1978 to 1000 metres, and then back to its original route in 2005.

For three brief editions, from 2004 to 2006 inclusive, the race was the Tatt’s NSW Widden S. and it was in these odd years that it was open to both sexes, with the later sires Econsul (NZ) and Churchill Downs winning.

Gallery: The sires that won the Tatt’s NSW Widden S. when it was open to both sexes from 2004 to 2006, images courtesy of Sportpix

After a spate of excellent winners, including the G1 Golden Slipper winner Overreach and the multiple stakes winners Driefontein (Fastnet Rock) and Satin Shoes (Flying Spur), the Widden S. was promoted from a Listed race to a Group 3.

Its subsequent winners have continued a pattern of stoutly bred, stoutly performed winners emerging from the race.

Rich pickings

Early on, one of the better winners of the Widden S. was Pantomime, a daughter of the Hall of Famer Ajax. This chestnut filly won in 1948 and, in the same year, she won the December S. and Kirkham S. As a broodmare, Pantomime foaled the 1956 Flight S. winner French Fable (Emperor {Fr}).

In 1962, the Rego (Ire) filly Heirloom, a daughter of the blue-hen mare Dark Jewel (Star Kingdom {Ire}), won the Widden S. on her way through a magnificent career. In addition to this race, the filly won the Maribyrnong Plate, Mimosa S. and the One Thousand Guineas at Caulfield in 1963.

At stud, Heirloom got Blue Mountain (Novalis {Ger}), who also won the Widden S. in 1971. In turn, Blue Mountain foaled the 1981 Canonbury S. winner Golconda D’Or, who was bred by the Tait family.

In 1973, the Widden S. produced Gretel (King Of Babylon {Ire}), who also won the AJC Sires’ Produce S. Gretel was the later dam of the four-time Group 1-winning sire Flotilla.

And, in 1974, the Widden S. triggered one of the best-producing families in the modern Stud Book when Denise’s Joy (Seventh Hussar {Fr}) won, kicking off her Oaks- and Derby-winning career, along with her eventual importance as the dam of Joie Denise (Danehill {USA}). Because of her came Sunday Joy (Sunday Silence {USA}) and More Joyous (NZ) (More Than Ready {USA}), along with Tuesday Joy (NZ) (Carnegie {Ire}).

None of these important mares are alone as Widden S. winners of measure.

The 1977 winner Peeping, by Todman, also won the Maribyrnong Plate and produced three stakes winners, including the 1991 Gimcrack S. winner Watch (Marauding {NZ}).

Biscarina (Biscay), who won in 1982, was the dam of eight-time Group 1 winner Schillaci, while the Champion Filly Triscay (Marscay), who won the Widden ahead of an absurdly good career that included the G1 Champagne S., G1 Flight S. and G1 Australian Oaks, among others, was the dam of the Group winners La Baraka (Euclase) and Tsuimai.

For a long time, the Triscay family has been giving back.

La Baraka had a filly called Alizes (NZ) (Rory's Jester), whose first foal, Essaouira (Exceed And Exceed), was the subsequent dam of Group 1 winners Alizee (Sepoy) and the Darley stallion Astern, plus the Newgate sire Tassort.

In the last decade, the Widden S. can boast the Golden Slipper winners Overreach and Mossfun (Mossman), while the 2016 winner, Honesty Prevails (Redoute’s Choice), is the dam of the $1.9 million colt and G1 Spring Champion S. winner Profondo (Deep Impact {Jpn}).

Two years ago, the consistent Away Game (Snitzel) won off the back of her $2 million winning effort in the R. Listed Magic Millions 2YO Classic, while last year’s winner, the Arrowfield filly Mallory (Not A Single Doubt), has since been Group-placed twice.

A good fit

With such an incredible wall of fame, the Widden S. has maintained its hold as a fillies’ race of note, even to this day.

Saturday’s edition will be the 79th year of its running, albeit the 76th actual running of the race (it was not held in 1945 and 1966, and its reshuffling to January meant it was bypassed in 2002).

The race is a long-standing nod to Widden Stud, whose place in Australian racing is as long-standing as the state’s principal race club.

As far back as 1895, there was a Widden S. on Randwick’s spring calendar, in that instance a mile-and-a-quarter event of 150 sovereigns. The race, won by Valiant, featured the 1893 Queensland Derby winner Triton (Trident).

“The Widden S. is something we’ve inherited and it’s a huge honour,” said Antony Thompson, the principal of Widden Stud. “The recognition of Widden Stud in the Australian racing and breeding landscape is a great honour, and to have the race as such an important event for fillies in the lead-up to the Golden Slipper is very fitting for us.”

Widden’s association with the Golden Slipper is entrenched.

Its past winners include Todman, Vain, Marscay, Stratum and Sebring, all later stallions on the vast Widden Valley property. Thompson said the Widden S. might be a fine fit in that respect, but it’s also a point of pride that the race has such a strong producing record across its 78 years.

“It’s got great significance in terms of pedigrees,” the studmaster said. “Some of the winners of the Widden have gone on to be wonderful producers as well, so it’s a really nice honour and it’s a lovely thing for us to have this time-honoured tradition.”

Widden Stud is as long-standing an Australian farm as it gets, and it predates its own race by 76 years.

However, the Thompson family won the Widden S. as far back as 1947 with its own filly, Oasis (Ajax), who was leased by Frank Webster Thompson to the filly's owner of the time. The race’s odds-on fancy, Wattle (Brueghel {Ity}), who was also bred at Widden, was fourth.

“To have this long-standing race named after the farm, in an era when race names tend to chop and change so much, is very special,” Thompson said. “And a lot of the other stud farms have come and gone over those years, so this is a particularly nice legacy for Widden Stud.”