Is the CF Orr a stallion-making race? Matt Comerford certainly thinks so

Cover image courtesy of The Image Is Everything

Since the G1 CF Orr Stakes was upgraded to the highest status in 1993, there have been five 3-year-old colts win the race: Jacquinot, Alabama Express, All Too Hard, Redoute’s Choice, and Special Dane.

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In 2025, one 3-year-old colt, Private Life (Written Tycoon), aims to join that lofty group. Throw in 4-year-old entires Southport Tycoon (Written Tycoon) and Schwarz (Zoustar) and the three horses have a chance to add an important race to their resume before they retire to stud.

Redoute’s Choice and Lonhro stand tall

Since the CF Orr Stakes was upgraded to Group 1 in 1993, there have been seven fillies and mares win the race, 12 geldings and 13 colts or entires. The 13 colts are led by the 3-year-olds Jacquinot, Alabama Express, All Too Hard, Redoute’s Choice, and Special Dane.

Three 4-year-old colts have won; Dissident, Elvstroem, and Racer’s Edge, and four 5-year-old entires have won; Manuel (Commands), Lonhro, Jeune (GB), and Durbridge, while Shinzig won it as a 6-year-old. Manuel, sadly, was euthanised after an injury in the G2 Australia Stakes, six starts after winning the G1 CF Orr Stakes, so didn’t retire to stud.

The stud records of the 12 horses who retired to stud have been a mixed bag, led by Champion Sires Redoute’s Choice and Lonhro, to proven Group 1 sires All Too Hard, Jeune, Elvstroem, and the very promising Alabama Express. Jacquinot has yet to have runners. Of the others, they may have underperformed based on initial book size and breeder expectation, however, given that the majority of stallions who stand at stud don’t go on to become a Champion Sire, the race is still producing quality stallions at a higher rate than the whole population.

Widden looks to the future

Widden Stud stand Jacquinot, and race Southport Tycoon who runs this year, and they also bred Dissident who went on to be crowned 2014-15 Horse Of The Year.

“We think it’s a good weight-for-age stallion making race of the future. We see it as a target race for these sort of colts like Jacquinot and Southport Tycoon. Having Redoute’s Choice and Lonhro win it is a huge feather in the cap for the race,” said Widden Stud’s Matt Comerford.

“Every race has its colts who come out of it and are commercial failures, that’s the nature of stallions and breeders will always judge each horse on their own merits, not just on one race.

“And remember that any Group 1 is hard to win. The depth of this race this year is a strong one with Schwarz coming off a good win, and Southport Tycoon already having won two Group 1s. Mr Brightside is phenomenally successful over a long time, and Jacquinot beat him in 2023. The depth of field that year was one of the reasons we had a real push to get Jacquinot at stud.”

Jacquinot won the G1 Golden Rose in the spring before adding the G1 CF Orr Stakes in the autumn. Mr Brightside was fifth that year, then won it last year.

Breeder support tells a story

Comerford noted that most of the colts and entires who won the G1 CF Orr Stakes retired to stud with support from breeders, and that in itself tells the story that breeders feel the race has a good chance of being a stallion making race. It’s never about having all the winners become commercial successes at stud, merely enough horses who stand tall that breeders think the odds are worth the risk on the next young prospect.

“Dissident, All Too Hard, Redoute’s Choice, Jacquinot, and I bet many of the other winners, got lots of support from breeders, at a good fee, in their first few seasons and that tells you how breeders value the race and it’s winners. It gives precedence to the race if breeders follow the winners, regardless of the previous success or perceived failure of earlier winners,” said Comerford.

“It’s not like they are winning a staying Group 1 and covering 30 mares. And with a race like a Golden Slipper, maybe 80 per cent of those colts are commercially successful but some have been disappointing especially when you consider that they covered some of the best mares in the country. If half of the (CF Orr winners) have been successful commercially, then breeders will continue to heavily support the race’s next winners as the odds are in their favour.”

Table: CF Orr-winning colts and the size of their first book

Notably in this table, the four winners prior to Redoute’s Choice; Special Dane, Racer’s Edge, Jeune, and Durbridge weren’t supported by breeders as much as those who followed Redoute’s Choice.

Alabama Express started with a bang

Alabama Express is one of the few successful stallions in this list whose only Group 1 win came in this race. A winner on debut at two, he won the Listed Gothic Stakes as a spring 3-year-old, then in the autumn he resumed with a city win before winning the G1 CF Orr Stakes.

“The fact that any 3-year-old can win at weight-for-age means he is obviously a forward competitive racehorse, and generally those turn out to be reasonable to prolific stallions,” said Yulong’s Vin Cox. Case in point, Redoute’s Choice who won the race at three.

“Alabama Express’s own sire Redoute’s Choice is arguably the sire of the last 20 years and is only second to his own sire (Danehill) in the last 30 years. Any stallion owner who has a horse going as well as Alabama Express, would be doing literal cartwheels around the sales ground. You can’t be hoping for any better than his start and to get it is not that easy to do.”

Alabama Express has sired three stakes winners with his first crop who are now 3-year-olds, led by G1 VRC Oaks winner Treasurethe Moment, who has won five of her seven starts. Exciting Kiwi Group-winning filly Alabama Lass has won at Group 2 and Group 3 level and in her last two starts she has run second in both the G1 NZ 1000 Guineas and G1 Railway Stakes against the older horses. Listed-winning gelding Discretion Rules won the Canterbury Champagne Stakes at the end of his 2-year-old season and resumed recently at three with a strong second.

Throw in stakes-placed winners Cheaha, Karavas, Poster Girl, Shangri La Express, Express Yo’Self, and Glasgow Lass, and the future looks bright for the young stallion.

“The covering statistics are a fair indication of the gravitas of the race. It’s very hard to get a stallion who proves to be commercial over a long time, and to have so many over time in the CF Orr shows that it is a stallion making race,” concluded Cox.

A spread of ages and Brightside’s chance of a double

The G1 CF Orr Stakes is run over 1400 metres at standard weight-for-age for 3-year-olds and up and of note, maidens are not eligible. Since it was upgraded to Group 1 in 1993, nine 3-year-olds, six 4-year-olds, nine 5-year-olds and eight 6-year-olds have won the race. If Mr Brightside (NZ) (Bullbars) wins on Saturday, he’ll be the first 7-year-old to win since Torbek (NZ) (Palm Beach {Fr}) in 1983 (when the race was a Group 2).

He’ll also be the second dual winner of the race, since Typhoon Tracy (Red Ransom {USA}) won in 2010 and 2011. Notably, there were two horses who won the race three times in succession when the race was run at Group 2 level (and presumably were part of the reason the race was upgraded). Manikato (Manihi) won it 1979, 1980, and 1981, and Vo Rogue (Ivor Prince {USA}) won in it 1988, 1989, and 1990.

Who was Charles Orr?

First run in 1925 at Williamstown racecourse, the CF Orr Stakes honoured long time Williamstown secretary Charles F Orr. Mr CF Orr began his working life in shipping and joined Wright’s ship works at Williamstown docks. The business then became known as Wright and Orr, and they invested in a dry dock works on the Yarra River. In 1941, the business joined forces with Duke’s Dock and became known as Duke and Orr’s Amalgamated Dry Dock Ltd, and Orr was the chairman until three months prior to his death at the age of 85 in 1931.

How did Mr CF Orr spend his business fortunes? On racing, of course. He became a member of the Williamstown Racing Club in 1871, and joined the committee in 1872, “helped to steer the club through several troubled epochs,” according to his obituary in The Record. He was also a member of the VRC and VATC and on the Marine Board.

“Mr Charles Orr was a useful and picturesque figure in Melbourne life, and will be greatly missed by a large circle of friends and acquaintances.”