AJC Queen Elizabeth Stakes
| Group 1 race | |
Peter Pan,1933 AJC Plate Winner
|
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| Location | Randwick Racecourse, Sydney |
|---|---|
| Inaugurated | 1851 (as Queen's Plate) |
| Race type | Thoroughbred |
| Sponsor | Longines (2016) |
| Race information | |
| Distance | 2,000 metres |
| Surface | Turf |
| Qualification | Three year old and older |
| Weight | weight-for-age |
| Purse | $4,000,000 (2016) |
The Queen Elizabeth Stakes is an Australian Turf Club Group 1 Weight for Age Thoroughbred horse run over a distance of 2,000 metres at Randwick Racecourse, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia in the autumn during the ATC Championships series. Prize money in 2013 was A$500,000 and was increased to A$4,000,000 in 2014 to become the richest race of the Sydney Autumn Carnival and the richest WFA race in Australia.
The origins of this race is firmly associated with colonial Sydney and the growth of thoroughbred racing in the colony during the 1840s and 1850s. The Australian Jockey Club initiated an autumn race meet which coincided with the Easter holiday period and created several races which exist even today. Of these races was the Queen's Plate in honour of Queen Victoria which was first run in 1851 over a distance of about 3 miles.
Through the early 20th century the race continued to hold it prestige, but with the decline in long distance racing, the AJC focused on the Sydney Cup as the premier long distance event of the AJC Autumn Carnival. By the mid 1950s the race had changed its name and had its distance shortened. Distance was changed several times until today's distance of 2000 metres in 1986.
The ATC focused on the Queen Elizabeth Stakes as it became the A$4,000,000 signature event of a new Sydney autumn racing series called 'The Championships' attracting international entries.
In February 1954, Queen Elizabeth II visited Australia and the Australian Jockey Club named a race in her honour. She was present at Randwick on 6 February 1954 and witnessed 33/1 longshot Blue Ocean win the race with a track record of 2 minutes 27 3⁄4 seconds for the 1 1⁄2 miles race. On the last day of the 1954 AJC Autumn Carnival was the last named race for the AJC Plate as Lancaster won the Weight for Age 2 mile race. The next year, on the last day of 1955 AJC Autumn Carnival held on 16 April 1955 the meeting, the fourth race on the card was the Queen Elizabeth Randwick Stakes over a distance of 1 3⁄4 miles.
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